Tuesday, July 7, 2009

The "I Don't Know Rule"

There's a few rules that govern my IT philosophy towards people/hires, and chief amongst them is the "I Don't Know Rule". In a nutshell - anyone afraid to tell you that they don't know something, probably isn't a good hire. Every interview process should test the limits of someone's knowledge in at least one area - be it technical, managerial, what have you - to the point where they will either A) admit that they don't know the answer or B) make up something that they think sounds correct.

Sometimes the lie is a *believed* lie, but it's usually easy to discern the difference. When someone can't admit that they don't know the answer, there is a fundamental insecurity issue that will come back and haunt you later.

One of the best hires I ever made came down to two developers - one extremely experienced, one fresh out of college. The experienced guy *would* *not* *say* "I don't know", and the college guy was completely honest. I hired the college guy, and he's had an amazing career.

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