This is one of those things that requires a balance. I do not want a junior asking me something that they could just as easily Google.
I DO want them to ask me about some company- or domain- specific tech, so I can save them a day of research with a two-minute explanation.
If I can unstick them when they are stuck, that's great. If they get stuck every fifth line of code, or on simple problems, that's terrible.
The advice to listen more than you talk is excellent. Soak up information and then take questions offline. You don't want to be "that guy" who holds important high-level meeting with newbie questions, or derail a business discussion with questions about engineering trivia.
If I can unstick them when they are stuck, that's great. If they get stuck every fifth line of code, or on simple problems, that's terrible.
Couldn't have said it better myself. I give leeway to the new hires to learn the domain-specific stuff, but it becomes quickly obvious if they aren't picking up on the material. I had a guy not understand that "4883-381" would not be interpreted by Python as a string without the quotes after 8+ months of working with the language. At one point I caught him trying to put arguments outside of parenthesis. I realized he had basically been copying and pasting the entire time, banging his head against the wall until something worked. I almost went postal.
Comments
This is one of those things that requires a balance. I do not want a junior asking me something that they could just as easily Google.
I DO want them to ask me about some company- or domain- specific tech, so I can save them a day of research with a two-minute explanation.
If I can unstick them when they are stuck, that's great. If they get stuck every fifth line of code, or on simple problems, that's terrible.
The advice to listen more than you talk is excellent. Soak up information and then take questions offline. You don't want to be "that guy" who holds important high-level meeting with newbie questions, or derail a business discussion with questions about engineering trivia.
Couldn't have said it better myself. I give leeway to the new hires to learn the domain-specific stuff, but it becomes quickly obvious if they aren't picking up on the material. I had a guy not understand that "4883-381" would not be interpreted by Python as a string without the quotes after 8+ months of working with the language. At one point I caught him trying to put arguments outside of parenthesis. I realized he had basically been copying and pasting the entire time, banging his head against the wall until something worked. I almost went postal.