Green lumber fallacy in software engineering (2022)
2 days ago
- #Software Engineering
- #Hiring Practices
- #Green Lumber Fallacy
- The 'Green Lumber Fallacy' describes mistaking irrelevant knowledge for essential knowledge, as illustrated by Joe Siegel's success in trading green lumber without knowing its actual meaning.
- In software engineering, the fallacy is evident in interviews focusing excessively on data structures and algorithms (DSA), which are not the sole indicators of software development skills.
- Max Howell, creator of a popular macOS package manager, was rejected by Google for failing a DSA-based interview, despite his proven track record in software development.
- Major tech companies rely on algorithmic interviews, which may assess competitive programming skills rather than actual software development abilities.
- The disparity between interview challenges and real job tasks (e.g., writing docs, reading code, using AWS services) can disappoint candidates.
- Solutions to the fallacy include aligning interviews with job tasks, incorporating take-home assignments, pair-programming, and trial work periods to better assess candidates.