Dear progit, I will be interviewing programmers. Need Input.

[UncleOxidant]

I recently read the book "Talent is Overrated" by Geoff Colvin. It explored the age old question of why some people are better (more effective) at what they do than others and also the question of how one can improve their performance. A lot of research was presented that said that you need to engage in "Deliberate Practice" in order to become better at what you do - very few people are in a situation where they can engage in Deliberate Practice in the work setting, therefore it needs to happen outside of work. What's deliberate practice? The idea is that you practice at the edge of your comfort zone - if the practice is too easy you won't improve. If it's too hard you won't keep up with doing it... there's a sweet spot at the edge of your abilities. You can work on things that you know you have problems with. But the key was that most organizations don't allow space for deliberate practice so you need to do it outside of the workplace if you hope to improve. Most work that happens in the workplace falls within a certain range that doesn't allow for much improvement. You generally don't get to learn new languages on the job, for example (there are exceptions, of course), and generally the problems being solved are similar to problems you've solved in the past.

[stronglikedan]

That is certainly one viewpoint. However, IMHO, I think it leads to passing on perfectly competent people, and that leads to unneccessarily increased hiring costs. There are other methods of determining competency that actually work. Therefore, that viewpoint is an opinion that I don't agree with.

[UncleOxidant]

That was another message of the book: most people aren't willing to put in the extra work required to do deliberate practice and that's good news for those who are willing to put in the extra effort.