

A Summary of "Joel on Software" - ptn
http://jwbs-blog.blogspot.com/2010/03/joel-on-software-summary.html

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TrevorBurnham
One of the great things about Joel Spolsky's books is that they are _not_ a
series of bullet points. He tells stories, and I for one always find stories
to be more useful than adages taken out of context. Sure, they take more time
to read, but it's time well-spent. I'll take _Joel on Software_ over _Rework_
any day.

~~~
rguzman
A lot of people probably share the sentiment of Joel > Rework. I think that's
because Joel reasons things out and his reasoning is nuanced, consistent, and
intellectually honest. The 37s advice writing, more often than not, consists
of generalization of simple concepts (that worked for 37s) without analysis of
their caveats.

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Tichy
"Interviewing. It is much, much better to reject a good candidate than to
accept a bad candidate. You’re looking for people who are smart, and get
things done."

This made me think. I have read lots of things about how to best hire
somebody. What are strategies for picking the right company to work for? If
there is a shadow of a doubt, don't accept?

~~~
euroclydon
1) They should act professional during the the interview. That means starting
the interview on time, and being prepared, not just coming in, reading your
resume while you wait, and asking whatever questions they can come up with on
the fly. It doesn't mean dressing a certain way.

2) They should ask you difficult technical questions, because you want to know
that the people you will be working with were smart enough to pass a tough
interview.

3) They should welcome difficult questions from you. I'm not necessarily
taking about technical questions about their product, but more the way they
run their shop.

4) They should not act like they are in a hurry, even if they are.

5) Ideally, they don't have a lot of unplanned turnover.

~~~
cabalamat
> _2) They should ask you difficult technical questions_

More important is if they ask you technical questions at all. If they don't,
they don't have a bozo filter, and you'll be working with idiots.

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100k
This is a cool idea. It will provide a useful index of Joel's writings.

I already used to to re-read one of Joel's essays about how to deal with
chicken-and-egg problems, which is something I've been puzzling over lately.

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ck2
Oooh Cliff Notes! (Joel notes? Jan notes?)

