Re: [gentoo-dev] [Gentoo Phoenix] recruitment process

[Zeerak Mustafa Waseem <zeerak.w@gmail.com>]

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On Mon, Apr 05, 2010 at 04:07:01PM +0000, Jon Portnoy wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 05, 2010 at 08:50:49AM +0300, Eray Aslan wrote:
> > Just replying randomly.
> > 
> > On 05.04.2010 04:33, Tobias Heinlein wrote:
> > > I think this is a good starting point to get rid of the "some important
> > > questions are too hard to answer" dilemma that can be implemented
> > > relatively fast. On top of that I like Sebastian's idea to order the
> > > quizzes by difficulty -- this means just ordering by the categories I
> > > just mentioned would be sufficient: 1 first, then 2, then 3.
> > 
> > I am not against this idea but frankly, I do not understand what is so
> > demotivating about the ebuild quiz.  If you get demotivated because of a
> > single exam, perhaps the problem is with the motivation and not with the
> > exam itself.  I took the published quiz just for the fun of it and to
> > see where I missed.  It is not that long.
> > 
> 
> Agreed...
> 
> I've been following this discussion with mixed feelings. When we 
> originally began using the quiz system the idea was simply to try
> to force new developers to RTFM -- and I was not such a fan of the 
> entire concept (as I recall, the quizzes were a "suggestion" from Daniel).
> 
> As it turns out, the quiz system has repeatedly proven itself useful
> in another way: developers who whine/bitch/moan and are hesitant to 
> even attempt to complete the quizzes often turn out to be bitchy,
> unmotivated, or unpleasant developers. I don't want to name any names,
> but I've seen this often.
> 
> IMO, those "boring" "too much like high school" quizzes serve one
> extremely valuable function: finding out up front who's a team player
> (or at least willing to do something mildly unpleasant for the
> Greater Good)
> 
> If that's causing potential devs to drop out... perhaps the system is 
> working as it should? :)
> 

There should be a process of weeding out developers that bitch and/or whine, but if most of the teams are understaffed then there has to be done something about it.
The way I see it there are two options: 
a) Scale down the size of the operation, reduce packages offered, and if there are more packages wanted, let the users maintain them. 
b) Look at an effective way of making the process of become a developer (and being a developer for that matter) more attractive.

The first option could be somewhat simple, we already have overlays so those could simply be used. The second option (which would be the best IMO) is a fair bit harder. The first thing that needs to be done is find out why people don't want to become developers. I've heard a few users mention the quiz, but it seems that the thing keeping most people away from becoming developers are all the flame wars that have occured, and the fact that it (to us users) seems like the council isn't doing much of anything about it. 
So while I believe that improving (and/or updating) the recruitment process is important, I think there would be more success if it seemed like a nice place to be a part of, and that bad behaviour is dealt with.

-- 
Zeerak Waseem

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