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posted by LaminatorX on Monday November 17 2014, @12:51PM   Printer-friendly
from the kindergarten-consulting dept.

A British five year old has passed the MCP exam, proving he's both a Minesweeper Consultant as well as a Solitaire Expert. His family pretty much agree that it's just a matter of memorising the multiple choice answers: The hardest challenge was explaining the language of the test to a five-year-old. But he seemed to pick it up and has a very good memory.

When you are looking for an employee, do you look at pieces of paper that a five year old can get from memorising a few answers, or do you trust references and resumes?

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  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday November 17 2014, @12:56PM

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday November 17 2014, @12:56PM (#116687) Journal

    When you are looking for an employee, do you look at pieces of paper that a five year old can get from memorising a few answers, or do you trust references and resumes?

    What's wrong with a practical?

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    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Nuke on Monday November 17 2014, @02:15PM

      by Nuke (3162) on Monday November 17 2014, @02:15PM (#116724)

      Wrote :- "When you are looking for an employee, do you look at pieces of paper ...... or do you trust references and resumes?

      My wife is a book keeper and spent a lot of time and money getting paper qualifications. She is also good at it, and has a lot of experience. She has changed jobs twice in recent years and found that at interviews the employers (small companies) were not the slightest bit interested in the paper qualifications, for the simple reason they did not know what they meant (Grade 2 IAB or something like that). Why would they? - they are decorators, car repair workshops, furniture shops etc. It would be the same with IT with such companies.

      OTOH, the employers relied too much on previous experience. My wife once worked with another book keeper who was absolutely useless. They managed to get rid of the woman in the end, but she walked straight into another job simply because she was able to say that she had done it before.

      References? If a company wants to get rid of an employee, they give a good reference.

      ""What's wrong with a practical?"

      How would a car repair workshop manager know how to set a practical book keeping test? Book keeping qualifications issued by such as the IAB are based on exams that already include practical tests.

  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Sir Garlon on Monday November 17 2014, @01:25PM

    by Sir Garlon (1264) on Monday November 17 2014, @01:25PM (#116706)

    If a candidate can actually solve real-world IT problems, then who cares if he is five or ninety-five? Well, presumably the UK has laws prohibiting employment of a child that young anyway, but if it were permissible to hire him for a few hours a week, I'd consider it. Let's see how he interviews. From TFA, I have some doubts about his communication skills meeting even the lenient standards of the IT world. So that's what I'd tell the interviewers to focus on.

    On a serious note: if a young kid (maybe not that young) wanted to volunteer for Soylent, would we accept him? Would we treat him properly?

    --
    [Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
    • (Score: 5, Funny) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Monday November 17 2014, @02:17PM

      by GreatAuntAnesthesia (3275) on Monday November 17 2014, @02:17PM (#116725) Journal

      > but if it were permissible to hire him for a few hours a week, I'd consider it.

      I know we all like to bitch and moan about how junior IT employees need their arses wiped for them, but this would be taking it too far for me.

    • (Score: 2) by cafebabe on Monday November 17 2014, @03:54PM

      by cafebabe (894) on Monday November 17 2014, @03:54PM (#116776) Journal

      If a candidate can actually solve real-world IT problems, then who cares if he is five or ninety-five?

      If you had a staff photo of a British five year old, it might count as child porn or something equally ridiculous [soylentnews.org].

      --
      1702845791×2
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 17 2014, @01:53PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 17 2014, @01:53PM (#116714)

    You can't really gain much insight into a candidate based on a resume or CV, same thing matters for any diplomas or certifications he has. They are an indication and can land that first interview; but from there it's back to what does she/he actually know and how easy can they apply it in our context.
    Oh, and if you put 'expert' or 'master' on your CV, be prepared to answer questions on that topic, and if you don't know the answer your chances of getting hired just dropped to the bottom end of improbability.

  • (Score: 1) by Nuke on Monday November 17 2014, @02:01PM

    by Nuke (3162) on Monday November 17 2014, @02:01PM (#116718)

    So this is why it is cheaper to get Microsoft admins than Linux ones (or so we are told).

    • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday November 17 2014, @07:50PM

      by bob_super (1357) on Monday November 17 2014, @07:50PM (#116914)

      At least it should settle the arguments against child labor: "Sure, he's only 5, but he's Certified"

  • (Score: 2) by Dunbal on Monday November 17 2014, @03:16PM

    by Dunbal (3515) on Monday November 17 2014, @03:16PM (#116743)

    "When you are looking for an employee, do you look at pieces of paper that a five year old can get from memorising a few answers, or do you trust references and resumes?"

    When I'm looking for a potential candidate I always grab half of the resume's in the pile and throw them in the trash, that way I eliminate all the people who are unlucky.

  • (Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Monday November 17 2014, @04:02PM

    by LoRdTAW (3755) on Monday November 17 2014, @04:02PM (#116780) Journal

    When you are looking for an employee, do you look at pieces of paper that a five year old can get from memorising a few answers, or do you trust references and resumes?

    People can lie about references and education. References are flaky because I used the family business as a reference for myself and a few of my friends. Only once were we called and a good review was given for a friend. How many job interviews actually asked you to bring along your diplomas or certificates? No one in their right mind would take credentials, references and resumes at face value. I learned that people lie a lot more than you think they do. You have to test your applicants for the relevant knowledge needed for the position.

    http://blog.codinghorror.com/why-cant-programmers-program/ [codinghorror.com]

  • (Score: 2) by PizzaRollPlinkett on Monday November 17 2014, @04:27PM

    by PizzaRollPlinkett (4512) on Monday November 17 2014, @04:27PM (#116791)

    I think this proves that these exams are just a developer tax, a barrier to entry to keep people out of the profession. 5-year-olds don't have the ability to do abstract reasoning yet. That's why algebra doesn't start until the 8th/9th grade. Whatever these tests are testing, it isn't the ability to creatively solve problems through reasoning.

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    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 17 2014, @04:49PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 17 2014, @04:49PM (#116809)

      Maybe that's true for Americans, but elsewhere algebra starts from 5th grade on.

      • (Score: 2) by strattitarius on Monday November 17 2014, @07:26PM

        by strattitarius (3191) on Monday November 17 2014, @07:26PM (#116899) Journal

        Well not to be outdone, in the US algebra actually starts as early as kindergarten depending on the definition of algebra. Kindergarten worksheets have " 5 - _ = 3 " if you count that as algebra.

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    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 17 2014, @06:09PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 17 2014, @06:09PM (#116850)

      I think this proves that these exams are just a developer tax, a barrier to entry to keep people out of the profession. 5-year-olds don't have the ability to do abstract reasoning yet.

      Indeed. This is the huge elephant in the room no one is discussing. If a five year old can pass the test then how valuable is this certification, really? C'mon! I think you all know the obvious answer to this.