Books ??? - Its kind of funny on my front. I live the nomadic lifestyle and the box I have never opened since my last move has been my books. I plan never too and possible avoid any more technical book purchases. ( My bit for the environment )
How do I manage technical dilemmas ??? Google ... Seriously - Google like mad.. And i end up learning/reading a whole lot more in the general direction of my problem.
>> Well if it matters - not being on facebook is very acceptable. I form the generation that is "expected to be" on facebook but I dont use facebook and most social networks.
Issues of privacy, and the right to be wrong is atmost important and I think with facebook/mysapce/twitter it makes your life totally accountable to atleast 300+ friends, if not more.
On the basic topic - Ok for a ceo to be on facebook ?
>> Well if your ok to the scrutiny of your peers, pals and foes alike then what the hell ? Upload and let the world know. But remember you lost your right to be wrong.
There seems to be a total flaw in this article.This strategy would make sense if you are hiring someone just to code aka pure code monkey.
On the contrary it makes sense to hire someone who is "good (tending to) very good" in his 9 - 5 job and then spends time after work creatively pursing other interests. These people have the most wide ranging spectrum of ideas / creative in their thought and just make more interesting co-workers to have !
I find this useful - Many times, I apply my comp sci ideas and solutions to solve other mundane ( non work )problems.
How do I go about meeting such people? the flaw in the article I see is that it suggests there is a dichotomy between monster.com and networking. Are there other ways to find qualified people that will locate these brilliant programmers who don't do anything programming-related outside of work?
You can start by not driving them away. Seriously.
There are a lot of really good programmers who don't tinker or blog in their spare time. If they come across an employer who makes a categorical statement that "their kind" is not employable, do you think they'll even bother to send in their resume?
As another commenter noted, tinkering with programming on the side is a positive indicator, but not tinkering is not a negative indicator. Good programmers notice the logical mistake here, and it is off-putting.
Your intent is laudable, but your argument seems to miss what I actually said, which was that I personally would never meet them, not that they weren't qualified or weren't employable. I can't hire someone I don't interview.
My experience is that "hiring practices" is a very touchy subject. No matter how precisely you express yourself, people will take things personally because their self-worth is loosely connected to whether other people value their potential inclusion in a team.
So I'm not even remotely surprised to find comments like yours.
"Your intent is laudable, but your argument is flawed."
Yes, you are correct. In my passion I got carried away and started constructing a strawman. My apologies!
"What I said was that I personally would never meet them, not that they weren't qualified or weren't employable."
True. I think it touched a nerve with me because I've seen job posts specifically state that they would not consider any programmer who does not have a blog (!).
Thanks for bringing up the subject; it's a good one. :)
Now that I think about it, I'm upmodding your original point. Whether the argument was flawed or not, the very fact that hiring is a touchy subject makes your point necessarily valid: While there may or may not be merit in my practices, blogging about them may be a poor idea.
Agreed. Consider software design patterns, which were inspired by the (brick-and-mortar) architect Christopher Alexander. That means that someone would have had to stop programming and learn about architecture for this cross-pollination to happen. :)
>>"Fundamental lack of understanding of programming the languages (one project C++, the other Java)"
99.9% of the time , I doubt if engineering has a say - who takes the project. The failure of the project according to me , is when biz guys decide which firm/person gets the project depending on the cost !
I agree, I think that the problem is the Corp VP's making uninformed decisions.
But when you see Java code like this:
StringBuffer buffer = new StringBuffer();
if(buffer == null){
//do something, in most cases i have seen return;
}
The problem here is in Java new will never return null. One of the worst ones I saw was a point system for exception handling that most of the time crashed the entire app. This is only a simple example of what I have seen. When the entire application is spattered with code like that performance takes a major hit.
My assumption is that the outsourcing company took a programmer that knew C++ and said you now write JAVA. Further reinforcing your point!
I would recommend some of the tracks by the group All india radio http://www.myspace.com/allindiaradio . I use it effectively to differentiate the signal from the noise ! :)
Anything without lyrics works for me
How do I manage technical dilemmas ??? Google ... Seriously - Google like mad.. And i end up learning/reading a whole lot more in the general direction of my problem.