What are the minimum requirements to get a job in?

[Dave Angel]

On 12/14/2012 01:56 AM, Devin Jeanpierre wrote:
> On Fri, Dec 14, 2012 at 1:13 AM, rusi <rustompmody at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Dec 14, 8:33 am, Dave Angel <d... at davea.name> wrote:
>>> Do you know any one computer language thoroughly?  Or just a little of
>>> many languages?
>> There is a quote by Bruce Lee to the effect:
>> I am not afraid of the man who knows 10,000 kicks
>> I am afraid of the man who has practised 1 kick 10,000 times
> It's worth pointing out that kicks stay relevant for your entire life.
> Unfortunately, many programming languages don't.
>
> I guess the next metaphor would be stock investments and
> diversification. Point is, don't just practice one kick.

But if you never learn any one move thoroughly, knowing what several
others are supposed to look like isn't going to help.

i worked once for a company that had a very simple programming test for
the interview (only one interview - you either made it, or you didn't). 
The candidate was asked if he was experienced with the particular
language, then given 15 or 20 minutes to write something.  On paper, no
computer available.  Afterwards he was to discuss what he did, why, and
what other options were available and what advantages they might have. 
No library functions were needed.

I wrote my answer down, then stopped the interviewer as he was about to
leave for 15 minutes.  We discussed my answer thoroughly.  Later, after
I was working there, I discovered that over half of the candidates
couldn't write any code for the problem.  No starting place for a
discussion.

Four years later i was hired at a company which prided itself on a tough
interview question, which was done on a computer, and usually took an
hour or more.  They didn't even ask me to try it, nor even tell me about
it till long after I started work.  People there knew me, and the
founder of the company called me when his company had a place where I
could fit.



-- 

DaveA