The One Question to Ask Developers Before You Make a Hire Decision
thinkingcollective.com
thinkingcollective.com
What about older developers who worked before Github and so had their own projects dissolved to obscurity?
What about developers who don't do side projects but give 120% to the company product, even at home? (Some of us actually enjoy working on the products we build during the day :D )
You'll get exactly the same mileage by just asking the potential hire to tell you about something they built - full stop. You'll be able to gauge passion, if they actually did the work, how it solves a problem. You just won't be able to play with it, but I suspect the minimum of side projects is in any case live, and more about scratching an itch.
And even with non-disclosure agreements etc they'll be able to tell you enough of the technology to be able to make a call.
Excellent point! I would hope that would be the response to the question... It would still provide the value the question seeks.
So, the answer to your question is, I haven't written anything I can legally describe to you without permission, since 1995.
Is that seriously the ONLY question you want to ask me?
Come on. Isn't this getting old for anyone else? Do you check if your dentist goes to dentist meetups, or extracts teeth in his spare time? All you're doing with this question is asking "are you one of us".
For example, my local butcher is a 'geek butcher'. He tries new cuts, goes to butchery meetups at food festivals, try tosource new things, etc; result is that he's really good at what he's doing, and he gets quite a few loyal customers.
Software development is a creative endeavor in a constantly changing field, and unless I'm asking my dentist to do experimental tooth enhancements, I wouldn't consider her job nearly as creative.
I would never hire (and have never hired) a designer who didn't have a portfolio. I would never hire a developer who didn't have any code to show me. Most code available to show is only open source these days - as companies don't want their employees showing proprietary source to 3rd parties.
I would never work for such an employer.
I've hired over 40 people and given hundreds of interviews over the course of my career. I learned early on that unless I can see some examples, then it is a random draw. The truth is that people give false impressions of their abilities on their resume (whether intentional or not).
As a development manager who still writes code, I have deep perspective of both sides of the table. I would never work for an employer who didn't want to see any code - because who knows what kind of talent I'd be working with?
A person doesn't have to posses all these things to write good code. But they would be a great fit on the teams I like to work with.
The accountants I know spend a lot of unpaid overtime meeting clients (networking being the key professional skill for Big 4 accountants).
Pretty much every profession has some kind of out-of-hours way of progressing their career which some people chose to engage in and some people don't.
The problem is that in every field you are competing against people who are willing to work 18+ hours a day, 7 days a week pushing their career forward.
You either need to match that or find some other way to compete that doesn't require as much of a time commitment. Or be happy that the market is hot enough that even without working too hard you can still get a pretty good job!
Ever since a dentist fucked up and caused me a lot of pain and to spend a lot of money to fix the damage, I've become very careful about how I chose health care professionals. And while I don't know enough about dentistry to judge seeing a dentist go to conference documents himself on the newest techniques and teach or present at conferences is a good signal to find out if he is good.
There are people who are passionate about what they do and they are people who don't care all that much in almost every case the passionate ones will be better.
Learning and practicing on the job is one thing, expecting it in the remaining 1/3 of your life is too much.
You can be a fine developer who just clocks in and out. But if I had a choice (and sometime I don't). I would choose the guy who loves what they do and does it in their "spare" time.
My experience has not borne this out, either in development (which I've been doing professionally for almost 20 years) or in music (which I've been doing amateur-ly all my life). Passion is a very weak indicator of skill, community involvement is even weaker
Passion overtime + participation = improving knowledge.
A new person who is passionate, will quickly outpace the person who is not.
— Christopher Hitchens, 2010
I understand the rationale behind asking what you've built without being paid, but if you're hoping, by that question, to identify people who are really smart ... then isn't it really smart to figure out how to get paid for your work, rather than doing it unpaid?
Christopher Hitchens- "Long describing himself as a socialist and a Marxist..." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens
I am a hardcore capitalist so he need not apply for my gigs :-)
While the questions in this article appear biased towards a 60/40 work/life balance, I would say they're spot on in detecting a very specific cultural fit. If nothing else, these questions would get a candidate talking. They're a little on the aggressive side for my interviewing style, but I imagine they're quite effective.
Keep in mind, the job candidate should also be interviewing the company. If someone were to ask me what unpaid work I have done in the past, I would consider the cultural ramifications of the question. In this case, I would need to be okay with an aggressive internal culture.
Come to think of it, it's important to realize that when you interview candidates you may very well be the first impression of the company. Articles like these offer a glance of a company/interviewer without having to go through the trouble of applying.
I would really like to find a way to study the effectiveness of interviewing styles. I wonder what metrics would even apply?
However, the point about 60/40 work life balance is not 100% accurate.
I am constantly reading Product Management literature not for work - but because I love it. I am finishing the Disney Biography because I love learning about leadership styles. In other words, I do a job that complements my "spare" time activities... and ANYONE who manages that is a good hire.
This is not to say - go to these things FOR work - that is not the gal/guy I am looking for. You should not do things FOR work that you are not paid to do (that is not fair). But, if you love the work you do and that extends into your life - all the better.
Thank you for your feedback! You are correct that the best hires tend to pursue employment that complements their "spare time activities".
When I was looking for a job eight months ago. I had interviews with 10 different companies in the course of three weeks. I was not offered one job probably because of the attitude I expressed above. I accepted a job where the manager emphasized his belief in a work life balance.
It's a buyers market for qualified experienced software developers. I won't jumped through unnecessary hoops to get a job.
> you don’t care that they like cats – what you want to hear: they love their hoodie and their code
Well, speak for yourself. I look for people with outside interests beyond just programming. If the only thing they have going for them is their code, their ego and emotions are way too wrapped up in what they produce. They can't take criticism about their work as well as someone who has other things going on in their life. I'm not saying passion is not valuable; it is, but there needs to be a balance.
I understand that hiring someone with no life or interests outside of code and your company is a great way to build a cult, but a great way to build a company is by ensuring that it has a culture. That happens by hiring interesting people that have shared values and outside interests.
I assure you that it's possible for someone to only have one great passion without being an egotistical narcissist.
...I'll make an exception for religious feelings too.
The manager asked the job candidate one question. You won't believe what happens next.
Startup hires an unemployed developer. The reason will shock you.
Sorry, I couldn't resist.