Myth: Experience within specific development process models matters significantly.
The obsession with Methodologies in the workplace is another instance of the high-tech illusion. - Peopleware
Just because an engineer has worked to a different weekly meeting schedule than you, filled out design and test documents with different names than those your team uses, and worked alongside colleagues with different process role titles than your pet process specifies, that doesn’t mean he can’t become an important contributor in your group. Hopefully some minds are now blown.
It’s baffling when job descriptions and hiring managers are so intent on the type of process to be used. This is something that can be learned in a day and mastered in baby steps over a month or two. There isn’t any reason to lose sleep over this.
Instead, the value you are looking for can be found in your candidate’s exposure and inclination towards quality and disciplined development, in general. Such an engineer can appreciate and easily integrate into your well thought-out quality process, regardless of the specific models with which he is or is not already experienced. Using the right interview questions will uncover this.
I try to hire people that can learn our processes. You need engineers that are flexible, that will toss away what’s not relevant and keep what is. - AS, senior systems engineer
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