>Deep declarative knowledge, though, is still very different from debugging ability
90% of debugging is reading (and understanding) whatever exception was thrown. I can't count the times when a really good dev asks me for help and I ask, "well what does the error say?" Once they read it, they're like, "never mind."
If reading/understanding the error doesn't work, it really requires pretty deep knowledge of the application architecture and possibly auxiliary systems and infrastructure to figure it out. If your application is custom, then they can't have that knowledge coming in and can only get it with OJT. That extra 10% is really the hard part, but you really only need one or two people who can cover the whole team on that extra 10%, and the process will help improve the people who aren't as good at it.
>or the ability to find simple solutions to complex problems.
That's where the genius really is. Reading the first few chapters of Donald Knuth's first volume really blew my mind. Probably won't be able to discover that talent in any interview process.
>Hopefully you're filtering for real enthusiasm instead of ability to emote, but realistically it's probably a combination.
Yes, it's just a piece of the puzzle. Lack of enthusiasm is more a red flag than putting a lot of weight in enthusiasm itself.
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.
90% of debugging is reading (and understanding) whatever exception was thrown. I can't count the times when a really good dev asks me for help and I ask, "well what does the error say?" Once they read it, they're like, "never mind."
If reading/understanding the error doesn't work, it really requires pretty deep knowledge of the application architecture and possibly auxiliary systems and infrastructure to figure it out. If your application is custom, then they can't have that knowledge coming in and can only get it with OJT. That extra 10% is really the hard part, but you really only need one or two people who can cover the whole team on that extra 10%, and the process will help improve the people who aren't as good at it.
>or the ability to find simple solutions to complex problems.
That's where the genius really is. Reading the first few chapters of Donald Knuth's first volume really blew my mind. Probably won't be able to discover that talent in any interview process.
>Hopefully you're filtering for real enthusiasm instead of ability to emote, but realistically it's probably a combination.
Yes, it's just a piece of the puzzle. Lack of enthusiasm is more a red flag than putting a lot of weight in enthusiasm itself.
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.
-Charles Mingus