[waterlesscloud]

He's definitely not a B-player, but that makes it all the more mysterious why this project is missing the target so badly.

I don't think the questions are awful, though they do tend to have a trivia component to them.

What I think has really happened is that the whole thing is completely mispackaged. By calling it a "software development final exam" and saying it's things every programmer should know, he's set up an idea that it would be fairly broad and comprehensive, when in reality it's fairly narrow.

Plus that terminology is a bit socially off-key since it sets people up to be defensive rather engaging in meaningful discussion.

[jaimzob]

Indeed, presenting this more 'guide to interesting things you should know' rather than 'here's an exam I've condescended to set for everyone dumber than me' would have worked out much better.

Maybe B-player is harsh but in my career I've worked with some very good programmers and some real stars. When I talk to the very good programmers I always feel dumber, but whenever I talk to the real stars I always feel smarter myself (though heaven knows that's not actually true). This seems to fall firmly in the "very good programmer" category.