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Interviewing Experienced IT People?
thricenightly writes "After more than 20 years in IT I've learned that the most valuable people in a team are frequently the old timers. Young pups straight out of college might (think they) know all the latest buzzwords and techniques, but in the real world, where getting working products delivered on time and on budget is of paramount importance, people who have been doing the job for a decade or two tend to be the people I'd rather be working alongside. I've recently been elevated to a position where I get to interview and choose those who get hired in my department. Although I'm very much focused on choosing the right person for the role regardless of age, experience or whatever, it's probably fair to say the more mature applicants will get a more sympathetic hearing from me than they might from most other interviewers for IT roles. The question is, what do I ask older applicants to get them to demonstrate the value of their experience? My current gambit is something like 'IT is seen as a young man's game. My next applicant after you is 23 years old. What do you know that he doesn't?' This gets responses ranging from the vague to the truly enlightened. All next week I'm interviewing for a number of senior software designer and developer roles. What should I be asking of the more experienced applicants, and what responses should I be looking out for?"
The show's just beginning; the lights they are a dimmin'
I love this thread so much!
I recently took a job at a web hosting company. During my interview with the senior admin, my 5-digit slashdot ID gained me major bonus points... especially since I'm only 24 years old.
I think you'd find they have a keener understanding of how to bring a civil suit for age discrimination.
As a 23-year-old IT professional, I strongly recommend you interview more of them. ;)
"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
I'd start with an open ended question:
"You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike...what do you do?"
I'd follow it up with a more direct problem solving question:
"I need to get all the primes less than 1000, and all I have are these punch-cards...go."
Take it to the limit, everybody to the limit, come on, everybody fhqwhgads.
I joined a company despite them relying on those stupid management-book trick questions like "what mistakes you have made". I'm not doing that again. Goodbye.
What is your name?
What is your quest?
What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?
I'm a fresh graduate with a good GPA and no work experience.
;)
In other words, I've never made a mistake
Mention how your company is committed to Total Quality Management and ISO 9000 processes. If the guy doesn't start running for the exits, he's not learned anything from his experiences. Try and have someone track him down and explain that you were just testing before he makes it to his car, or you'll never see him again.
A way to keep balance might be to have some of the younger members give talks on things that are more cutting edge and that the seniors might enjoy learning.
Like those new Dee Vee Dee things they've been hearing about?
Sounds like: "I am wanting a senior developer, but he needs to be less that 25 years old". Do you work for HR by any chance? You will probably want some who has 20 years of Java development next!? ;)
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
The proper response from this geezer would be, "I know that I can and will crush him under my boot heel, and then then you if you dare ask that question again."
I'm a fresh graduate with...no work experience.
In other words, I've never made a mistake ;)
Oh, you've made one mistake all right.
The opinions stated herein do not necessarily represent those of anybody at all. Deal with it.
How about asking them:
"Why are you willing to work for the same salary I'm going to pay the 23 year old?"
High to Low:
Customer Service
User Experience
Security
Best Practices
Backup
Fault Tolerance
Uptime
Documentation
NAh, thats just Apple.
"This person is lucky."
Unless you're interviewing a zombie...
"It is possible to commit no errors and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." -Peak Performance
Apparently a 236 UID doesn't get you troll resistant armor.
Guess I'll have to re-roll my character.
"May not be available for on-call next Monday..."
Haida Manga
If they answer "yes" I put a small mark on their application next to their experience. I find this answer indicates naïvété. I hear "I don't have enough experience to have realistic views or expectations of the field." In this case a "yes" answer drops them a bit lower in ranking.
:)
Work in IT long enough that you experience your first dressing down (because his favorite screen saver quit working) from an idiotic supervisor whose idea of advanced technology is a toaster. Work in IT long enough to have your non-IT coworkers complain that they see you around all the time when the network is working correctly, and you disappear (into the NOC) when the network goes down. Work in IT long enough to *not* hear praise at how quickly you recovered the entire system after the server crash, but hear instead about how much overtime you burned (40 hours) in two days.
If you say "yes" after all of that, either you're lying or you're so pumped up on Prozac you could giggle your way through Saw IV.
-Joe
Get off my virtual lawn, you damned virtual kids!
You forgot CowboyNeal you insensitive clod.
Life moves pretty fast; if you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. -FB
I like that last one.
I actually wrote code that was self-modifying, managed to crank a four page pyramid of nested if-then-else blocks of code into one amazing twelve line chunk of code that modified itself at runtime based on the evolution of the data as it was being processed.
When I was young.
And stupid.
Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer
Do NOT:
1) Hire ANYONE named Simon Travaglia.
2) Hire anyone reccomended by the aforementioned individual.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
You can never go wrong hiring the hot flirty chick.
There must be, or why do you see job adverts requiring 4 years experience in something that's only been around for 2?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Likewise, continuing your battle against Teh Evil that is the joke you did not get, makes you a complete and utter turd, especially since your handicap did not seem to stop you rating comedic talent, like a deaf person who has something up his ass and keeps rating orchestra. Some people...