Taking interviews is not new to me. I have started taking interviews 12 years back. From then, may not be regularly, but once in a while I used to take interviews.
But, in my current role, taking interviews became a part of my role as I have to select my own team. I have taken more than 30 interviews in the recent past. I have selected only one whereas I have to select two.
Now the problem is, when I ask for something, the candidate say "I know this theoretically, but in my current job, I have not got any opportunity to work on it"
I asked them whether they have created any example to see how the command works. The answer is 'NO'.
My question is, are they thinking that, they will learn theoretically and implement practically in the job? How they are expecting their current job to give them opportunity to work on all the commands that are available in a software. There will be hundreds of commands in a software and a currently their job may require only the usage of 10% of the commands. That does not mean that, they should blame the current job for not using the remaining 90% of the commands.
Again, I am not saying that, they should know the 100% of the commands. Depending on the software, we should know at least 30% to 40% of the commands.
When learn something, an example should be created to see how it works. This helps in quicker development in the job when the commands needs to be used.
But, in my current role, taking interviews became a part of my role as I have to select my own team. I have taken more than 30 interviews in the recent past. I have selected only one whereas I have to select two.
Now the problem is, when I ask for something, the candidate say "I know this theoretically, but in my current job, I have not got any opportunity to work on it"
I asked them whether they have created any example to see how the command works. The answer is 'NO'.
My question is, are they thinking that, they will learn theoretically and implement practically in the job? How they are expecting their current job to give them opportunity to work on all the commands that are available in a software. There will be hundreds of commands in a software and a currently their job may require only the usage of 10% of the commands. That does not mean that, they should blame the current job for not using the remaining 90% of the commands.
Again, I am not saying that, they should know the 100% of the commands. Depending on the software, we should know at least 30% to 40% of the commands.
When learn something, an example should be created to see how it works. This helps in quicker development in the job when the commands needs to be used.
నేను చేసిన 10-12 ప్రాజెక్ట్లలో ఇప్పటి వరకు నాకు ముందే knowledge ఉండి చేసినవి లేవు. కానీ అన్నిటిలో నేను బెస్ట్ గా పని చేసి, కస్టమర్ దగ్గర చాల పేరు తెచ్చాను.
ReplyDeletebasic programming skill and Learning skills are sufficient for software. Afterall we are not doing Rocket science ;-)
Before joining any project manager used to suspect me because i dont know the stuff. but at the end of project he used to send a big mail saying how good i did in the project.
I don't know what these commands are but yes! whatever you are tryin' to say is true. Of the very rare who want to learn/read only few bother to test their learnings before they get a chance to implement. All they do is they read and prattle in the interviews.
ReplyDeleteThis reply is for Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteYou are lucky for getting that job. For me, knowing basics and not practicing is like "I know theoretically about the car, the basic components of the car. But I have not got the chance to drive the car. Given a chance, I can prove myself by driving the car."
Will you appoint the driver and let him allow to drive?
If I get a person like that, when work is given to him, instead of he doing the work, I have to do the work for him.
Programming is not a rocket science. But, when u read something, what is stopping you from practicing an example?
The Team : My two points.
ReplyDelete1. I support above anon with your car example. When you don't get a good driver, or you can't afford a good driver, its better to take a person who has theoretical knowledge on car than a lay man in car field. Similarly, you may not get a candidate who is 100% suitable for your job description. In that case, you need to take a candidate who has some theoretical knowledge and good fundamentals and train him. Here the keyword is TRAINING. How well that guy picks up your training depends on how well he is strong in fundamentals and how smart he is. So in interviews, that candidate is trying to he is not completely layman in that field, at least he has some knowledge to be considered.
This may not be suitable for all the jobs but for most of the jobs you need to depend on Training.
Second point:
ReplyDeleteI am not sure whether you took interviews abroad. If you did , you would have noticed a clear cultural difference, that is , we Indians never give NO as an answer to anyone. I am not saying that is wrong. That is our culture.
same applies here... if you ask something which candidate doesn't know...he might answer like this ...
>>> he has some theoretical knowledge but he never got a chance to work hands on.
or
>> he had worked long time back and he forgot now. but given a chance he would pick it up in no time
or
>> he always wanted to work because he likes it, but he never got a chance. given a chance, he would put extra efforts to learn much faster
you may hear something like this...but you never hear " NO, I DON'T KNOW THIS" from a candidate.
This applies to all fields, not only s/w. We Indians have this unique characteristic ..so we should adjust with this :-)
నేనే Anonymous: in general when i read something i will practice. it doesnt mean its exactly like realtime system.
ReplyDeletefor ex: i know semaphores and i wrote some sample code. may be 5-10yrs back in college. but now i can take up job and work in realtime system. But now i cant remember the syntaxes and junk for interview But i can work in realtime job situation. here i dont need to do daily practice but i need to know how to do with that conceptually and theoretically.
To: సాధారణ పౌరుడు
ReplyDeleteI think u have not read my block carefully. What I said is, when u learn something, then why do u practice? That does not mean that "a real time experience". He/she can write a small example to see how exactly it works.
