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From: jpletzke@mordor.com (Jonathan Pletzke)
Subject: Re: How to interview a Smalltalk consultant?
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Date: Fri, 12 May 1995 04:31:13 GMT
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In article <3ot0mc$jsr@sanews1.morgan.com>, David Levy <dale@morgan> wrote:

> Are you saying that you could not seperate a bogus candidate from the real-
> McCoy if your list of questions was made public?  A qualified interviewer 
> should be able to make an evaluation beyond a candidate's ability to blurt
> out answers to questions on a survey. 
> 
> Making your list public would give the experienced members of the smalltalk
> community a chance to add new topics and dismiss ones that may no longer 
> be pertinent.   As Far as exposing the list to the wanna-be's... why not?
> They should know what they are up against.

Since the list of questions that I have developed with my colleagues has
been held very closely, we discussed how the questions should be used and
distributed.  To some degree we feel that we have expended some effort and
they are proprietry, but.....

I will follow up with a post listing of questions that may be useful in
determining a persons level of familiarity and (hopefully) competence with
the Smalltalk programming language and environment.  This is the list I
made reference to in my previous posting.  I have concluded that it is
essential for the community to establish some criteria to evaluate the
depth and breadth of knowledge of individuals.  Sort of analygous to a
certification or something (like Novell Certified Network Engineer (CNE)
but less formal).

Look for a followup very soon with the great (or not so great) secrets
that I have alluded to.  This list will probably also appear in an
embellished form in 
**** INSERT SHAMELESS PLUG ****
my new Smalltalk book (due this Fall) entitled "Smalltalk Developers Guide"
**** END SHAMELESS PLUG ****

I also agree with Jan that the type of individual goes beyond Smalltalk
competence to another type of job, that of a consultant who is hired to
help the client change for the better.  I would guess, though, that the
majority of jobs are in the category of the contract programmer, since the
need for Smalltalk and a person have already been established at this
point.  The type of "Consultant" role that Jan refers to in his postings
is a much higher level and is usually brought in not because of Smalltalk
knowledge, but because of a reputation for assisting clients in change. 
The "Consultant" may not get much coding time either, existing in the
"Paper" realm.   My 2 cents.

-Jonathan

-- 
Jonathan Pletzke
The Technical Expertise Corporation
jpletzke@mordor.com
