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  • AngieE

    Angie Edition

    2 members,119 bookmarks

    Groupe de partage pour Angie Edition France

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Saved by 30 people (7 private), first by anonymouse user on 2008-01-11


Public Sticky notes

Passionate about technology

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Programs as a hobby

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Will talk your ear off on a technical subject if encouraged

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Significant (and often numerous) personal side-projects over the years

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Learns new technologies on his/her own

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Opinionated about which technologies are better for various usages

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Very uncomfortable about the idea of working with a technology he doesn’t believe to be “right”

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Clearly smart, can have great conversations on a variety of topics

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Started programming long before university/work

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Has some hidden “icebergs”, large personal projects under the CV radar

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Knowledge of a large variety of unrelated technologies (may not be on CV)

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How do you recognise good programmers if you’re a business guy?

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How to recognise a good programmer


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How do you recognise good programmers if you’re a business guy?

It’s not as easy as it sounds. CV experience is only of limited use here, because great programmers don’t always have the “official” experience to demonstrate that they’re great. In fact, a lot of that CV experience can be misleading. Yet there are a number of subtle cues that you can get, even from the CV, to figure out whether someone’s a great programmer.

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In his article The 18 mistakes that kill startups, Paul Graham makes the following point:

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Passion

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Self-teaching and love of learning

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Intelligence

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If you can’t have a great conversation with them in a relaxed social context, they’re very likely not a good programmer

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Hidden experience

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Variety of technologies

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Formal qualifications

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Programs as a hobby

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Will talk your ear off on a technical subject if encouraged

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Learns new technologies on his/her own

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Opinionated about

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technologies

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Programming is a day job

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Don’t really want to “talk shop”, even when encouraged to

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Started programming at university

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Focused mainly on one or two technology stacks (e.g. everything to do with developing a java application), with no experience outside of it

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Positive indicators:

  • Passionate about technology
  • Programs as a hobby
  • Will talk your ear off on a technical subject if encouraged
  • Significant (and often numerous) personal side-projects over the years
  • Learns new technologies on his/her own
  • Opinionated about which technologies are better for various usages
  • Very uncomfortable about the idea of working with a technology he doesn’t believe to be “right”
  • Clearly smart, can have great conversations on a variety of topics
  • Started programming long before university/work
  • Has some hidden “icebergs”, large personal projects under the CV radar
  • Knowledge of a large variety of unrelated technologies (may not be on CV)

Negative indicators:

  • Programming is a day job
  • Don’t really want to “talk shop”, even when encouraged to
  • Learns new technologies in company-sponsored courses
  • Happy to work with whatever technology you’ve picked, “all technologies are good”
  • Doesn’t seem too smart
  • Started programming at university
  • All programming experience is on the CV
  • Focused mainly on one or two technology stacks (e.g. everything to do with developing a java application), with no experience outside of it

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