To Manchu:
ReplyDeleteMay be you do not want to say "NO" when u do not know something. But I came across many candidates who said "No" when they do not know.
As far as the training is concerned, when that guy did not bothered to practice an example when he read some commands, what is the guarantee that he will practices in job. The job may force him to do that. But why can't they do the same thing earlier?
Coming to the CAR example, you may want to take a person who do not know the driving, I prefer to look for alternative instead of taking the risk of life. In the job I may look for other options rather than taking him
:-)
ReplyDeleteIts not me or you. It is a typical example given to show the difference between Asian and Western work cultures. I too have seen FEW Asian people saying firm NO and FEW Western people saying "half No/half Yes".
I am sorry I can't argue more about the training & car examples, but I request you to keep my comments there.
Good Luck with the name "The Team".
Thanks for your comments మంచు
ReplyDeleteమంచు గారు టీం గారు, డిస్చుస్సిఒన్ బలేగుందండి.
ReplyDeleteI have taken few interviews, but I followed two pattern always.
ReplyDelete1) Hiring for the current project and requirement
2) Hiring for pooled resources
While conducting interviews, we (should) know for which particular position we are hiring.
1) If we are hiring for current project and immediate requirement, then we have to see whether the candidate is fit for that particular position. Measure his/her skills from the project/requirement perspective.
The candidate can be selected only if 80-90% of his skills matched. (the percentage depends on urgency and number of vacancies and other factors)
A simple example here is, though the candidate has application and development experience, he/she is very well versed with database. But the current requirement is more of application development, and require minimum knowledge in database. Then we cannot select this candidate as the requirement will not be fulfilled.
2) Hiring for pooled resources.
Here the candidate's learning skills, advanced skill etc. will be considered and measured. More questions are asked from the candidate's known skills. So, that the confidence in the skills having by the candidate are assessed.
Of course in both the cases, the persons basic/minimum knowledge is assessed by simple and tricky questions.
But in my experience, no one can 100% assess a candidate by asking some technical stuff or some tricky questions. It also depends on interviewer mood, guess and etc. factors.
Take me an example, I don't have a skill to answer the tricky questions, but i'm a successful programmer and lead. ;-)
My 2 cents.
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree with Manchu & Srinivasa Raju comments.
As a person who interviewed at least few hundred people and as a company owner, my motto is simple (which I have copied and agree completely with Southwest Airlines)
“Hire for Attitude, Train for Skill”
My most successful candidates are the ones who never, I mean never used particular software or particular product but the candidates who are willing to learn(if they have to) and willing to work hard with good attitude and confidence. (If the project is very urgent nature or the client needs a particular skill master, it would be different story as Srinivasa Raju said)
In my opinion lot of Asian Interviewers should learn the difference between ragging and interviewing (Believe me I was one of those who did not know the difference at one time)
Good Post and good discussion.
Thanks everybody who shared their thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI liked few thoughts and in fact I believe in them. If a candidate is excellent in technical skill but not good in attitude, he is not fit for my team (at least)
యాజ్ మై ఎక్స్ పీరియన్స్,
ReplyDeleteనేర్చుకోవాలన్న ఆశ కన్నా, ఎలా ఇంప్లిమెంట్ చేస్తారన్నదే ముఖ్యం. దానికి చాల ఇతర అంశాలను పరిగణన లోకి తీసుకోవాల్సి ఉంటుంది. ఉదాహరణకి, అభ్యర్థి యొక్క ఆటిట్యూడ్ , సమస్యని పరిష్కరించే విధానం, అడిగిన ప్రశ్నలకి జవాబు చెబుతున్న విధానం బట్టి అంచనా వెయ్యొచ్చు.
ఇలా చెబుతూ పోతే పెద్ద సబ్జెక్ట్ ఇది..
నేను చేసిన 10-12 ప్రాజెక్ట్లలో ఇప్పటి వరకు నాకు ముందే knowledge ఉండి చేసినవి లేవు. కానీ అన్నిటిలో నేను బెస్ట్ గా పని చేసి, కస్టమర్ దగ్గర చాల పేరు తెచ్చాను.
ReplyDeletebasic programming skill and Learning skills are sufficient for software. Afterall we are not doing Rocket science ;-)
సాధారణ పౌరుడు గారూ..
ఇవి నా అలోచనలు మాత్రమే.
నిజమే రాకెట్ సైన్స్ కాదు... కాని ఒకటి రెందు నెలలు, కేవలం ఆత్మ విశ్వాసాన్ని నమ్మి ఉద్యోగం ఇచ్చి రెండు మూడు నెలలు ఇన్వెస్ట్ చేసేంతటి టైమ్ ఇప్పుడు ఏ కంపెనీ కి ఉంటుంది చెప్పండి.
మీరు చెప్పింది. ఫ్రెషర్ కాండిడేట్ కయితే వర్తిస్తుందేమో.
Interesting discussion.
ReplyDeleteI agree with "సాధారణ పౌరుడు", మంచు, శ్రీనివాసరాజు and the 2 cents from the last Anon.
You can depend on those who have "Common Sense" :)