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Ivan Belokamentsev is the founder of PVS-Studio, a Russian IT company. He changed the recruitment plan for programmers to make them write code on a computer, not on a sheet of paper. The change made a huge difference in the productivity of his team.

"Google" programmers. How one idiot hired a couple more idiots

One of the few articles I actually disagree.
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I tracked my new team’s productivity and efficiency, and continually marveled at how they were mastering new skills
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They breezed through simple tasks. I threw more complex tasks at them — tasks for those who had a year of experience. What did I get?
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My team handled these tasks without assistance! I was shocked and excited. What a wonderful generation is growing up!
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So they were doing well in office but started to perform poorly once they were doing it remotely? Doesn’t sound like they are “Google” programmers to me. Sounds like they just needed time to adjust working remotely - like everyone else.
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After 3-6 months, all of them reached a plateau in productivity
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How long do you expect them to be productive for? They are moving to a new environment (WFH) and they probably needed time to adjust. Just like in life, there’s always the highs and the lows.
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Time went by, month after month, but the productivity never improved. It’s like they all could not break through the intern level
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They could solve task before and now they could not break through the intern level? I’m not saying that they shouldn’t be productive but what have YOU done to improve their productivity? If you realized they weren’t being productive, and you sat by doing nothing, then the problem isn’t them.
This whole article is full of contradiction and just reeks of egotism to me. Trying to put the blame on the hiring process is rather silly to me. Being able to “Google” and finding the RIGHT solution to solve the problem IS a good skill. If they don’t understand what they were googling, they will never be able to solve the problem in the first place.

At daily.dev we never give home assignments, everything is done in a pair programming session. One of the reasons is to see how candidates think and do. Can’t agree more with the insights the author shares

I can’t take this article seriously, the writer exclaims that productivity was down during covid because work was remote then in the following paragraphs mentions that they didn’t have as many tasks to do when they were remote. Like what? Are you saying that productivity was down because remote workers were doing their jobs and completing tasks? Essentially creating a lack of tasks to be completed? Also what are the metrics on how you judge the productivity levels of your workers.

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I will come over, sit on your chair, and finish your task. You’ll sit next to me and memorize the way the work should be done.
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Seems like author wants developers who know what they’re doing and understand things, yet at the same time creates an environment where memorization and googling is promoted. And thinks that yelling is a solution :/

One of the worst articles i have ever read. Honestly, i feel sorry for the people working with this guy.