Joel Spolsky
Software developer and writer; co-founder of Fog Creek Software and Stack Overflow, and author of the Joel on Software blog since 2000.
Joel Spolsky did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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Their wordsNever say “Maybe, I can’t tell.” If you can’t tell, that means No Hire.
↗The Guerrilla Guide to Interviewing (version 3.0)joelonsoftware.com
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Their wordsSo: don’t listen to recruiters; don’t ask around about the person before you interview them; and never, ever talk to the other interviewers about the candidate until you’ve both made your decisions independently.
↗The Guerrilla Guide to Interviewing (version 3.0)joelonsoftware.com
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Their wordsIf the project was a team project, look for signs that they took a leadership role.
↗The Guerrilla Guide to Interviewing (version 3.0)joelonsoftware.com
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Their wordsSadly, despite the fact that I think that all good programmers should be able to handle recursion and pointers, and that this is an excellent way to tell if someone is a good programmer, the truth is that these days, programming languages have almost completely made that specific art unnecessary.
↗The Guerrilla Guide to Interviewing (version 3.0)joelonsoftware.com
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Their wordsWith these questions knowing the answer just means you heard that brain teaser before. So as an interviewer, you don’t get any information about “smart/get things done” by figuring out if they happen to make a particular mental leap.
↗The Guerrilla Guide to Interviewing (version 3.0)joelonsoftware.com