[ExI] Attention Spans Decreasing?

[Mike Dougherty]

On Tue, Jan 28, 2014 at 2:51 PM, Adrian Tymes <atymes at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Jan 28, 2014 11:20 AM, "Kelly Anderson" <kellycoinguy at gmail.com> wrote:
> > As I interview for various computer jobs, I notice that they want
> someone who has all the relevant skillset memorized, which is different for
> every job. It's frustrating because there are so many different skillsets
> in computer science. My skillset is to know how to solve problems, I don't
> need to memorize every keyword in PHP to do that. I can learn PHP in a few
> days enough to solve any problem I need to. But people don't trust that.
> It's silly, but I digress.
>
> Quite silly, and most of the best material for how to interview for
> programming jobs points out "drill on memorization of keywords" as
> something not to do.  Problem is, most interviewers never get training on
> how to interview, so they have to guess - and this is a common example of
> something that seems on first glance to be helpful in assessing, but in
> fact is not.
>
>
I suggested the following test to my (now former-) employer:

Give the candidate a room with a whiteboard, a bucket of Lego bricks, and 5
minutes to produce "a plan to build a house." After 5 minutes, come into
the room and discuss the plan.  Then give another 5 minutes to "build that
plan."
After 5 minutes, assess the lego-house for similarity to the proposal.
Invite the candidate to explain how/why the physical model didn't end up
matching the proposal.

If he or she can plan the work, work the plan, and explain any disconnect:
hire.

Depending on the organization, even mediocre skills in either planning or
working can be compensated by a team/support.

* for extra twist, set an expectation of 10 minutes but return in 5  (or
vice-versa)  - see what happens :)
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