[ChrisBland]

Writing code is the basic 101 of our industry. Anyone can write a loop or an if statement. With todays computing power, for most applications even poorly written code will run and will execute quite fast. What makes someone a 10x (and i hate that term) is the ability to take requirements, or better yet, a vague idea given to them by the business and turn that into software that benefits the end user and makes the company money. The 10x engineer gets to the 'why' that you are building something, not the 'how'.

[daveslash]

RE>> Anyone can write a loop or an if statement. <-- Respectfully disagree.

I had an intern a few years ago -- recent college grad in CompSci. I tried my best to lightly mentor him. One day I was talking about the diff between a compiled language and scripting, mentioned REPL. To demonstrate REPL, I opened up both the windows CMD prompt and the Chrome Developer tools. I mentioned that with a REPL like the Chrome Tools, it's trivial to do FizzBuzz in JavaScript. I explained the problem to him and asked him to take a stab at writing it. This wasn't an interview question, just a discussion and a mentoring opportunity.

He couldn't. What he said next blew me away, coming from a CompSci graduate "Oh, loops, yeah, I never quite understood those. Like, for loops and while loops - I never really got that". I asked if he meant recursion, cause that can be tricky. No - he really could not write a for loop in any language. I wasn't going to shame him and I walked him through it, but I was disappoint. ಠ_ಠ

[Edit: Spelling]

Edit 2...Before I start claiming that CompSci programs are letting students down, I have to consider that the claim that he had a BS in CompSci may have not been accurate. I did not check or verify his transcript. The more I reflect on it, I think he may have had a degree is Web Design and we got pressured to add him to our Software Eng. team because the hiring manager (and his actual mentor outside of work) passed him off as a "Web Developer". Now that I think about it... that seems more likely....Edit 3: It was driving me crazy so I dug up the resume in my inbox ... it was def CompSci, listing C++, C#, Java, and SQL as technologies and data structures and algorithms as courses taken... I'm not sure what to think...

[l33t233372]

Too many students are being pushed through computer science courses, especially at smaller schools.

How did this person pass a technical interview?

[daveslash]

They didn't. I was one of two technical interviewers. We both recommended on passing [not hiring]. It was only a seasonal internship, so we weren't super grilling, but we still recommended a pass. We were overruled by the hiring manager who mentored this person outside of of the office.

[l33t233372]

> We both recommended on passing. It was only a seasonal internship, so we weren't super grilling, but we still recommended a pass

I’m confused. Are you using “pass” as in “pass on the candidate”(fail) instead of “pass” as it is used in the context of an exam?

[daveslash]

Pass, as in "pass on the candidate (fail)". Apologies for the confusion. I've edited my comment for clarity. Thank you.

[therealdrag0]

Insane to be able to graduate like that..

[isanjay]

I know a Computer Science graduate (who is doing her MS now) tell me she didn't know what a program is. So...

[zuzuleinen]

"The 10x engineer gets to the 'why' that you are building something, not the 'how'."

It's a pity that our interviews are all biased towards the "how"

[colonwqbang]

I mean, you do need to know the "how" too. It isn't unimportant, it's just a more common skill. You need to be a 1x engineer before you can be a 10x engineer (if you believe in them).