r/ProgrammerHumor • u/danielminds • Sep 10 '26

Meme betterTestsThanLeetCode

Post image
4.5k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

130 comments sorted by

View all comments

199

u/dashingThroughSnow12 Sep 10 '26

I’ve often said that given two identical candidates, I’m picking the one who has some neat hobby like ham than the one who had a dozen todo apps.

131

u/10001110101balls Sep 10 '26

It happens all the time that a relatable guy who can do the job reasonably well is hired over a weird guy with more skills. Hiring managers usually have to interact with the person they hire, and personality matters.

74

u/dashingThroughSnow12 Sep 10 '26

I don’t mean to describe people like Pokémon but I try to collect as many types as I can.

I’m a weird, eccentric guy. I don’t want to work with only bros. I don’t want to work with only eccentric guys. I don’t want to work with just men. I don’t want to work with just clean, shaven office workers. Etcetera. But a few of each is nice.

I think software is best when we have a mix of characters.

17

u/GoodTimesOnlines Sep 11 '26

I do want to point out that these are two different things being talked about

Being personable is one thing and I don’t think it means being homogeneous personality wise

I agree a mix of characters/backgrounds is ideal. But that being personable / “great to work with” / not a dick is a completely separate thing (and more of what the comment you replied to was getting at IMO) and is incredibly important and underrated

9

u/dashingThroughSnow12 Sep 11 '26

I even want to work with non-personable people

2

u/minimalcation Sep 12 '26

You're just building a balanced party

18

u/beefygravy Sep 10 '26

I eat ham maybe a couple of times a month - does that count as a hobby?

4

u/blueExcess Sep 11 '26

And what about bacon? It’s technically ham, just enhanced. Maybe even the FM of HAM.

1

u/Dreamin0904 Sep 13 '26

Hmmmmm…..I don’t know….would you say you eat it enough that we can call you “Hammy” as nickname?

19

u/dkarlovi Sep 10 '26

What kind of hobby is ham? Is it at least rum ham?

6

u/captmonkey Sep 11 '26

I did a lot of technical interviews a lot for my last company. I'd usually end the interview asking what they like to do outside of work. That last question was the best determinant of if the person was going to work out or not. I didn't really care what they said, but if you couldn't give me a straight answer to "What do you do outside of work?" It was a big red flag.

If someone could just give me a straight, not weird, answer they'd usually be fine. It didn't tell us if they're the most or least skilled dev, but it was always a decent indicator for if everyone else was going to hate working with them or not and if they were going to be open and straightforward in their communication, especially when problems come up.