Comment by Jason Knight on "What do you think is the best way to hire programmers?"

Terms like "Algorithmic interviews" set my teeth on edge; it reeks of marketing scam double-speak.

TALK to them. ASK them questions. SEE if they can verbalize the answer. HAVE the interviewer know something about the topic so they can ask MEANINGFUL and RELEVANT questions.

One of the things I learned about hiring developers back in the '90's was that if a new hire couldn't verbalize the answer to a programming question, it was even less likely they'd be able to code it.

I know in this age of half-tweet TLDR mouth-breathers who freak out "aah, wall of text" that communication skills are at an all-time minimum, but without good communication skills a developer is unlikely to be able to work properly within a group, ask about things they don't know, teach others the things they do know, and properly participate in a proper workplace.

... but right now so many workplaces are utterly banjaxed in this regard as "program managers" push version control software into projects that don't need it, so instead of doing their damned job they can sit there playing Farmville (or whatever fly-by-night Facepuke game is trendy right now) all day.

The biggest problem though is that many 'static' interview techniques -- like "Algorithmic Interviews" are like teaching to the book; you're only testing their memorization skills, not their critical thinking. If I were to use the standard questions you'll find in texts and sources about the subject, it would be as a list of things NOT to ask because dimes to dollars the prospective hire has read and memorized the answers. It's like giving a drug test and letting them pee at home and bring in the cup whenever.

ASK them for examples of their code, ASK them questions directly related to your projects. TALK to them naturally, not off some pre-processed pre-devised off the shelf script!

In other words, TREAT THEM LIKE A PERSON NOT A COG!

Siddarthan Sarumathi Pandian Version control in and of itself isn't necessarily an evil, but it becomes one when it turns into the ONLY means of developers working on a project interacting, and the project manager isn't doing their job.

"Back in the day" we had project managers that DID THEIR HUFFING JOB! That job meant handing out code 'provinces' or 'tasks' to the sub-developers. You implement this part, you over there implement this part. You need to cross out of your 'province' for something, talk to that other developer or go to the manager. Each developer would maintain their own branch of that province separate from the core 'tree' and any 'commits' to the core tree would be handled BY THE PROJECT MANAGER. Each developer was expected to take their own snapshots at major revision points, and the project manager would maintain snapshots (^C^V the directory, rename it with a datestamp -- or have a shell script do it) of the core tree after any commits from the sub-developers. Folding in code from the people working on the disparate parts was the responsibility of the manager, who would then send the changes back downstream to all the other people working on their own subsections of the project.

... so instead of relying on automation that you blindly HOPE will keep things straight, and that someone can point the finger at and blame, you had PEOPLE responsible for things which meant you had ACTUAL accountability.

The approach also fosters an environment where ACTUALLY having to TALK -- in real time -- to other people working on the same project was a must-have. Again why I'll stack good communication skills and an actual work ethic up against "I cans haz teh gitshubz" any day of the week.

In that way over-reliance on version control has removed the 'benevolent dictator' from the process. I've seen too many projects flounder about rudderless just because the person 'in charge' wasn't actually in charge of anything, wasn't aware of what their subordinates were actually doing to the codebase, and as such not giving a proper yay or nay on changes.

You can still use version control, it has benefits, but you've GOT to have SOMEBODY riding the herd.

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