Comments for Ray Houston http://www.rayhouston.com/blog whatever... Sat, 05 Feb 2011 23:59:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 Comment on Thoughts on Hiring Developers by One http://www.rayhouston.com/blog/?p=20#comment-4 One Sat, 05 Feb 2011 23:59:08 +0000 http://www.rayhouston.com/blog/?p=20#comment-4 >A lower skilled individual just has to try harder. I am impressed with candidates that I meet who are currently working in a lower skilled development position and have the desire to move to a higher one. First it shows that they acknowledge their skill level. Second it shows that they have enough interest in development to want to become better. If you want a shot at something, show that you deserve it. So true. When I'm interviewing developers, I'm more interested in their potential than in their current skill level. If somebody states that he/she started doing .Net development 3 weeks ago but then claims to be disappointed that EF CTP5 broke feature X, apologises for looking tired because he/she was up all night reading the blogs of Haacked/Hanselman/ScottGu ... well, that impresses me. OTOH, I met plenty of so called 'experienced' .Net developers who did not know who Scott Gu is, and never listened to a Hanselminutes podcast. That's a big turn-off for me. Problem: That's very hard/impossible to determine from a CV. I've never seen a 'Favorite Podcasts/Blogs' section on a CV. And then a candidate has to fit in. We're a _very_ informal (small) company. There's a lot of cursing going on, sexists jokes are frequently made, dogs are roaming the office and we had to google '9 to 5 mentality'. That could pose a problem for some, otherwise very qualified, candidates. One >A lower skilled individual just has to try harder. I am impressed with candidates that I meet who are currently working in a lower skilled development position and have the desire to move to a higher one. First it shows that they acknowledge their skill level. Second it shows that they have enough interest in development to want to become better. If you want a shot at something, show that you deserve it.

So true. When I’m interviewing developers, I’m more interested in their potential than in their current skill level.

If somebody states that he/she started doing .Net development 3 weeks ago but then claims to be disappointed that EF CTP5 broke feature X, apologises for looking tired because he/she was up all night reading the blogs of Haacked/Hanselman/ScottGu … well, that impresses me.

OTOH, I met plenty of so called ‘experienced’ .Net developers who did not know who Scott Gu is, and never listened to a Hanselminutes podcast. That’s a big turn-off for me.

Problem: That’s very hard/impossible to determine from a CV. I’ve never seen a ‘Favorite Podcasts/Blogs’ section on a CV.

And then a candidate has to fit in. We’re a _very_ informal (small) company. There’s a lot of cursing going on, sexists jokes are frequently made, dogs are roaming the office and we had to google ’9 to 5 mentality’. That could pose a problem for some, otherwise very qualified, candidates.

One

]]> Comment on Personal Blog Reboot by Ray Houston http://www.rayhouston.com/blog/?p=9#comment-3 Ray Houston Mon, 31 Jan 2011 15:13:28 +0000 http://www.rayhouston.com/blog/?p=9#comment-3 Well, I meant other posts would be non software related! ;) Well, I meant other posts would be non software related! ;)

]]> Comment on Personal Blog Reboot by Kevin Miller http://www.rayhouston.com/blog/?p=9#comment-2 Kevin Miller Mon, 31 Jan 2011 15:06:43 +0000 http://www.rayhouston.com/blog/?p=9#comment-2 Welcome back to blogging. Heh, Nice how your first non-software related post is about software. Welcome back to blogging. Heh, Nice how your first non-software related post is about software.

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