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by johan_larson 4311 days ago
Hiring the right people is a hard problem. The standard approaches, hiring software developers on the basis of code scribbled on white-boards or a series of narrow technical questions, are bad. Instead, I favor three different approaches, depending on the level of the position:

We should hire new grads based on internship performance.

We should hire senior developers based of their records of design, implementation, and leadership.

We should hire mid-tier developers based on code review, typically based on open-source code.

More here: http://short-sharp.blogspot.ca/2013/04/stop-white-board-codi...
2 comments
nawitus 4311 days ago
>We should hire mid-tier developers based on code review, typically based on open-source code.

What about developers who push non-polished projects to GitHub? Can the candidate specify which project you're reviewing?

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johan_larson 4311 days ago
Sure. If they want me to review specific projects or even specific files, that's fine. I understand there is quite a bit of code out there that is truly experimental, and therefore not up to production standards.

It's also OK for the candidate to tell me that the reviewed code has some problems, which lets us discuss what should be done to fix it.

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fnbr 4311 days ago
How do you hire interns?
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johan_larson 4311 days ago
Code review, if possible. Students of computer science write a lot of code for assignments and projects; I want to see some of it. Obviously, it makes sense to judge the students more leniently than I would judge finished professionals. Grades in relevant courses are also a useful signal.

If a student insists that he has no code suitable for review, fall back to coding problems, since coding under unrealistic conditions is better than no coding at all. But in such cases I have to wonder what the heck the student has been submitting for assignments and projects, so that's definitely a minus.

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forsaken 4311 days ago
A reminder not to refer to programmers as "he" by default. A bit more here: http://alexgaynor.net/2013/nov/30/gender-neutral-language-fa...
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BerislavLopac 4311 days ago
By seeing how good coffee they make?
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