"I find this assertion to be virtually nonsensical. I've never met a programmer who hasn't written some code that they could show you"...
I've met plenty. Interviewed 6 candidates a few years ago - only one even brought anything beyond his resume. He brought a full physical portfolio of work he'd done. Most of it was web screenshots and such - not much 'code' to speak of, but he'd made the effort. No one else did.
I've been in plenty of places where people say "I can't show my work, cause it's for my previous employer". And they don't code when they go home. Or on weekends.
I brought code samples to an interview once, and the interviewer wouldn't look at it because "it wouldn't be fair to other people who don't bring code samples".
No doubt many people can, but you may be living in a bit of a self-selection bubble where everyone you know and mix with has loads of spare code to demonstrate. Many people don't. Now... if you want to use that as a signal for that person's interest level or ability, feel free to. You may be missing out on some otherwise competent or talented folks. But we all have to use signals to filter out candidates, and that may be a valid signal for you to use.
If you didn't ask candidates to bring code samples, it should come as no surprise that most don't, even though they might be able.
Where I work, we don't ask candidates to bring in a random code sample because instead we have them submit a coding exercise that they can do at home at their leisure. Our entire team then code reviews the code. Given the quality of most of the code submissions, it may be true that most programmers never program for fun, but if so, it shows this fact shows in the quality of their work.
All of the people who've given us nice submissions have also been very enthusiastic about what they do. I know this because we ask candidates if they read any programming journals or books just for their own edification, and the good ones always do. They always show some motivation beyond just completing assigned tasks.
We're a Scala shop, though, so we need people who aren't just programming because it's their job and for no other reason. Such people would have no motivation to become skilled in a complex programming language that is not yet mainstream.
I was doing PHP in 1996. If you were doing PHP in 1996, it was generally because you wanted to do it, learn it, etc (arguably web stuff in general then a bit too). There weren't many "PHP jobs" as such back then, so when you found other PHP developers, you knew they were enthusiasts of some sort.
That's where Scala's been, and almost any 'newish' language. If you find people adopting them, they're probably enthusiastic about it, and enjoy living on the cutting edge. :)
Comments
"I find this assertion to be virtually nonsensical. I've never met a programmer who hasn't written some code that they could show you"...
I've met plenty. Interviewed 6 candidates a few years ago - only one even brought anything beyond his resume. He brought a full physical portfolio of work he'd done. Most of it was web screenshots and such - not much 'code' to speak of, but he'd made the effort. No one else did.
I've been in plenty of places where people say "I can't show my work, cause it's for my previous employer". And they don't code when they go home. Or on weekends.
I brought code samples to an interview once, and the interviewer wouldn't look at it because "it wouldn't be fair to other people who don't bring code samples".
No doubt many people can, but you may be living in a bit of a self-selection bubble where everyone you know and mix with has loads of spare code to demonstrate. Many people don't. Now... if you want to use that as a signal for that person's interest level or ability, feel free to. You may be missing out on some otherwise competent or talented folks. But we all have to use signals to filter out candidates, and that may be a valid signal for you to use.
If you didn't ask candidates to bring code samples, it should come as no surprise that most don't, even though they might be able.
Where I work, we don't ask candidates to bring in a random code sample because instead we have them submit a coding exercise that they can do at home at their leisure. Our entire team then code reviews the code. Given the quality of most of the code submissions, it may be true that most programmers never program for fun, but if so, it shows this fact shows in the quality of their work.
All of the people who've given us nice submissions have also been very enthusiastic about what they do. I know this because we ask candidates if they read any programming journals or books just for their own edification, and the good ones always do. They always show some motivation beyond just completing assigned tasks.
We're a Scala shop, though, so we need people who aren't just programming because it's their job and for no other reason. Such people would have no motivation to become skilled in a complex programming language that is not yet mainstream.
I was doing PHP in 1996. If you were doing PHP in 1996, it was generally because you wanted to do it, learn it, etc (arguably web stuff in general then a bit too). There weren't many "PHP jobs" as such back then, so when you found other PHP developers, you knew they were enthusiasts of some sort.
That's where Scala's been, and almost any 'newish' language. If you find people adopting them, they're probably enthusiastic about it, and enjoy living on the cutting edge. :)