the "no good Perl jobs"/"no good Perl programmers" myth

[David Cantrell]

On Mon, Aug 07, 2006 at 03:15:02PM +0100, Nicholas Clark wrote:
> On Mon, Aug 07, 2006 at 02:58:08PM +0100, Peter Hickman wrote:
> > A graduate is likely to have Java and it is easier to assess their 
> > skills.
> That's an interesting observation. How does one assess Perl ability correctly,
> reliably and with minimal risk (as perceived by the management)?
> I don't have a good answer to that. I'm curious what the london.pm hive mind
> thinks.

At Outcome we have what I think is a very good test assignment that we
give people.  They do it on-site, with docs available.  Then we go
through their code with them and ask them to explain it.

Obviously the precise nature of the test is not something I want to talk
about, but it not only seperates the good from the bad, it also
seperates the excellent from the merely good.

-- 
David Cantrell | Official London Perl Mongers Bad Influence

comparative and superlative explained:

<Huhn> worse, worser, worsest, worsted, wasted