in reply to Re^2: Personal Recommendations instead of Certificates?
in thread Personal Recommendations instead of Certificates?

  1. Under the Interests section in my resume, I have my Perlmonks handle listed. Interviewers have led off with a question about that.
  2. I didn't say there had to be a Perlmonk/CPAN author/etc there first. I said they had to recognize why those were important things. That means that the philosophy of the group I'm going to be working in is closely aligned to my own where it counts.
  3. Most companies don't deserve to survive. Those that do will make a concerted effort to recruit the minimum level to do what they perceive is in their best interests. If those interests include "Solid Perl development", then they will plug themselves into the community and be noticed. I'm working for a company right now that did exactly that. Two years ago, they had no solid Perl devs. Now, they have 3 with a 4th being trained. Perl development was something that their business now needed.

    If you're not going to make an effort to find me, then why should I bother working for you? I code because I love it. If I just wanted a 9-5 that I can depend on for 40 years, I wouldn't be a coder. I'd go work at the local Honda plant - they have better hours, better benefits, and I am still making something.

Here's the point - most companies suck at business. Frankly, it's amazing to me that the economy even works. That said, I want to work somewhere that meets the following criteria: If the company also does 100% telecommute, I'm probably sold. And, yes, there are dozens of companies out there that meet those criteria. Your friends probably know several of them. My last 3 jobs were found solely through word-of-mouth. I was kinda surprised that I even had to interview for my current job - I hadn't done interviews for my last 2 jobs. If you're getting recommended or hired by close friends, interviews aren't needed.
My criteria for good software:
  1. Does it work?
  2. Can someone else come in, make a change, and be reasonably certain no bugs were introduced?
  • Comment on Re^3: Personal Recommendations instead of Certificates?

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Re^4: Personal Recommendations instead of Certificates?
by szabgab (Priest) on Oct 19, 2007 at 16:09 UTC
    So it works for you. Great.

    Not everyone is like you.

[reply]
      What part of what I've done is so incredible that no-one else can emulate it? I've done nothing special, other than actually put some effort into my chosen craft. I'm a little surprised at that response.
      My criteria for good software:
      1. Does it work?
      2. Can someone else come in, make a change, and be reasonably certain no bugs were introduced?
[reply]

        I've done nothing special, other than actually put some effort into my chosen craft.

        Well, this is a bit confusing, because in the earlier reply you said

        If you're getting recommended or hired by close friends, interviews aren't needed.

        Note that I'm not saying you would be incompetent, but getting hired because you know someone is different from getting hired through interviews, because in the latter case you are being hired based on your merit alone. Arguably you need less merit and proofs to get hired if you know the manager, although the same argument could be turned upside down (in that if the person you know is aware of your lack of skills, getting the job may be harder).

        --
        print "Just Another Perl Adept\n";

[reply]

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