Comments on: How to Hire Great Developers http://bobondevelopment.com/2007/05/17/how-to-hire-great-developers/ Musings on the craft and business of software development Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:59:10 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Matt Unks http://bobondevelopment.com/2007/05/17/how-to-hire-great-developers/comment-page-1/#comment-1859 Matt Unks Tue, 22 May 2007 18:17:58 +0000 http://bobondevelopment.com/2007/05/17/how-to-hire-great-developers/#comment-1859 Not sure I would necessarily consider what someone reads or doesn't read criteria for hiring, Especially blogs. I think blogs have become so popular that you get a lot of people that just like to hear themselves talk. Its kinda like the whole MySpace craze. Some blogs are useful no doubt but many are just fluff. I still often find Reading straight from the SDK's is still a great source of knowledge. My .02$ Not sure I would necessarily consider what someone reads or doesn’t read criteria for hiring, Especially blogs.

I think blogs have become so popular that you get a lot of people that just like to hear themselves talk. Its kinda like the whole MySpace craze.

Some blogs are useful no doubt but many are just fluff. I still often find Reading straight from the SDK’s is still a great source of knowledge. My .02$

]]> By: Ryan Smith http://bobondevelopment.com/2007/05/17/how-to-hire-great-developers/comment-page-1/#comment-1848 Ryan Smith Fri, 18 May 2007 17:09:07 +0000 http://bobondevelopment.com/2007/05/17/how-to-hire-great-developers/#comment-1848 I think one of the best ways to determine how good a potential hire might be is to ask them what blogs / tech news sites they read and what forums they participate in. If they don't read any tech news, lets face it, that's a no hire. Good programmers need to keep up with the current going-ons in the industry. I also believe that every programmer has an online trail of questions and answers from past projects that they have worked on. You can evaluate exactly how they go about solving specific problems by viewing the past issues they have looked for help on. It also gives insight into their ability to communicate complex technical problems. <em>Bob responds: Agreed, mostly. The "online trail" is very useful for determining the (in)ability of a person to concisely articulate problems and solutions, and can often give clues to their emotional and social maturity as well (although, don't hold a bad day someone had three years ago against them today; look for overall trends). In general, it's also true that any good developer will keep abreast of developments ... so long as it doesn't go too far and become an uncritical acceptance of marketing hype, conventional wisdom, and herd thinking.</em> I think one of the best ways to determine how good a potential hire might be is to ask them what blogs / tech news sites they read and what forums they participate in.

If they don’t read any tech news, lets face it, that’s a no hire. Good programmers need to keep up with the current going-ons in the industry.

I also believe that every programmer has an online trail of questions and answers from past projects that they have worked on. You can evaluate exactly how they go about solving specific problems by viewing the past issues they have looked for help on. It also gives insight into their ability to communicate complex technical problems.

Bob responds: Agreed, mostly. The “online trail” is very useful for determining the (in)ability of a person to concisely articulate problems and solutions, and can often give clues to their emotional and social maturity as well (although, don’t hold a bad day someone had three years ago against them today; look for overall trends). In general, it’s also true that any good developer will keep abreast of developments … so long as it doesn’t go too far and become an uncritical acceptance of marketing hype, conventional wisdom, and herd thinking.

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