Hmm… 199 out of 200 programmers can’t program

We are gearing for the next big hiring campaign, keeping the company small is a dream but in reality you need more people to handle the increasing work (not pressure). Hiring more people is not the right solution but hiring the right people is. Hiring a bad programmer is like having a talented digger on your fast sailing ship, who will keep digging holes on your ship (You know what I mean). Hiring good programmers is as simple as beating Australia in 40 overs (Cricket fever is catching up). One of the best posts a recruiter should read before hiring a programmer, this says it all. Hiring the right programmer is very important for companies like Grmtech, do read Paul Grahams point #6 under his article on “The 18 mistakes that killed startups“.

Know the programming talentosphere,

• 199 out of 200 applicants for every programming job can’t write code at all but still everyone thinks they’re hiring the top 1% – “In fact, one thing I have noticed is that the people who I consider to be good software developers barely ever apply for jobs at all”. Also read the later clarification.
• How Do I Copy Thee? Let Me Count the Ways – Over the years I’ve interviewed a lot of programmers and one of the questions I’ve always asked is for the candidate to implement the strcpy function.
• Survivor – Development – “I once heard of a development group where every three months a vote was taken and the bottom ten percent of the group were replaced by newcomers. It sounded a bit like Survivor – Development.”
• A way to separate programming sheep from non-programming goats in computer science classes
• Why Johnny can’t program
• you don’t bury survivors – “So, Jeremy, tell me a little about yourself. Because they’ll roll and they can’t fall down the hole. And because manholes are round.”
• Johnny can so program
• How To Get Hired — What CS Students Need to Know
• Using FizzBuzz to Find Developers who Grok Coding –
• Don’t Overthink FizzBuzz