Adam Vandenberg ([info]piehead) wrote,
@ 2005-11-03 20:35:00
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Hacknot: Interview With The Sociopath

The "Hire a list of products and acronyms, not a person" bit jumped at me, due to my attempts this week to add business value.

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[info]madeofmeat
2005-11-04 04:50 am UTC (link)
Sounds like this guy's been interviewing with Microsoft. From what I've heard of their tactics, they favor ego and minutiae over general ability. I'm not sure how you made the cut, Adam.

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[info]piehead
2005-11-04 05:06 am UTC (link)
I didn't! But seriously folks...

True story: on towards the end of my time there, I was on an "interview chain" with the newly moved up lead developer for the product unit. His review email about the candidate included a line about how he did at "my (I-forget-the-name) puzzle."

I didn't know what puzzle that, so I emailed back asking him. A while later he came into my office, drew it up on the board, then left.

I eventually figured it out and emailed back, and then he replied with "that took a while, puts you in the low range."

Now, he was "joking", I suppose, but what the heck, yo.

True story #2: You have an application which is unfinished in the large, but has some slices that need to undergo functional testing by users. Since time users spent testing is time they're not spending doing "real work" which actually counts towards their performance review goals, how do you motivate them to actually devote time to finding problems in the new system?

My answer: make a party out of it. Instead of counting on people at their desks to try things out as they have time, schedule a block of time, get everyone in the room with laptops, give some quick training up front, then sit down with your laptop as they walk through things. This way they can show things they figure out to each other, ask the IT folks present questions, and basically have to be there since it's a scheduled meeting.

Go me.

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