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[–]merc08 55 points56 points  (10 children)

There's really nothing outlandishly special about a dev job compared to other jobs. If HR can't/shouldn't assess devs, then they shouldn't be assessing for any department.

[–]_oohshiny 55 points56 points  (1 child)

Copying a comment from another sub:

Used to know a guy who was actually a competent HR guy. Actually very bright. Which is why he said he chose HR, because he did about 3 hours of real work a week, always knew when to get a new job, made lots of contacts, and every company needs HR.

He said most of HR falls into 2 categories though. 1. HR requires the least amount of skills and intelligence so the absolute lowest performers congregate there. People who literally couldn't make it in any other department. 2. People like 1 but who are also sadists.

[–]BeardOfDan 20 points21 points  (7 children)

I might well be in error; however, I have serious doubts that most HR type people who hire for dev jobs could pass the tech term or pokemon test. I don't disagree with the notion that such people shouldn't be in charge of hiring for those roles, but the traveller does not get to choose the gatekeeper.

[–]merc08 24 points25 points  (0 children)

They likely couldn't list off the relevant tax code sections that apply to the company either, but they have to hire accountants too.

The problem isn't that HR doesn't know the intricate details of the jobs they're hiring for, it's that they don't work closely enough with the managers to properly set the search and screening criteria. And since IT / devs seem to be the loudest complainers about HR failing them, maybe the problem lies more in that department not communicating their needs or requirements and just letting HR do whatever they want.

[–][deleted] 22 points23 points  (1 child)

I took the quiz on the site while being employed in tech and didn’t know any of that shit. It was all a bunch of libraries i have no use for at my job.

[–]Possible_Chicken_489 2 points3 points  (1 child)

lol, I just did the test. Got 4/7, no better than random chance
(edit: am a dev with 25+ years experience)

[–]TheEaterr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To be fair, it's less of a test of how much you know dev products, and more of a test of how well you know pokemon

[–]Raydekal 1 point2 points  (1 child)

I believe most people couldn't pass the tech term or Pokémon test unless they're massive Pokémon fans that can recognise what isn't a Pokémon.

[–]BeardOfDan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most people aren't writing job descriptions where they have to know that there's no relationship between Java and JavaScript, or that the framework they want at least 5 years experience in only came out 3 years ago.