245 sats \ 9 replies \ @cascdr 30 Mar \ on: SN's Hiring Trial and Energetic Solutions to Problems Created by My Shortcomings meta
I like the idea of doing real trial work a lot. This goes doubly for an open source project.
I have been hired this way (open source bounties) and I felt like it was the most fair way to answer the question: can I make real contributions to this project? For me it got me exposure to their tech stack & team. For the hirer it got them to see what it's actually like to work with me, how I solve problems and interact with would be teammates.
Five trial participants seems like a lot to manage. There are pros and cons. You're slightly vindicated by the fact that A dropped out. But maybe C & E took the "sure thing" with other job offers rather than a 1 in 5 chance. You no doubt know better than me their rationale.
Not only does hiring seem hard but it sucks too. I hope you figure it out and I can learn from your trials.
But maybe C & E took the "sure thing" with other job offers rather than a 1 in 5 chance.
It's hard to determine why people do things. The most I try to say confidently is that they made the best decision that they could for themselves, and consider that we need to get better at everything we possibly did wrong.
I have been hired this way (open source bounties) and I felt like it was the most fair way to answer the question: can I make real contributions to this project?
I agree! It's a bit of a mess upsetting people's expectation of "passing a generic test I studied for so I can get treated like a king," but it takes more than passing tests to be a king ... and all the big companies already have a lock on the good test takers anyway.
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"passing a generic test I studied for so I can get treated like a king," but it takes more than passing tests to be a king
This is one of the least understood and pernicious aspects of public schooling. People have been conditioned to think that passing a test = competency. Competence is a verb not an adjective or a trophy you get to keep forever. You have to continually evolve and expend effort to maintain it.
Personally the two biggest factors I look for are work ethic and initiative. The former for obvious reasons and the latter because I cannot possibly predict what challenges we will face in the future. I need teammates that can solve open ended problems and even challenge my solutions if they're inadequate.
This was a lesson I learned from my dad who has 40 years of experience hiring engineers. He says whenever he's in an interview he probes to find out if they've ever made any projects themselves. It could be a home aquarium. The specifics are trivial. The intangible benefits that accrue from high agency teammates that solve open ended problems are hard to overstate.
Your hiring process is more aligned with how we should work and interact with each other. I am keen to see how that process evolves.
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This is, to me, another aspect of the diversity of the ecosystem @k00b was talking about -- a couple brilliant-but-fickle types can really add a lot, but that's not the only type you need, and shouldn't be the main one. They're like a really strong flavor to be used judiciously.
It's even more interesting when you zoom out and think of this not as a skillset (e.g., programming and the like) but as a mental configuration. What distribution of types of people are most effective, collectively? In the big companies I worked for it was never really possible to think in these ecological terms, but in one of the small ones we sort of did, and I was very aware when hiring myself. A good mix of personality types can be more important in a complex environment than the more measurable skills.
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It's even more interesting when you zoom out and think of this not as a skillset (e.g., programming and the like) but as a mental configuration.
My dad puts it this way: "You need two of every animal or else it's a boring zoo."
In other words it is wise to understand, celebrate and optimize our differences for the higher good.
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That's an awesome line -- your dad sounds like an interesting guy :)
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interesting guy
If only you knew...
[He exhibited] the sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament.
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work ethic and initiative
Yes, my company, about a decade ago had a mythical "10x" programmer. He was very very brilliant and could come up with incredible fixes to complicated problems. He was just a super bright and intelligent person and could often grok the full nature of the problem before I even was mid-way thru explaining it to him.
His big fault was that he was temperamental and suffered from "shiny ball syndrome". That is, because he was so smart he would get bored with all the mundane task required of him (which is in reality 80% of normal work week), thus he would either not do them or invent reasons why they weren't necessary.
We eventually had to let him go and we fretted a long time about how to replace him. Eventually we agreed we would never find anyone nearly as smart as he was, so settled on a "mere mortal" developer.
In contrast, the person we found may require more back and forth meetings to understand the problem and often requires a few weeks to fix things that his predecessor could fix in a day....
BUT, he is very consistent and operates like clockwork. Week in and week out in the last decade we made consistent improvements to the product. He always manages to complete his task - even the mundane items - albeit it takes more time.
In the end work ethic and persistence trumps raw brilliance.
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The brilliant shiny ball syndrome guy should probably work as a consultant or freelancer
About 10 years ago I realized I was bored with my job. Wrong company and wrong field.
I am not a brilliant person, I was working for the wrong people