Good question, and I think it reveals an embarrassing truth about common hiring practices: they’re designed to test for qualities that can be trivially tested for, rather than qualities that are actually productive down on the shop floor.
I suspect the best you can do at is read between the lines on the resume and ask searching questions at interview, searching for indicators that the candidate is an active and competent learner, not merely an effective chair warmer. Someone who shows an eagerness to step outside her comfort zone; who makes a point of talking with, and learning from, her users. Beyond that, well, that’s why new hires have probationary/trial periods, so that our initial guestimates of her abilities can be tested in battle.
Of course, all this presupposes you have a management and HR culture that expects managers and HR to know enough about computer programming and software development to be able to ask the right questions and make qualitative judgements on the responses. And, needless to say, just as there are way too many coders who don’t give a shit about anything except coding, there are way too many managers with zero clue how to do anything other than manage.
But if you don’t know jack about what it is you’re meant to be managing, how do you possibly expect to manage it effectively?
I suspect the best you can do at is read between the lines on the resume and ask searching questions at interview, searching for indicators that the candidate is an active and competent learner, not merely an effective chair warmer. Someone who shows an eagerness to step outside her comfort zone; who makes a point of talking with, and learning from, her users. Beyond that, well, that’s why new hires have probationary/trial periods, so that our initial guestimates of her abilities can be tested in battle.
Of course, all this presupposes you have a management and HR culture that expects managers and HR to know enough about computer programming and software development to be able to ask the right questions and make qualitative judgements on the responses. And, needless to say, just as there are way too many coders who don’t give a shit about anything except coding, there are way too many managers with zero clue how to do anything other than manage.
But if you don’t know jack about what it is you’re meant to be managing, how do you possibly expect to manage it effectively?
See also:
https://i.redd.it/vhoy65xmfegz.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CpsutgxUIAE2h3i.jpg