[gameprogrammer] Re: Fire on the first day?

FWIW i don't think that was such a bad start at attacking the problem.

For all we know, him saying "bounding box" didn't refer to the
collision detection system at all, but just refered to a bounding
volume he'd want to use to put the explosion billboards in.  Also if
he is a graphics programmer, and he has a limited comprehension of
collision detection systems does that make him a bad graphics
programmer?  No, it makes him a bad engine programmer, which isn't
what you hired him for in the first place.

It sounds to me like you are jumping to conclusions pretty quickly.

Give the guy a chance, I'm sure you'll be alot happier in the end than
you think you will be.

Don't forget too that loyalty is a 2 way street; if you want people to
stick around you are going to also have to provide them some level of
assurance from your side that if you hire them you aren't going to
immediately fire them, just like you dont expect a person to quit
after a week.

If i were working at a company where I could be fired for a single
wrong answer, i don't think i'd want to stick around :P

FWIW i say give him a chance and I predict you will be pleasantly surprised.


On 3/23/07, Kevin Jenkins <gameprogrammer@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I hired a graphics programmer for my 3D space game.  He sounded smart
in the interview and sounded like he had a good background.  His first
assignment was to develop an explosion system for a giant carrier.

When pressed on how he would do this, he said he would place explosion
billboards randomly inside the bounding rectangle of the carrier.
When asked why this would work, he said it would work because my test
carrier was a giant (hollow) rectangle.

For those that don't know it, the bounding rectangle of an object is
the rectangle that encloses the maximum extents of the object, and
unless the object really is a rectangle will have space outside of the
object too.

My immediate reaction, and maybe I'm wrong, was that his answer was so
obviously wrong no graphics programmer could ever give it.  Even
non-programmers should know better.  Did he actually think our final
art was going to be flying rectangles?  Or did just not think things
through?  Either way, I should just fire him immediately.

On the other hand, I don't want to be an ogre that fires someone just
for asking a question. I always hated jobs where I had to spend hours
figuring stuff out because someone couldn't spare 5 minutes to answer
something.

Firing now will cost $200 and the time I spent interviewing.  Waiting
will cost me $1000 and that time, but has a chance that he will work
out in the end.

What should I do?

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