Essay · Long read

The Guerrilla Guide to Interviewing (version 3.0)

Joel Spolsky · Joel on Software Free Advanced

This is the founding text on interviewing programmers, written by someone who actually ran a software company. It argues you are hiring for people who are smart and get things done, not for trivia or a specific tech stack, and it shows how to read a candidate's reasoning as they work a problem out loud. Even if you cannot code, the idea of watching how someone thinks through a question (not whether they land the perfect answer) is exactly the muscle this whole question is about.

  • Hire for aptitude and drive, not memorized trivia.
  • Watch how a candidate reasons, not just whether they get the answer.
  • One clear no from a trusted reviewer should outweigh several soft yeses.
Open on joelonsoftware.com ↗

It answers 2 questions

  1. How do I evaluate a developer's skill if I can't code?
  2. How do I hire a developer without a warm network or startup connections?

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