
If Carpenters Were Hired Like Programmers - Jtsummers
http://www.jasonbock.net/jb/Default.aspx?blog=entry.7c334037d1a9437d9fa6506e2f35eaac
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zomgbbq
I have been out doing interviews I had one go something like this:

INTERVIEWER: I see you have been a carpenter for 15 years. Can you tell me how
a hammer works?

CARPENTER: Well, you swing the hammer at a nail and the nail goes into the
wood.

INTERVIEWER: Actually, when you strike the nail, an equal and opposite force
is imparted on the hammer. I'm going to have to mark you down as not actually
knowing how to use a hammer.

CARPENTER: I have built hundreds of beautiful houses that still stand today
using hammers. Some would say I am artful with a hammer.

INTERVIEWER: Yeah... Well, we're really looking for someone who knows arcane
details about hammers that don't really relate to how you use them day to day.

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beachhouse
This article is clearly dated and irrelevant.

Rock 5.1 hasn't been used in years, its all about that PetrifiedWood 7.2

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rockyroadster
While this is funny and poses an interesting question I have one problem with
this. To my limited carpentry knowledge, Walnut and Oak are much more
interchangeable than something like Rails and PHP. Techniques change much more
when using two different stacks than using two different types of wood.

~~~
gvb
Burled walnut vs. oak vs. pine vs. poplar is more like Oracle vs. SQL-Server
vs. Postgresql vs. MySQL vs. Sqlite.

Rails vs. PHP is more like nailguns vs. rocks.

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joshguthrie
>> walnut guru

Calling myself a "javascript rockstar" was funny when I was 20. Now it's
ridiculous. Let's all grow up.

Guys seriously, what is wrong with something that most of us here would define
as "art"? How can we, as programmers, let ourselves be hired by people like
that, or even try to hire programmers that way? The situation only goes on
because we allow it to go on.

And that "You don't use X much, so you don't WANT to use X for your work"
attitude is complete bullshit, though it's a good way to spot a bad employer
from the get-go (last one who did this to me kinda told me "Hey kid, sometimes
you have to bow down and take jobs you don't want to take. Even if we don't
even pay you minimum wage because we make profit skimming the intern's
salaries". Poor guy's still posting ads asking for a programmer one year
later).

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flexxaeon
The 2004 date only makes me realize I've dealt with this madness for too long.

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jere
All I can think is that my dad is a carpenter, a damn good one and extremely
hardworking, and I'm sure he'd put up with this injustice in order to make
more than $20/hour.

Moral of the story: we sure do complain a lot.

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BobWarfield
The scary thing is I can't decide if this is more of a critique of people who
hire programmers or of the different tools (e.g. woods and hammers) that
programmers use.

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redact207
Moral of the story: lie.

~~~
craftman
I am not sure. Working for an employer who is not able to select correct
employee (beginning with recruiters) is probably a bad idea. That's a big
issue of today corporate IT: clients/managers/recruiters dont understand the
product they ask the teams to build, and as such, end up recruiting only on
salary and dumb-cv criteria.

