Tracy, On 10/18/07, Tracy R Reed <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I recently experienced a senior level IT guy who was a hunt and pecker. > This made me think: Perhaps we should administer a typing test?
No. When I'm coding, my typing speed drops way down compared to typing this email. I tend to type more in spurts, then sit back and reflect on what I just did, or end up compiling, etc. What I've seen in coders who are also fast typists, they tend to make more typos, then have to delete things, then get it correct. I don't know how you could accurately test a person who's going to be typing constructs, function calls and the like. Would > that be offensive? Can you really be an experienced > coder/sysadmin/whatever and not know how to type without looking at the > keyboard? Possibly offensive to some, but I think you're mostly wasting time. There far more to coding than raw typing speed. People who don't know how to type are the ones who never like > to communicate via email or IM but instead always want to call you or > stop by or whatever. They also can't work from home as virtual employees > or effectively utilize a wiki to document their work etc. This is true, and it's a function of the job description. If a candidate can't use the tools provided, then they shouldn't be hired. So, during your interviews, why not test them out on IM, email and creating documentation. If you want to see this kind of interviewing personally, apply for an engineering job at MySQL. Best place I've interviewed, I'm hoping they write a book on how to interview support engineers. In my case, I could never learn to type on a QWERTY style keyboard. I tried in high school, military and finally college. Could never master that thing faster than 20WPM. I decided to give Dvorak layout a try, lo and behold I could finally type faster than 30 WPM! So, all my system have Dvorak layouts configured. When I'm coding, my typing speed isn't that fast in comparison, but for other typing, I'm pretty normal. Now, the odd thing is, I can switch to QWERTY in a few mins. I still type slow compared to Dvorak, but I can do it when I run into a machine that doesn't have that configured. The one thing I had to give up is using VIM. I learned that on QWERTY, and I just can't make the switch to Dvorak. I tried for many years, can't do it. Muscle memory is pretty powerful, and I can't get hjkl to the Dvorak keyboard. I've moved on to Eclipse, and have pretty much not looked back. With completion, I can code better than I could before - meaning, as far as speed goes. Just my $.02. All but the period is the same on QWERTY! -- Mark Schoonover, CMDBA http://marksitblog.blogspot.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cell: 619-368-0099 Give me ambiguity, or give me something else! --kelsey hudson -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
