Re: Midrange Knowledge test

Of course the interviewer would want to verify the author's integrity.  If
the programmer is using copied work without giving credit, or is presenting
standard programming processes as his own invention, or is presenting a
former employer's information without written permission, then there is an
integrity problem.  Other creative professions use portfolios regularly, and
the rules of plagiarism and confidentiality are well understood and accepted
  
 
Write programs from scratch?  Of course not, none of us writes from scratch.
  Would a programmer that demanded the right to always write from scratch be
welcomed?  The question becomes more of adaptation, proper understanding,
and a willingness to follow shop templates & samples.  

Too easy to fabricate?  Maybe, maybe not.  Its the old idea of the open book
test.  Programming is always an open book test, so why not let the hiring
process use the open book concept, too?  I believe I'd learn more about a
candidate from his/her portfolio than I could possibly learn from any test I
could contrive and administer.

I do believe in the portfolio approach obviously, and I honestly feel that
my web site tells more about my skill sets than my resume ever can.  I've
spent a lot of time on some of those programs, far more than any employer
would tolerate, but along the way I've learned a lot, too.  I'd hope anyone
evaluating the programs there to look at the dates to see my growth, look at
the style, look for my understanding of the problem being demonstrated by
the program, and look at the attention to detail and user friendliness.  I'd
also expect the programs to raise some questions that would expose my
knowledge & ignorances.


 
 
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Booth Martin   http://www.MartinVT.com
Booth@xxxxxxxxxxxx
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-------Original Message-------
 
From: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Date: 12/30/2003 12:53:45 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: Midrange Knowledge test
 
> "Booth Martin" wrote:
> Subject: RE: Midrange Knowledge test
> I never understood why programmers don't have a portfolio of code they
have
> written, to be used to evaluate their skills.  I've never understood why
IT
> Managers don't demand to see samples of programs and documentation.  A
> portfolio is not hard to develop and it is a wonderful opportunity to show
> My best practices, according to my own rulz."    A portfolio is a common
> practice in many of the creative professions, why not in ours?
>
> Beating the 5-minute decision process is not tough for some people.  Some
> people interview well while others can barely remember their own name in
an
> interview.
 
Being a pragmatic person (Having been burned in the past, I trust very *few*
people, especially programmers), three reasons to not prepare or require a
portfolio:
 
1) How many times have you written a program from scratch?  I can tell you
that in 23 years as a programmer I can probably count on both hands the
number of programs that I actually wrote from scratch without copying major
sections of code from other programs, authored by other programmers.  The
most recent programs that I wrote from scratch were actually generated by
the JDE CASE tool, so it doesn't show MY creativity, only that of the author
of the CASE tool, since 90% of the code was computer-generated.
 
2) Too easy to fabricate! I would still have to go through a lengthy
technical interview to ascertain whether or not you have the requisite
skills for the position being offered.  I don't necessarily trust that you
wrote the code that you are presenting as your own.  It's very easy to put
your name in the comments as the author of the code when in fact most or all
of it was written by others.
 
3)  Many if not most companies would *not* give you permission to take
copies of code that you wrote.  Given this assumption, if you did present a
portfolio of code samples, I would assume that you violated the terms of any
non-disclosure or non-compete agreement by doing so, and I would know that
you're not necessarily a trustworthy person.
 
Steve Landess
Austin, Texas
(512) 423-0935