Quote (Minkomonster @ Nov 17 2014 02:35pm)
You missed the entire point of my post. My point was not that you should be a guru. My point was that you shouldn't be disingenuous and FAKE knowledge of a core piece of technology that is required for the job. I agree with you that the interview tech screen should be rigorous enough to weed out the unqualified, and I also agree that as developers we are flexible enough that we can apply what we know of one language to another and learn it efficiently.
However there is a big difference in saying "I have never used X before, however, I have read about it and feel like it is something I could pick up very easily. From what I understand it is used for Y and reminds me of Z. Here is how I would use Z for Y." rather than "I have used X in many different projects, the last project I used it in was [proceeds to bull shit his way through the explanation because he has never actually used X and is instead just reciting what he read off wikipedia and a simple tutorial on some dude's blog]."
Big fucking difference.
Don't get me wrong, if you're lying about skills that you have / don't have for a job where those skills are obviously critical, then yeah, I can see how that would be frowned upon.
But if he does lie about how much experience he has, and passes the technical interview....
then.... I mean if you think about it, the point of the technical interview is to make sure he knows how to solve problems with whatever language your company uses right? If he passes it, then according to that test, he does. Sooooooooo.
From an interviewee's perspective, all the stuff that isn't technical questions is basically "Random BS HR questions I have to answer the right way to get past the first screening"
And if you have a specific part of the interview that is designated to figure out what you know, code and application wise... then a question about your experience is more of an HR question than a "can you do this task" question.
So in that case, I treat it like any other HR question. Make something up that I feel like the company would like to hear.
Is that ethical? Debate-able.
But the way I see it, the end result is the same.
Interview someone who lies about their life goals or experience or whatever --> is able to pass the technical interview --> proves he can do the job anyway --> does the job.
Interview someone who actually does have life goals / programming experience --> is able to pass the technical interview --> proves he can do the job --> does the job.
Why would I let something that isn't necessarily an indicator of whether or not I can do the job affect whether or not I actually get the job?