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Testing IT Professionals On Job Interviews?
An anonymous reader writes "After having my university degrees, a couple of IT certifications, and over ten years of work experience in the industry, with 2-4 years of verifiable employment with each employer, working with a wide range of technologies, is it reasonable to ask me to take some test on a job interview? The same companies don't ask other professionals (lawyer, accountant, sales, HR, etc.) to submit to any kind of in-house tests when they are hired. Why are IT professionals treated differently and in such a paternalistic way? More importantly, why do IT professionals accept being treated less favorably than members of other professions? Should IT professionals start to refuse to be treated as not real professionals?"
Ah, damnit! :D
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
Off topic, but I'll reply anyway.
I have used "effect" as both a noun and a verb for the majority of my life, in both the written and spoken word. I am not alone. I am aware of the affect/effect distinction that is made in scholarly circles, and occasionally use it, but I more often fall back on the simple rule that effect can be both a noun and a verb.
"The effects of an earthquake can effect large numbers of people."
This sentence makes sense to me. It makes sense to others. I use "effect" in this way. I am not the only one. The only time this has ever become a problem is when I use it in the written word and even then only by people who insist I do things "correctly". The "correct" form however, offers no justification for itself other than its own inertia. Whither evolution?
To deny that effect is a verb is to deny the usage of the word in the written and spoken english of millions of people. People speak this way. They write this way too. Why is it wrong? Some people seem to think it is right and proper to correct improper usage of english. These same people of course hold the definition of proper english to be the form which they speak and write. Waving around Oxford dictionaries and the opinions of scholars who have been dead for eighty years apparently constitutes a stronger position than speaking and writing in the same way as millions of other people.
So be it. I can't change the way that I speak or write as easily as others can find "errors" in my dialect or my composition. It's essentially an uphill struggle against people who refuse to accept change, and stand haughtily by their own version of things. For those interested in other opinions, I'll link to a piece on Issac Asimov and Richard Feynman on spelling and grammar reform. It's interesting reading for people whose minds are still open.
May the Maths Be with you!
You're correct that "Effect" is a verb, as well as a noun. No one is denying that. However, it does not mean the same as "Affect".
From dictionary.com:
effect (verb): to produce as an effect; bring about; accomplish; make happen
affect (verb): to act on; produce an effect or change in
Or as i like to put it:
The effect (noun) of affecting (verb) something is to effect (verb) a change in it.
Stumbling in the dark
I hear slavering of jaws
Eaten by a grue.