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I did mention that a one hour tech talk. I don't think you should willie nilly hire anyone just because they are a smooth talker.

Quick example, Hiring a mobile developer: You talk with them, if Android, ask how Kotlin interfaces with the JVM and what they think (good or bad) about type erasure. iOS? Ask/talk a bit about memory management/ARC. Anyone that has experience with these languages/os (unless hiring for very junior position) should have some thoughts and opinions about it. They may say something you don't agree with (ARC is crap because X or Y) but they will know what they are talking about. You can also dig in to know if it is something they read online (ARC is automated reference counting, meaning each 'allocation' increases a ref counter. Ok, that is good, so, why use `autorelease` or `release` and when to use each? etc etc kind of questions)

You can do the same with backend (framework vs libraries) or frontend (react + state libraries) or whatnot, but if in an one hour tech chat with someone, you can't understand if they actually know they can at least code similar to giving them a fizzbuzz or whatnot, it says more about the interviewer than the person being interviewed.



One technique I use is I ask them what are the things they know well. Hopefully, there will also be something that I know. I then start digging in the area they have already advertised they know well and try to judge what it means when they say they know something well.

Also if a candidate can master even one thing very well, it gives hopes they are at least somewhat interested in development and can learn other things, too.

What I found is that people who are not interested in development but rather do this because it pays well almost never learn anything very well. They just don't have drive and curiosity needed to dig one topic long enough after what they have learned was enough to complete the task they were assigned.




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