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Hiring a developer is tricky. "Should I stay or should I go?"
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The article might list a valid question, but it also says you should sit and peruse the potential hire's twitter account with them. 
What I choose to post, or not post, on personal social media shouldn't be considered a factor for employment.
I don't have a twitter or facebook account, so I don't really care, but if I did, I wouldn't show an employer or potential employer anymore than I would show them my personal address book. LinkedIn? Sure - it's not a personal social media outlet.
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I was interviewing candidates recently and after a raft of technical questions I asked "What changes do you see or would you like to see occur in our industry in the next decade"?
This was really the make or break question - if you don't have any thoughts on this I don't really want to work with you...all the answers to the other questions I ask are google-able.
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If you asked me that question, I would get up, request you delete all my information, never contact me again and walk out. In most cases, something like 99.99%, that question has no bearing on one's ability to do the job. You asking that question tells me I would not want to work with you.
Decrease the belief in God, and you increase the numbers of those who wish to play at being God by being “society’s supervisors,” who deny the existence of divine standards, but are very serious about imposing their own standards on society.-Neal A. Maxwell
You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun
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It depends on the position.
If you are looking for an entry-level programmer, or for a consultant for a specific project, the question may be irrelevant (less so in the case of the consultant). For a team leader or above, I think that this is a valid question.
If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack.
--Winston Churchill
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Fair enough - we'd always "delete all information" for anyone we didn't hire as a matter of course. We're not Facebook.
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 I view questions like that as being far more useful than, "Code a b-tree on the whiteboard". It gives insights into their thought processes, and if they actually have any. (The rest is just an implementation decision  )
TTFN - Kent
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Nah, it's just BS. Real developers are solving today's problems with (at best) today's tools. Leave tomorrow for tomorrow. Even "new" things that already exist like Go and Swift are not worth thinking about unless they address a need today.
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That's a good question. I may have to borrow that 
"There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult." - C.A.R. Hoare
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Dominic Burford wrote: "There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult." - C.A.R. Hoare
Let me guess, MS choose the second one ? 
Patrice
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.” Albert Einstein
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Haha exactly
"There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult." - C.A.R. Hoare
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Excellent point - I focus more on questions that you aren't Googleable. You gain more insight from people that way, and also see how they view things and whether or not they can defend a particular position on a topic.
"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music."
-- Marcus Brigstocke, British Comedian
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First of all 'our industry' is very broad and not words I would use... We're all actually working in different industries as software developers. In my industry which focuses on electronic defence system, I would like to see less red-tape, automated red tape or better thought out red tape (less time consuming, less constrictive). I'd like to see a bigger focus on actual development (in any area) and less focus on the other stuff (crap is what I actually wanted to say). There is much more changes I'd like to see but will leave it at that.
P.S. If you asked 'your field' insead you might of gotten the actual answer you were looking for.
"Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence."
<< please vote!! >></div>
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This guy obviously has never had kids or raised a family. This article is incredibly ageist and naive.
Decrease the belief in God, and you increase the numbers of those who wish to play at being God by being “society’s supervisors,” who deny the existence of divine standards, but are very serious about imposing their own standards on society.-Neal A. Maxwell
You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun
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I have kids and raise a family, yet I find time to work on side projects. There's nothing ageist about it at all.
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Yeah, so do I, but it takes much more time to complete projects than it did when I was single. And I'm also fighting against a wife who doesn't like me to "be on the computer."
Decrease the belief in God, and you increase the numbers of those who wish to play at being God by being “society’s supervisors,” who deny the existence of divine standards, but are very serious about imposing their own standards on society.-Neal A. Maxwell
You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun
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The schoolboy error here is that there is no single question you can ask that works - this is not a one-size-fits-all situation and it is beyond naive to believe that you have this answer.
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One size does not fit all but this could be a very appropriate question for some roles. A few years ago we were interviewing a guy for a hands on role who seemed to lack experience. When given a chance to speak he told us he had been building things in his spare time and if we were interested he had them in the car and could show us. We were and he got a job.
Peter Wasser
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell
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“What have you built that you were not paid to build”
Personally, I think that is one of the best questions one can ask, for the reasons the author cited.
Marc
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I love that question too - that definitely gives a lot of insight. I would also expand that by making it either technical or non-technical in nature.
"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music."
-- Marcus Brigstocke, British Comedian
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With now less than 10 days left before Windows 10 starts its official rollout, a new Microsoft campaign wants to convince current Windows users to upgrade. If we wait long enough, they might start begging
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Kent Sharkey wrote: If we wait long enough, they might start begging
Do you thinks we can get paid if we wait long enough ?
Patrice
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.” Albert Einstein
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Russian high-tech billionaire Yuri Milner teamed up with the world’s most famous scientist, British physicist Stephen Hawking, to announce a new $100 million effort to detect signals from alien civilizations. "If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans"
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I wouldn't go so far and say money spent this way is entirely wasted, but yes, it is indeed. I mean, what would we gain from detecting a signal from another civilization? Proof that we aren't the only ones in the universe? Now what if the source is thousands of lightyears away... it's impossible to establish any kind of communication over such long distances. And what if the alien civilization already became extinct in the meantime because they didn't found a solution to their energy problem and overpopulation...?
But most important: Detecting is one thing. But to detect something, someone has to actually send something. Question is: Are we sending anything? Or are we just looking to detect something? Well, if everybody only listens but no one speaks... you get the idea. 
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