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Notes From the Old Man
I liked the Col. Tigh character, until they made him into a caricature.
Probably the fault of writers who never knew a really good tough XO
I have an affinity towards hard-core characters in fiction and real life. I'm not talking Rambo or John Wayne -- I mean earthy people that simply have a high level of standards and expect those under them to keep up. We used to call it leadership. Nowadays, perhaps, they would have these folks singing Kumbaya and participating in focus groups. Things change.
For that reason, I also liked Colonel Tigh the first season on BattleStar Galactica. Hard-charging, loyal, drinks too much, sleazebag for a wife. All of the characters on BSG were deeply flawed (if you haven't noticed), but Tigh and Adama made a good team. You could picture them having a long friendship and ending up where they were. Later in the series, however, the writers took the drinking too far, brought back the wife and made her a problem, and had the Colonel do some really bone-headed things. In my opinion, this did not fit the original character. Characters don't suddenly spring into life in a series -- to be an XO there has to be a sufficient back story and competence that would prevent all of that malarkey. But heck, I'm no science fiction series writer, so there you have it. For a while there, it just looked like somebody actually captured a neat dynamic that we see in the military -- hard XO, softer CO, loyalty, duty, and honor promoted above all else. Flawed characters still acting as a functioning team. Then they blew it. Next season they'll probably have Tigh beating up old ladies or something. He seems to be a favorite whipping boy.
Lately I've been interviewing folks for technical jobs. Seems like about every year or so, I'm on the other side of the phone interviewing you schmucks to see if you can fit into open positions. When I do these interviews, I begin to feel like Tigh -- having to make tough choices among really good candidates. Having to hold the standards high enough that some won't make it through. I have to be more demanding than my easygoing character allows. I hate being like that, but it's a tough world, and the customer's needs have to come first. So I get a little crusty.
Here's what I've learned this time around that I can share with you:
- The bar is moving up - The resumes I'm looking at today for junior-level programmers are the same as they would be for senior-level folks five years ago. The knowledge bar is moving up. If you are not learning a lot on your own, you are getting left behind, guys. For the .NET people, if you've got SQL Server, .NET, and ASP.NET experience, so what? My sister has it. Even if you have those skills to some depth, it's just not that impressive from a "buzz words" standpoint. It used to be I told people to have a couple of good languages and some DBA experience. Now, especially with the integration of the .NET IDE into SQL Server, everybody looks like a DBA on paper, even if their only experience consists of adding records to a table.
- Attitude counts more than ever - As I'm talking to folks, I'm imagining them calling me and telling me the build won't happen, or the database is fried, or the web server is puking. Are they going to handle problems and stress with a good attitude (although still being realistic)? Or is everything on the verge of disaster anyway, no matter what the status of the project? What type of "vibe" are they going to give the team? Is this somebody who is going to facilitate everybody working together, or become our own Prima Donna? Look. Smarts doesn't give you a pass in the personality department. Maybe some other group wants a genius that they have to feed with a slingshot because nobody wants to get that close. I'll pass.
- "Participated In" doesn't mean much - I'm seeing a lot of "I participated in the design of such-and such." Well what the heck, exactly, does that mean? Somebody who sat in the back of a room with 30 folks and watched a slide-show? Participation is a really vague word. My cat participates in my interviewing process, but I don't think I would get it a job as a recruiter. (Although there is something to be said for that....grin) Some of these folks have great experience and some sound like they were sleeping through the whole thing. If the only verb you have is "participate" -- just leave the sentence out. It's not worth my time. If you were an active participant, then that means you led for a while, if only for certain issues. So put "lead" down and tell me about it when I ask.
- You have to interview flexibly - Everybody interviews differently. Some guys, such as me, will gently quiz you about your roles and duties in past projects, looking for small clues to how things went for you. Some folks will give you a grueling light-in-your-face interview. Some folks look for independent thought, positive attitude, ambition, and smarts (I'm one of those!) While some folks want to know if you can remember the 5 laws of normalization in the correct order. Some folks want to get a "warm and fuzzy" feeling about you. Everybody's different. As the interviewee, you have to figure out, quickly, what type of interview you are on and act accordingly. If I'm interviewing you on general skills and you misquote an API, it's no big deal for me. To me, if you can look it up, I'm happy. Other people are not that way. You have to be careful. If you've only got one song-and-dance, you'd better hope for only doing one interview.
I've been around the barn many times with a lot of different interviewer styles. One company flew me to Texas for a day-long interview session from dozens of their employees. It kind of felt like an interrogation! But I passed with flying colors. Another company had me on the phone with a room full of their top architects. There were about 7 or 8 guys all firing questions at me as fast as I could answer. This time it felt a lot like Jeopardy, or that thing that Spock did in "The Voyage Home." I did okay on that one too, but tou must adapt and enjoy yourself. It helps to look at it as all just a game -- it's nothing personal.
- Speak up - The old joke is how do you tell an extroverted software engineer? He looks at your shoes when he talks instead of his own.
As an interviewer I can only pull so much from you. Many times I have interviewed guys where I had to really probe to find out what they knew. Most interviewers aren't going to take the time for this. Sometimes, culture can hurt you here. I've interviewed women from other cultures who were very shy and timid. Not everybody has to be a loudmouth like me, but you need to be a little assertive in your interview. This is your life, you're talking about something you are an expert in -- you should be confident and knowledgeable. When I hear people talk about themselves, I imagine this is the way they will be talking about the code they write. Will they be honest? Will they be forthcoming about the good and bad parts? Or will they hide and make me find out what's going on? I want to know, even if I don't want to hear it. So speaking up is a very important thing.
- The types of work environment count - What kinds of teams have you worked on? Large? Small? Agile? CMM level 5? To me this is an important question. Are you so driven by detail management that you will have a hard time being agile? Or are you so used to working without nets that imposing some kind of structure on you will make you unhappy and bored? There's not a right or wrong answer here -- heck, there isn't a right or wrong answer for any of this -- but you have to show the ability to understand and work in a changing environment. There is a certain Zen to computer programming: many times the quality of our work is our reward. If you are looking for outside stimulus, whether it is small teams and camaraderie, large teams and security, an appeal to your cowboy nature or an appeal to your meticulous nature, I need to know about it. Some folks are just never going to be happy on a small, agile team. Likewise, some folks will never hack it in a 50-person shop running CMMI 3 (staged)
- Have your stories ready - So you've got buzz words. That's good. That's why I'm calling. Your buzz words matched up with the buzz words I am looking for. It's a database miracle. My first line of inquiry is to validate these words of yours. For each of your buzz words, for each of your jobs, you had better have a story handy on the tip of your tongue. The story should star you. You are the hero, you saved the baby from the burning building, you swam the Nile, you invented manned spaceflight. Whatever. I'm not saying you should lie. I AM saying that you should package up your experiences in interesting anecdotes that show positive aspects about your life and character. If I'm smiling during the story, I'm probably thinking of how well you would fit into the team.
Those are your notes for today.
That is all.
Room dismissed.
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