Re: The Covert Interview

["Susan W. Gallagher" <sgallagher -at- STARBASECORP -dot- COM>]

Yesterday I made light of "the covert interview" by explaining
my "interview by seduction" techniques (soothe 'em with music,
give 'em something to play with...", but as I thought about
things last nite, I really felt it necessary to share this...

We tend to think of programmers/engineers as higher up the ol'
totem pole than we'll ever be. Most of them display an arrogant
facade -- nothing ever phases these people. In my last job, I
worked with a group of about 10 developers, one was way cool,
young, network guru, graphics guru... It seemed there was nothing
this guy couldn't make work! We got along really well on a
personal basis, but it was like pulling teeth to get information
out of him.

I finally got the truth out of him. He'd gotten straight D's in
English all through school and was absolutely petrified to make
a grammer mistake in front of me! I was so damned good at it that
**I** intimidated **him** (I'm all, whoa dude! Go Figure!!!).

So that's helped me figure this all out. It's not me they're
afraid of... It's still the high school English teacher looming
over their keyboard that has 'em freaked! Ever since then, I've
been very aware of the image I present, and it's helped!

Of course, working in a company structure where the tech writer
is part of the development team doesn't hurt a bit, either!!

Sue Gallagher
Technical Writer
StarBase Corp, Irvine CA
sgallagher -at- starbasecorp -dot- com