Re: [gentoo-dev] Is Gentoo a Phoenix?

[Zeerak Mustafa Waseem]

esOn Sat, Apr 03, 2010 at 07:33:53AM -0400, Richard Freeman wrote:
> On 04/03/2010 06:19 AM, Tobias Scherbaum wrote:
>
> I really think that the Gentoo recruitment process needs improvement.
> Right now it seems like a LOT of effort is required both to become a
> Gentoo dev and to help somebody become a Gentoo dev.  That means we have
> great people, but not many of them.
>
> I think the problem is that our recruitment process uses the ability to
> answer complex technical and organizational questions as a way to assess
> maturity.  I think that maturity is far more important than technical
> skill in a distro - a mature person will recognize their own limitations
> and exercise due diligence when stepping outside of them.  Instead of
> playing 20 questions and going back and forth with recruits, maybe a
> better approach would be to cut down the questions dramatically (or more
> clearly put their answers in the documentation), and then use other
> approaches like references and interviews.  A new recruit might be given
> the names of 5 devs that they will need to interview with for 30-60
> minutes by phone or IRC (preference on phone), and they will need to
> submit references, who will be contacted.  When we hire people at work
> we don't play trivial pursuit with them, we use an interview to get a
> feel for what they're like and how they handle situations, and we screen
> resumes and references to determine experience.  I'm sure any of the
> professional linux distros would work in the same way, but perhaps
> somebody should ask around and see how it is done elsewhere.
>

I'm not exactly sure how you'd want the references to work, I mean, as in prior jobs/projects worked on?
I know that I'd like to help out with development, but as it stands I don't think I have the necessary skills (various programming language etc), so that is something I'm working on. 
As a consequence I naturally don't have any references (and might not by the time I feel ready) but that wouldn't necessarily mean that I'm not qualified to be working as a dev. Also one could imagine that a number of other people without references, but the necessary qualifications might think "To hell with this, I'll just put my effots somewhere else".

Another thing, you write that phone is preferred but I know that I act relaxed in text with new people and as myself. Whereas on the phone I hold back a bit, and don't really act myself. So perhaps the preference should be the manner in which the one being interviewed is more comfortable with and will act more naturally.

Anyway these are just my 2 cents.

-- 
Zeerak Waseem