[Sussex] How to tell if someone a really good programmer?

[Mike Diack]

Hard to tell easily, but speaking as one:

1) Find out their background - have they just jumped into it a few 
years/months ago? i.e. Have they a good solid technical background, ideally 
covering a spread of systems/languages?
2) If possible (may not be possible due to legal reasons), ask to see some 
of their source code. Is it well commented, structured or a cryptic mess?
3) What is their experience? What projects have they worked on? How big were 
they? Be wary of programmers who dipped their feet for a few months at a 
time in individual projects and keep flitting about, it may indicate a lack 
of commitment or a desire to hop out of a project when the going gets tricky 
or when something "newer/shinier" comes along.
4) Have they heard of some of the key books/people in their field? Do they 
understand some of the problems too... requirements gathering, estimates, 
technical problems like threading etc...
5) Do they have a grasp on all aspects of the s/ware process, from planning, 
gathering requirements, writing the code, testing it and 
documenting/maintaining it?
6) If they understand and appreciate why static analysis is good as well as 
other forms of testing, then they are probably the real deal.

Just a few thoughts,

Mike

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Andrew Guard" <andrew08 at andrewguard.com>
Sent: Friday, February 08, 2008 4:45 PM
To: "LUG email list for the Sussex Counties" <sussex at mailman.lug.org.uk>
Subject: [Sussex] How to tell if someone a really good programmer?

> So is really possible to tell who is a really good programmer. If so
> what is the tell, tell sings to look for?
>
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