How to Recognize a Good Programmer

KDan writes to share an article he has written about what some of the key factors in recognizing a good programmer. "It's not as easy as it sounds. CV experience is only of limited use here, because great programmers don't always have the 'official' experience to demonstrate that they're great. In fact, a lot of that CV experience can be misleading. Yet there are a number of subtle cues that you can get, even from the CV, to figure out whether someone's a great programmer."

Comments

Hope this makes it.

[Anonymous Coward]

#include <stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
/* duh, have to get the vars before... */
if (firstName == "Theo" && LastName == "de Raadt")
{
printf("Excellent programmer\n");
}
else
{
printf("Hmmm... better look further.\n");
}
printf ("f1r57 pr0st!\n");
return 0;
}

Re:Hope this makes it.

[Reverend528]

Sorry, it doesn't compile. I'm going to have to mod you down for that.

Re:Hope this makes it.

[Anonymous Coward]

By reverse engineering this article, I've found out "How to be recognized as a good programmer."

Re:Hope this makes it.

[Glonoinha]

Real programmers don't write catch blocks.

In the words of my master,
Do or do not.
There is no try.

it's easier than you think:

[yagu]

It's easier than you think:

1. Find a good programmer and learn his (or her) name.
2. Get to know him (or her).
3. Take him (or her) out to coffee a few times.
4. Engage in as many social activities with this good programmer as possible.

After sufficient interactions like these with a good programmer you really should be able to recognize him (or her).

(Appropriate apologies to Steve Martin for shameless borrowing of his "How to get a million dollars, and not pay taxes" routine.

Re:it's easier than you think:

[Anonymous Coward]

PROTIP: Unpronounceable last names and comically bad hair are also good signs - but not positive proof.

So you'd advise outsourcing to India or Eastern Europe?

Re:it's easier than you think:

[computational super]

What really sets you apart from others, though, is your humility.

Re:it's easier than you think:

[Chysn]

> I double-dog dare you to post these magical 20 lines here

        I'm gonna slightly break protocol here and go right to the dreaded triple-dog dare.

CV experience?

[HTH NE1]

CV experience is only of limited use here, because great programmers don't always have the 'official' experience to demonstrate that they're great. In fact, a lot of that CV experience can be misleading. Yet there are a number of subtle cues that you can get, even from the CV, to figure out whether someone's a great programmer.

You mean the hours I put in playing CastleVania isn't necessarily a reliable metric to determine how great a programmer I am?

How to recognize a good sysadmin

[alta]

They obviously can't find a good sysadmin that can project future load on their servers and scale accordingly ;)

Or maybe they can, and the sysadmin can just blame the evil bean counters.

Re:BigInt

[Anonymous Coward]

How can I find programmers who don't squander their days reading Slashdot.

Ask him...

[Anonymous Coward]

Ask him if he's a good programmer in klingon

Easy. I see a damn good programmer when ...

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

... I am brushing my teeth in the morning in the mirror, grinning back at me, saying what a great programmer I am. :-)

Re:Easy. I see a damn good programmer when ...

[Jeremi]

I am brushing my teeth in the morning in the mirror, grinning back at me, saying what a great programmer I am. :-)

If nothing else, being able to grin, talk, and brush your teeth all at the same time is indeed a rare talent :^)

Lots of ways

[hey!]

First, there is razor sharp intellect and subtle, erudite wit. There's the way he has of getting right to the heart of matters, his effortlessly quick and authoritative opinions on an astonishing array of subjects. Of course it is conceivable that some might miss his unconventional but undeniable good looks, although that might stretch the bounds of credibility.

But in a pinch you can go with the way that he often goes about wearing your pants or the fact that he stares back at you from the mirror every morning. That's a dead giveaway.

Of course if that fellow's unavailable, most people end up settling for somebody who, while utterly lacking his extraordinary qualities, nonetheless agree with as many of his opinions has he has cared to express.

Re:BigInt

[Anonymous Coward]

How can I find programmers who don't squander their days reading Slashdot.

Easy...If they can finish any of these.. don't hire them...

a) I for one welcome our new programming _________

b) In Soviet Russia the programmers ____ ___

c)
1. Hire programmer
2. ?????
3. ______

or make a comment about Macs/PS3/Windows and if you get modded/spelling or grammar corrected.. the same applies.

Re:Two things

[phasm42]

Thats why once, in .NET, I coded some tool, it took let say 50000 lines of code, then learned about some obscure feature that could have reduced it to 500. Yes, 500.

Arrays?

I kid, I kid!

See previous article

[tmcmahon]

He can re-program a Tram system with a remote control.

He? She?

[AeroIllini]

If your potential programmer didn't do any programming before university, and all his experience starts when she got her first job, she's probably not a good programmer. Apparently, a lot happened between university and that first job.

Re:They're out there, but scarce....

[codepunk]

Perhaps because we spend our entire life typing shit like this...

SomeStupidAssLongClassName clsSomeStupidAssLongClassName = new SomeStupidAssLongClassName();

Re:BigInt

[jimbojw]

I cant understand any of those, you insensitive clod!

Re:BigInt

[maxwell demon]

a) I for one welcome our new programming challenges

b) In Soviet Russia the programmers know math

c)
1. Hire programmer
2. ?????
3. Pay salary!

OK, did I pass the test? :-)

Re:Two things

[Red Flayer]

Knowing 10 technologies equaly well means that you don't know either of them at their peek.

At first I was going to make some snide comment about grammar, since 'either of them' should refer to ten technologies.

Then I re-read it... you wrote 10, not ten.

Nice.