RE: what you look for in a coder...

> scott
> On Mon, Jun 07, 2004 at 02:57:46PM -0700, Nick Trout wrote:
> >
> > * An interest in Star Trek. Must at least know Jim's middle name.
> >
> I don't even know Jim's first name!  And besides, don't you want at
> least one member on your team who can introduce you to girls?  Or
protect
> you from the wallet inspectors?  ;)

It's Tiberius! (I had to look it up - the shame).

http://www.starfleetlibrary.com/bios/james_t_kirk.htm

I have noticed an unusual interest in Star Trek amongst programmers,
well, actually developers, in the past. I attribute this (jokingly), and
the seemingly lacking personality skills of _some_ developers to
borderline autism. However, that's not always a detrimental comment! See
this:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3380569.stm

Autism is much higher in men than women. The following link is
interesting:

<quote>
"Are there essential differences between the male and female brain? My
theory is that the female brain is predominantly hard-wired for empathy,
and that the male brain is predominantly hard-wired for understanding
and building systems. I call it the empathising-systemising (E-S)
theory."

[...]

"Is there an explanation for autism? 

I argue that people with autism may have an extreme of the male brain -
good at systemising, very bad at empathising - and that studying autism
with E-S theory in mind, can help increase our understanding of the
condition.

Two largest sub-groups of autism are classic autism, and Asperger
syndrome. Both share certain features: a difficulty in developing social
relationships; a difficulty in communication; the presence of unusually
strong, narrow interests; and a strong adherence to routines."
</quote>

See "They just can't help it":
http://www.aetheronline.com/mario/Eye-Openers/women_vs_men.htm

and there is a test: :-)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/news/page/0,12983,937443,00.html

I'm merely making an observation here. I don't think this is unique to
the games industry either. I'm just pointing out a personality type that
some of us may recognise. Hell, we might even recognise these traits in
ourselves.


> CAVEY GERARD
> >I'd say that's a result of working with bad programmers.
>
> Someone here spoke about the stress during an interview :
> do you think it is really important , do you think the social aspect
of
> the
> coder is really important ?Will you deny a good engineer because he
doesnt
> talk so much ...

I know I've messed up interviews and exams in the past because of
nerves. Exams are unfortunate because you don't get a second chance. If
you're unsure you should give someone a second interview, at least phone
them up.

I would definitely hire someone who was quiet but answered all my
questions. We have some great, diligent programmers who hardly say a
word, but listen and contribute. It takes all sorts to make a world.

Nick





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