:mattLandia:

Recruiting really good people is tough. Some look great, but when you throw them into an environment of overachievers, well, you get a really quick sense of can 'do' and who 'says they can do'. And let me tell you, there are a ton (A TON) of one-eyed, half-assed technologists out there in employment land selling themselves as the 'good ones'. To be fair, some just aren't a good fit for what we're looking for and that's OK. Makes no sense to recruit a chess player for a rugby team. But it's the chess players in rugby team clothing that are the worst.

Today we interviewed someone who wasn't as good as his resume led on. I should have known he was doomed. He brought a 1 liter bottle of Club Soda to drink during the interview (who brings a whole liter of ANYTHING to an interview). Apparently he thought he may get really, really thirsty. Unfortunately for him, he didn't realize his plastic bottle of carbonated had become an explosive device after having been adequately jostled during his walk to our office.

He sat down, pulled out the bottle, opened it up with the confidence of one-eyed king in blind country. BLOOSH. A fizzy geyser of Club Soda blew up into his face, shirt and tie, spilling all over the table. He sat there, dumbfounded, dripping wet. Poor soul. I don't know if I could imagine a worse start to an interview.

After an hour of fielding technical questions from our resident smart guys, he left quietly, wet, and a bit worse for the wear. He called me later to see how he did. I said, "well, I don't think you'll be a fit for this position".

He said, "Yeah I know" and hung up. Welcome to the land of the sighted buddy.