From: Sean O'Dell <sean@...>
Date: 2004-06-10T02:38:48+09:00
Subject: Re: [OT] Re: Unit tests ... not just for the young

On Wednesday 09 June 2004 09:42, Tyler Zesiger wrote:
> Sean O'Dell wrote:
> >
> > Ditto.  When hiring an artist, should one be wary of people who want to
> > be an artist forever?  When hiring a gardener, should one be wary of
> > people who want to garden forever?  I don't see the logic in refusing to
> > hire a person because they love their work and want to keep doing it the
> > rest of their life.

> When interviewing, I would probe for deeper ambitions. Someone who is,
> or will be, a master artist will have ambitions beyond just doing their
> own art all day. And if they don't, I'd try to see if the could be
> coaxed into broadening their horizons.
>
> For example, a master artist is the kind of guy I'd want involved in
> arranging a movie set, or teaching, or *something* besides just churning
> out art all day.
>
> Same goes for the programmer. I'd want to hire a programmer that wants
> to do more than just programming, even if his daily duties will still
> involve a lot of that. The best programmers have more than one area of
> expertise. Programming is just a tool to get something done. The guy who
> has a good understanding of biology, or accounting, or whatever, will be
> better at programming solutions to problems in those areas.

I don't agree that side-interests make for a better programmer.  If you're 
hiring a programmer, you want someone who's main interest is programming.  My 
experience has been that the more a person loves programming, the better they 
are at it.  If we're discussing hiring a programmer, to do programming work, 
I want the best programmer I can get for my money, so side-interests are one 
of the things I DON'T want in a potential employee.

	Sean O'Dell