[stephenr]

> she mentioned a female developer who couldn't write SQL queries

I'd wager a third of the nodejs "developer community" could be described that way. The key thing is was she hired to write sql queries?

[dotnetisnotdead]

Yes, that is part of her job, but it wasn't covered in the interview process from what I've been told.

[stephenr]

I've worked with plenty of tech and related people who didn't understand basic technologies we expect in a given field.

I tend to reserve judgement until their effort can be judged. If he or she is slow but learning and improving, I'd accept (and probably raise with a manager) that the hiring process is flawed and try to help him/her.

If its just utter idiocy, I'm less forgiving.

I literally had a business analyst come to me - the new guy at the time - on her last day after several years of working in the org and ask me what her email address is.

Or the BA who insisted she didnt need to write a clear and specific spec for a feature, because she could just open up dreamweaver and put some buttons on a page.

Those sorts of people I have zero fucking time for, and will drink merrily when they quit/are fired.

[YeGoblynQueenne]

Unfortunately, they tend to be promoted quickly. For being so brilliant, you understand.

And then they're your boss. Or your boss's mate.

[Gusbenz]

Does she even bother looking at the docs or would that also denote how useless she is?

[dotnetisnotdead]

Well, she is learning it now and I wouldn't call her "useless". But her level of experience and knowledge is far below "software engineer" and if she were a guy she couldn't get away with it.

[querulous]

you'd be surprised. i worked with people who would write simple json structures by creating a class in java and then serializing it and printing it to the console to copy and paste. most of them were promoted out to management

[YeGoblynQueenne]

Actually, there is a certain wisdom to promoting incompetent people in this manner. At least then you know that they're nowhere near anything they can use to do real lasting damage.

[stephenr]

> they're nowhere near anything they can use to do real lasting damage

Except, make 'technical management' decisions like "we should use mongodb because it's web-scale".

[smsm42]

https://blog.codinghorror.com/why-cant-programmers-program/

[swingedseraph]

> and if she were a guy she couldn't get away with it

I think this is untrue. I know a lot of male "sofware engineers" who are totally incompetent and remain well employed.

[weberc2]

Presumably the OP meant "remain in that role in the company"; not necessarily intending to extrapolate to all positions at all companies.

[goialoq]

The best C++ programmer (someone who does real magic in the machine) I know has said that they can't think in SQL. Different people have different skills and mindsets.