How Do I Evaluate Engineers When I Don't Know What's Good?
You call this a hiring problem. It is not. You sit across from a stranger and feel nothing but doubt, because you have never written down what 'good' means for the work in front of you. So you ask about data structures, or you ask what they built last, and you hope their answer will tell you if they can do the job. It will not. A question without a standard behind it only tells you if someone is good at answering questions. The fix is not a better interview script. It is you, deciding first what competence looks like in your shop, on your team, for the problems you actually have. Do that, and the interview stops being guesswork. It becomes measurement.
You do not have a hiring problem. You have no standard. Before you judge another person's work, decide what good work looks like in your shop. Name three things you will test for. Then every interview becomes simple: does this person show me that, yes or no.
What changes unlock by starting
- A written standard you can reuse for every hire, instead of guessing fresh each time.
- Interviews that test the actual job, not a candidate's skill at performing in interviews.
- Faster, clearer verdicts, with less second-guessing after the offer goes out.
- Hires that reflect your own judgment, not panic, charm, or a gut feeling you can't name.