Is "cramming" the same as "learning"? Is knowing the chemical reaction between an acid and baking soda the same as being a world class patissier? Many of these exercises are like "demonstrate that you can make this dough rise" but not actually considering "can you make an artful and delicious pastry"; the two are totally different.
The most surprising thing when asked about their experience was that most of the details have already been lost before even starting the role.
You can only get so far as a pastry chef knowing the recipes. Understanding the chemistry does take your craft to a higher level.
I’m never really surprised that there are so many security vulnerabilities out there. Tons of software is completely half-assed: slow, error-prone and inefficient. The market supports it because VCs keep pumping out companies that throw spaghetti at the wall until something sticks. And it has had an influence on the kinds of skills we optimize for at the hiring level.
The problem I see isn’t that we’re trying to hire better developers. It’s that the tests we use are misaligned. Getting into a MAANG with all these hazing rituals and then you get stuck resizing the corners on buttons or editing XML configuration for some ancient system is a waste of time.
But so is hiring programmers that only understand frameworks.
Totally agree! the pastry chef analogy is spot on. It feels like hiring tests are often misaligned with the actual work. Instead of abstract puzzles, we should focus on role-specific challenges that reflect real-world tasks. And yeah, hiring people who only know frameworks without the fundamentals just adds to the problem. How do you think we can shift that balance?
At some inflection point, though, cramming becomes learning. This is in a different place for each individual, but it's true regardless.
Nobody hires anybody other than artists based on whether they can "create an artful and _____ ____". People are hired based on either what the have done, can claim to be able to do, or whom they know.
Depends on the situation and job of course, but cramming isn't necessarily always a negative thing. Sometimes you may only need to learn a technology/skill/etc. to accomplish something quickly, but then not need it again.
But yeah in general I agree with you – I just don't think it's necessarily always so clearly a waste of time.
The most surprising thing when asked about their experience was that most of the details have already been lost before even starting the role.