How to interview your next developer
Published: 16 May 2002 17:08 BST
Given the stress of software development, should the job interview for a developer position be kind and gentle, or should it challenge candidates to show their stuff? Common sense says the latter. Yet the typical interview goes easy on the candidate. In this article, I'll show why that tactic doesn't work -- and I'll give you an alternative approach that does.
The classic interview
In the typical scenario, interviewers start by asking candidates to recap their resume. Then come inquiries about specific projects they've worked on and which languages and protocols they understand. Candidates who spout the right buzzwords and acronyms with a certain air of authority tend to convince interviewers they know enough to perform the job. Typically, candidates will repeat this conversation with two or three people, gaining confidence with each interview that they're answering the questions correctly and will be offered a job.
Frankly, I think that this is one of the worst ways to interview candidates for a software development position. Most of these positions are high-stress, deadline-oriented, bug-fixing endless loops. Developers are always scrambling to meet a project or product delivery. This is why software deadlines are never on Friday, always on Monday -- so that we have the weekend just in case we need it. Given the stress of a job like this, why do we persist in giving candidates a kind and gentle interview?
What you're trying to learn
The goals of an interview are simple: At the end of an interview, you need to know whether:
- The candidate is actually competent in the required skills.
- Sufficient chemistry exists between the candidate and the rest of the team.
- The stress of the job will break the individual.
- The candidate can think clearly about problems and work toward solutions.
Although these goals seem obvious, the typical interview doesn't accomplish them. No amount of buzzwords and acronyms will prove that a candidate can withstand the pressures of a software development project. Instead, you need to take a more rigorous approach.
Take me to Part Two.
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