How To Hire a Hacker 370
itwbennett writes "If you want to hire a hacker, you need to take a more psychology-based approach to the entire interview process to determine whether he or she has changed their ways enough to be a trustworthy employee, says Mich Kabay in a recent Network World blog post. But this approach is also 'germane for highly skilled staffers, even those that don't come with arrest records or who have done something questionable in their pasts,' says David Strom. For example, in your next interview, ask a question that will suss out how much of a sense of entitlement a candidate has — or how much you or your company has. 'One time when I interviewed with Microsoft in Redmond I couldn't get over this sense of corporate entitlement — it was one of the biggest turn-offs that I had during my interviewing day there,' says Strom. 'I got the feeling that I wasn't going to fit in, no matter how smart I thought (or they thought) I was.'"
Re:5 min (Score:5, Funny)
On Personality (Score:5, Funny)
Interviews for the Entitiled... (Score:4, Funny)
I've found the best thing is to doze off during the interview, and when woken...ask for a raise.
Remember, no sleep and no coffee are your friends here...
-Chris
Re:Had any scary interviews? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Sounds more like (Score:4, Funny)
I was hoping there was a joke in there (Score:5, Funny)
When you said that he asked, "Do you understand recursion?" I was hoping that you'd say, "Then after that, he asked, 'Do you understand recursion?' And I said yes. And then he asked . . . (wait for it) . . . 'Do you understand recursion?'"
I'm sorry. It just felt like a setup for a joke about recursion.
Re:This article seems to be anti-hacker (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I was hoping there was a joke in there (Score:5, Funny)
Re:This article seems to be anti-hacker (Score:4, Funny)
So hacker means blowhard?
Re:Had any scary interviews? (Score:1, Funny)
No, he doesn't. The words "accept" and "except" don't sound the same unless you're a tongueless mongoloid.
I have an ironic recursion story (Score:5, Funny)
A coworker's boss once hired a "programmer" while my buddy was on vacation (avoiding the technical interview in the process.) The guy's first task was a simple program, but it always core dumped. He made no progress trying to get it fixed, so my friend held a code review. Each and every function looked like this:
Yes. He called main() at the bottom of each function. When asked about it, the "programmer" said 'that's so it'll return back to main.'
I think the biggest mistake we made was not firing that stupid manager on the spot. But I suppose if we fired managers based solely on incompetent decisions, ... well... you know.
If you can't beat 'em... (Score:2, Funny)
...get a gun.
Re:If you can't beat 'em... (Score:5, Funny)
... arrange to have them beaten.
Re:This article seems to be anti-hacker (Score:4, Funny)
Perhaps you mean cracker
Cracker is a derogatory slang term for people originating in rural areas of the southern part of the US.
If you want to hire a cracker, just look for the baseball cap and check for a pickup truck with a gun rack-- or a John Deere tractor-- parked outside.
The catch 22 (Score:4, Funny)
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When they outlaw computers only outlaws will be free.
Re:Had any scary interviews? (Score:4, Funny)
You inthenthitive clod!
Re:Surely Slashdot can get cracker vs hacker right (Score:2, Funny)
Word.
Re:I was hoping there was a joke in there (Score:5, Funny)
A joke from google [google.ca]
Re:Surely Slashdot can get cracker vs hacker right (Score:2, Funny)
You see, I was talking about words. Strings of sound that have an arbitrary meaning. You are talking about facts. Demonstrable pieces of information. It's like comparing your mother and a classy lady.
Re:Surely Slashdot can get cracker vs hacker right (Score:4, Funny)
Welp, you can sit there and debate the meaning of the word inflammable, I'll be waiting in the parking lot for the fire department.
Re:This article seems to be anti-hacker (Score:5, Funny)
And I thought "hacker" actually meant someone who (literally) hacked on things. With a hatchet or similar.
So more like Hans Reiser?
Re:This article seems to be anti-hacker (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Sounds more like (Score:1, Funny)
So what your saying is, real team building happens when you drink Sunny-D (tm) while skydiving to music from an analog synth? Training sure is complicated, these days . . .
Re:This article seems to be anti-hacker (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Sounds more like (Score:1, Funny)
Here's the plan. We should get a Jew and an Arab and a black dude and a KKK dude and they can all work together. And they will be a great team, cause you know, all those ads we see on TV show us that teams are far better at working together when they're all from totally different backgrounds. And we will call it positive discrimination. You know - cause if we make it PC then they will all love each other and hold hands and be a fantastic team.
Re:Had any scary interviews? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:On Personality (Score:2, Funny)