<story><title>No Hire</title><url>http://github.com/raganwald/homoiconic/blob/master/2009-06-26/no_hire.md#readme</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>raganwald</author><text>A personal observation: I&apos;m also a hiring manager, and I struggle with this problem on both sides of the table.&lt;p&gt;I Google candidates for their professional opinions and activities. But what do I do if I find their profile on a public site like HN? Some of the comments are going to be useful fodder for an interview &lt;i&gt;I noticed you posted a comment on HN suggesting OOP has had its fifteen minutes of fame. What do you see replacing it? ...&lt;/i&gt; But I might also read opinions about politics. What if the same person has posted HN comments about Obama the Magic Negro? I really don&apos;t want to know what they think and why in the context of hiring them.&lt;p&gt;Worse, what if I see a comment from the same person saying one of &lt;i&gt;my&lt;/i&gt; posts is absolute garbage and that I&apos;m an idiot? Now I may have compromised my impartiality.&lt;p&gt;I don&apos;t know the answer. I wouldn&apos;t look up a candidate in something obviously personal like Facebook or MySpace, but I have no idea how to handle stuff like HN that contains what I perceive to be a mix of relevant technical opinions and personal, wrong-side-of-the-privacy-line stuff.&lt;p&gt;I don&apos;t know.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>inerte</author><text>I remember reading a story about a company who was advised by its lawyers to simply &lt;i&gt;never&lt;/i&gt; look for stuff online, for reasons close to yours.&lt;p&gt;The off chance that you could read about someone&apos;s pregnancy (something that you should not ask in a interview) was enough for them to ban the practice.&lt;p&gt;I don&apos;t agree, but it&apos;s a good argument. Very protective of the lawyers.</text></comment>
<story><title>No Hire</title><url>http://github.com/raganwald/homoiconic/blob/master/2009-06-26/no_hire.md#readme</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>raganwald</author><text>A personal observation: I&apos;m also a hiring manager, and I struggle with this problem on both sides of the table.&lt;p&gt;I Google candidates for their professional opinions and activities. But what do I do if I find their profile on a public site like HN? Some of the comments are going to be useful fodder for an interview &lt;i&gt;I noticed you posted a comment on HN suggesting OOP has had its fifteen minutes of fame. What do you see replacing it? ...&lt;/i&gt; But I might also read opinions about politics. What if the same person has posted HN comments about Obama the Magic Negro? I really don&apos;t want to know what they think and why in the context of hiring them.&lt;p&gt;Worse, what if I see a comment from the same person saying one of &lt;i&gt;my&lt;/i&gt; posts is absolute garbage and that I&apos;m an idiot? Now I may have compromised my impartiality.&lt;p&gt;I don&apos;t know the answer. I wouldn&apos;t look up a candidate in something obviously personal like Facebook or MySpace, but I have no idea how to handle stuff like HN that contains what I perceive to be a mix of relevant technical opinions and personal, wrong-side-of-the-privacy-line stuff.&lt;p&gt;I don&apos;t know.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>nostrademons</author><text>&quot;Worse, what if I see a comment from the same person saying one of my posts is absolute garbage and that I&apos;m an idiot? Now I may have compromised my impartiality.&quot;&lt;p&gt;If you&apos;re a good manager, you should be able to stomach having an employee tell you that.  After all, what if your opinion &lt;i&gt;is&lt;/i&gt; absolute garbage and you&apos;re an idiot?  Do you want people working for you who won&apos;t call you out when you&apos;re wrong?&lt;p&gt;The right question to ask there is &lt;i&gt;why&lt;/i&gt; your posts is garbage and you&apos;re an idiot.  See if they can defend it.  And if they can, and can convince &lt;i&gt;you&lt;/i&gt; that your own post is garbage, that&apos;s someone worth hiring.  If they&apos;re just ranting, maybe it&apos;s time to look at another candidate.</text></comment>