What surprises me is the number of times candidates hesitate or rattle off a generic answer about what they've recently learned. This happened not that long ago:
Me: As an interview was ending, I asked, "What kinds of work related books, articles or blogs have you read recently and what did you learn from them."
Candidate: (paraphrased) Well I like to read blogs about agile and online articles as well. They let me know about new trends in agile and new ways of doing things.
Wow! Impressively useless answer. Kinda like Sarah Palin's answer when asked a similar question and she responded by saying "I read them all." Seems useless, however at the same time, for me, the answer is incredibly informative.
I have a hard time recommending someone for hire when they don't seem to have the appetite to read and learn. Our's is not a static world. We thrive on Inspecting and Adapting. Adapting requires learning, it requires study, it requires experience, it requires attention to what's working, what's not, and it requires reading and learning. So if your not learning in multiple ways, you're stagnating.
And if that's not enough to keep learning, check this article out - Challenging your brain keeps it sharp as you age
Read, learn, attend seminars, go to user groups, try things you haven't tried, learn something new at work or outside work, learn something and teach it to someone else.
Just keep learning.
1 comment:
That's a great interview question to ask. I've found some people expect to get all of their learning and experience to try new things from their day jobs, and it rarely works out that way. Self-starters know how to create their own opportunities for growth.
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