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* [TUHS] Interview question
@ 2023-01-02 20:36 Larry McVoy
  2023-01-02 20:38 ` [TUHS] " arnold
                   ` (2 more replies)
  0 siblings, 3 replies; 6+ messages in thread
From: Larry McVoy @ 2023-01-02 20:36 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: tuhs

The /bin/sh stuff made me think of an interview question I had for engineers,
that a surprisingly few could pass:

"Tell me about something you wrote that was entirely you, the docs, the
tests, the source, the installer, everything.  It doesn't have to be a
big thing, but it has to have been successfully used by at least 10
people who had no contact with you (other than to say thanks)."

Most people fail this.  I think the people who pass might look 
positively on the v7 sh stuff.  But who knows?

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread

* [TUHS] Re: Interview question
  2023-01-02 20:36 [TUHS] Interview question Larry McVoy
@ 2023-01-02 20:38 ` arnold
  2023-01-02 20:51   ` Larry McVoy
  2023-01-03  4:44 ` Ori Idan
  2023-01-03  5:15 ` Rich Morin
  2 siblings, 1 reply; 6+ messages in thread
From: arnold @ 2023-01-02 20:38 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: tuhs, lm

Larry McVoy <lm@mcvoy.com> wrote:

> The /bin/sh stuff made me think of an interview question I had for engineers,
> that a surprisingly few could pass:
>
> "Tell me about something you wrote that was entirely you, the docs, the
> tests, the source, the installer, everything.  It doesn't have to be a
> big thing, but it has to have been successfully used by at least 10
> people who had no contact with you (other than to say thanks)."
>
> Most people fail this.  I think the people who pass might look 
> positively on the v7 sh stuff.  But who knows?

How many people who failed this question did you hire anyway?

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread

* [TUHS] Re: Interview question
  2023-01-02 20:38 ` [TUHS] " arnold
@ 2023-01-02 20:51   ` Larry McVoy
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 6+ messages in thread
From: Larry McVoy @ 2023-01-02 20:51 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: arnold; +Cc: tuhs

On Mon, Jan 02, 2023 at 01:38:30PM -0700, arnold@skeeve.com wrote:
> Larry McVoy <lm@mcvoy.com> wrote:
> 
> > The /bin/sh stuff made me think of an interview question I had for engineers,
> > that a surprisingly few could pass:
> >
> > "Tell me about something you wrote that was entirely you, the docs, the
> > tests, the source, the installer, everything.  It doesn't have to be a
> > big thing, but it has to have been successfully used by at least 10
> > people who had no contact with you (other than to say thanks)."
> >
> > Most people fail this.  I think the people who pass might look 
> > positively on the v7 sh stuff.  But who knows?
> 
> How many people who failed this question did you hire anyway?

None that I kept.  Miss-hired some who didn't pass and let them go eventually.
Whether that question actually is that good of an indicator in general, I
couldn't say.  It was a pretty solid one for what we did.
-- 
---
Larry McVoy           Retired to fishing          http://www.mcvoy.com/lm/boat

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread

* [TUHS] Re: Interview question
  2023-01-02 20:36 [TUHS] Interview question Larry McVoy
  2023-01-02 20:38 ` [TUHS] " arnold
@ 2023-01-03  4:44 ` Ori Idan
  2023-01-03  5:15 ` Rich Morin
  2 siblings, 0 replies; 6+ messages in thread
From: Ori Idan @ 2023-01-03  4:44 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Larry McVoy; +Cc: tuhs

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Nice question, but I don't see the connection.

-- 
Ori Idan CEO Helicon Books
http://www.heliconbooks.com





On Mon, Jan 2, 2023 at 10:37 PM Larry McVoy <lm@mcvoy.com> wrote:

> The /bin/sh stuff made me think of an interview question I had for
> engineers,
> that a surprisingly few could pass:
>
> "Tell me about something you wrote that was entirely you, the docs, the
> tests, the source, the installer, everything.  It doesn't have to be a
> big thing, but it has to have been successfully used by at least 10
> people who had no contact with you (other than to say thanks)."
>
> Most people fail this.  I think the people who pass might look
> positively on the v7 sh stuff.  But who knows?
>

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^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread

* [TUHS] Re: Interview question
  2023-01-02 20:36 [TUHS] Interview question Larry McVoy
  2023-01-02 20:38 ` [TUHS] " arnold
  2023-01-03  4:44 ` Ori Idan
@ 2023-01-03  5:15 ` Rich Morin
  2023-01-03  5:32   ` Ajay Shah
  2 siblings, 1 reply; 6+ messages in thread
From: Rich Morin @ 2023-01-03  5:15 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: TUHS

Sadly, I can't remember whose USENIX talk it was, but I recall a software maturity scale that went something like this:

1 - it works in your office
2 - it works in an office down the hall
3 - it works for someone you've never met
4 - you don't have to explain why you use it
5 - you have to explain why you don't use it

-r

> On Jan 2, 2023, at 12:36, Larry McVoy <lm@mcvoy.com> wrote:
> 
> The /bin/sh stuff made me think of an interview question I had for engineers,
> that a surprisingly few could pass:
> 
> "Tell me about something you wrote that was entirely you, the docs, the
> tests, the source, the installer, everything.  It doesn't have to be a
> big thing, but it has to have been successfully used by at least 10
> people who had no contact with you (other than to say thanks)."
> 
> Most people fail this.  I think the people who pass might look 
> positively on the v7 sh stuff.  But who knows?


^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread

* [TUHS] Re: Interview question
  2023-01-03  5:15 ` Rich Morin
@ 2023-01-03  5:32   ` Ajay Shah
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 6+ messages in thread
From: Ajay Shah @ 2023-01-03  5:32 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Rich Morin; +Cc: TUHS

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On Tue, 3 Jan 2023 at 10:46, Rich Morin <rdm@cfcl.com> wrote:

> Sadly, I can't remember whose USENIX talk it was, but I recall a software
> maturity scale that went something like this:
> 1 - it works in your office
> 2 - it works in an office down the hall
> 3 - it works for someone you've never met
> 4 - you don't have to explain why you use it
> 5 - you have to explain why you don't use it
>

Perhaps we can introduce a #6 here:

A successful software tool is one that was used to do something undreamed
of by it's author.

  -- S. C. Johnson

-- 
Ajay Shah
ajayshah@mayin.org
http://www.mayin.org/ajayshah

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^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~2023-01-03  5:33 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 6+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed)
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2023-01-02 20:36 [TUHS] Interview question Larry McVoy
2023-01-02 20:38 ` [TUHS] " arnold
2023-01-02 20:51   ` Larry McVoy
2023-01-03  4:44 ` Ori Idan
2023-01-03  5:15 ` Rich Morin
2023-01-03  5:32   ` Ajay Shah

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