Two kinds of software interviewers

[text] Ive interviewed a lot of people over the last year Java and my favorite test is to throw a Stack Trace at them and ask them to figure out what the problem is. The answer is actually quite clear however Half of them dont know its called a stack trace. Some dont know what theyre looking at BYE. Several focus on the wrong section of proprietary code. Some ask to open a debugger however the answer is right there in plain english if you just read the method names. Many dont realize the line numbers are RIGHT THERE and then start focusing on the lines ending with Compiled Code. Then there are the ones who work their way up from the bottom starting with the application container code and lose their minds. Some who figure out what is happening dont have a solution to prevent it from happening. No Im not sharing the trace suffice to say its been reviewed by more than 5 of my peers and they all passed. Like Reply 1h Edited L0 I mean it isnt hard to eliminate people with a coding question. Do you find it impossible to teach people how to read text stack traces or is this a skill without which they will be unable to do anything of use or do you just not want to hire anyone I am serious. I can come up with dozens of useful programming skills can test a candidate on that most perfectly skilled programmers would fail. Start with eliminating people who cant code at all. Then find out what they can do that could be useful. If have 5 people who can already take a printed out stack crash dump I probably dont need another and if do a qualified candidate can be taught that skill by someone who knows it in under a week. Then again maybe you work for Stack Trace Inc and your entire job is looking at stack traces. If so by bad. Like Reply 22m L2 A