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

[Richie Jarvis]

Brendan Whelan wrote:
> In my opinion, the most common mistake in recruiting is that we all 
> prefer to find someone just like ourselves whereas any team needs a 
> mixture of skills and personalities. I long since gave up on asking 
> detailed technical questions and asking whether a candidate used some 
> specific editor, version of an operating system, etc. Instead I would 
> pose a vague problem telling them that they can ask any questions. For 
> example, "my system is running slowly" (I normally had one or my 
> current problems in mind.). Most would ask what the system was used 
> for and the try to work out whether it was a hardware or a software 
> problem and then move onto finer details.  Often they would end up 
> concluding  that the problem wasn't in an area where they were an 
> export so I asked how they would overcome there shortcomings and solve 
> the problem. It they sat there and even with gentle prompting couldn't 
> follow a logical path then I considered them unsuitable. If they could 
> come up with sensible suggestions and threw in some relevant fine 
> technical details then I considered that they would probably be 
> suitable. Of the people I have recruited, virtually all turned out to 
> be better than I expected and I suspect that is normally the case. 
> However, I did once recruit a capable and affable alcoholic but that 
> is another story! Brendan
I am glad I am not the only one who recruits like that - although I do 
expect them to display understanding of the areas of competance on their 
CV's! 

My recruitment is more tending towards Field Engineers, who require a 
very broad background in multiple techs.  Same rules apply though - I 
did like Geoffrey's list - its very good (apart from the specific 
references to things some folks might not have heard of...  WTF is 
Scheme - /me googles....)

Cheers,

Richie