Category: Recruiting

RISE: The Psychology of Computer Programming (Gerald M. Weinberg, 1971/1998) »

[The first of a planned series of posts on "Readings in Software Engineering"] [Version 1.1 of this post, revised/extended on 05/22/2012] The Psychology of Computer Programming, Gerald M. Weinberg, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York, 1971. Hardbound, 288 pages. Personal acquisition date: 17 Oct 1978. Original edition out of print. The Psychology of Computer Programming [...]

Pitfall: Using the wrong developers »

[From Pitfalls of Modern Software Engineering by Bruce F. Webster (forthcoming)] Categories: managerial Various industry studies cite the productivity gap between the best and the worst developers. While there is some controversy over the ranges often cited (such as the famous 26:1 figure), anyone who has managed a diverse group of developers won’t argue with [...]

Pitfall: Confusing training with skill »

[From Pitfalls of Modern Software Engineering by Bruce F. Webster (forthcoming)] CATEGORIES: conceptual Training is the acquisition of information and practices geared toward a certain end. For example, send a group of engineers to a conference with seminars on object technology, hold a class on C++ programming, or give them a set of books and [...]

Truth in advertising »

I don’t know how long this want ad for a “Manager of Technical Engineering” will remain (unaltered) on the net, but the following excerpt is amusingly honest (emphasis added): Must be able to support all needs of the VP of Customer Support. This includes collaborative thinking in such areas as resource allocation, personnel actions, departmental [...]