Nastiness

[Brenda Ruetschi <Bruetschi -at- ALPHA88 -dot- COM>]

Hi all -

1) Interviewing is difficult for the interviewer and interviewee. Can we
refrain from flaming each other about what we do/don't consider appropriate
questions and answers. Yeesh.

Sometimes interviewers want to make a potential employee squirm, it happens.
This technique may help interviewers weed out the technically qualified but
emotionally frail from technically and emotionally equipped. How an
interviewee handles deadline/no SME pressure may determine whether or not
the interviewee can handle a company's work environment. Quite often I am
dealing with developers and engineers who go from one project to another and
are not available for questions. Such is life.

As for walking out of an interview due to the asking of what I consider and
inappropriate question, you have to be kidding me. I have answered and then
remarked on the "inappropriateness/unfairness" of questions in the past, I
have said that I didn't feel comfortable answering such questions without
more information, I have even stated my opinion that such a question was
unfair.

But I would NEVER be so rude and unprofessional that I would simply leave.
Aside from the rudeness factor, quite honestly, I would probably do my best
to spread my impression (extremely negative) of someone who would walk out
of an interview because they didn't like the question. Perhaps you don't
want to work for my company, but you may want to work for someone I know.

2) Front Page is not the only web development tool out there. And, it
certainly isn't the only one with code corruption and compatibility issues.
Some are designed to be run on a specific web server (FrontPage, for
example, works nearly flawlessly on a correctly configured BackOffice
webserver.) Can we please all get over it? Nothing is perfect, not even
emacs or Notepad. Yes, you can have absolute control - it'll take 4 hours to
write a complex table, especially if you lose your place in the code, or you
can throw it in a WYSIWIG and polish afterwards.

Do you think it would be too much to ask that we halt the flow of statements
that anyone who uses this tool (and that's all it is) 1) doesn't care about
the user, or 2) is incompetent, or 3) is stupid. Also, can those who must
also point out that Microsoft, Bill Gates and everyone associated with
either, is the new "Evil Empire".

Instead of indulging in another "holy war" about which one we prefer, why
not offer intelligent, specific criticisms and work-arounds without
resorting to terms like "crappy". We are supposed to be professional
communciators, surely there is a better way to describe a product. "Crappy"
doesn't tell me what the problem is, or whether it applies to me.

In general, I have been appalled and dismayed at the amount of snide
comments, name calling, and mudslinging found on the list. Today, however, I
think we've reached a new low.

Brenda Ruetschi
Technical Communications
Alpha Technologies, Inc.
(732) 980-1288 Ext. 746


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