Jaqui

A recent Article published on Techrepublic lists 10 Grammar mistakes that are extremely common in all online communication, including forums like this one.

An interesting thing showed in the discussion there on the article, the majority of people who participated in the discussion absolutely detest the "l33t" speak used in posts, emails and im's. Why would this be important? These People Hire Programmers!!!! That's right, most of these people are IT Department heads, and potentially are your bosses as programmers.

Do you think that it's a good idea to use im shorthand everywhere you post any message?

Then read the article and ensuing discussion. "l33t" speak in posts tells people you are either to stupid to use correct grammar and spelling or to lazy to do ANY job right.

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nvoigt

Most of the time, if someone is too lazy to use correct grammar or spelling, I'm too lazy to answer him. Works like a charm.

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hth
-nv

She was so Blonde, she spent 20 minutes looking at the orange juice can because it said "Concentrate."

When in doubt, read the FAQ.
Then ask a smart question.

Jaqui

Yup, but if members here are learning programming in order to get into it for work, then by pointing out that this PUBLICLY available record of their writing style can be a drawback to employment if they do use the corrupt language.

And there were a few comments along that line in the discussion at TechRepublic. The point being if you won't answer a post like that, would you hire someone who posts like that?
[ I'm guessing not going to hire them. ]

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nvoigt

I'm not hiring someone who cannot express himself. How would he make a computer do his biddings if he cannot write a single page of correct ( in my case ) German with a full month or whatever he choses to take of preparation. Sending your resume means your sheet of paper will be held against several dozen others. And while I agree that a single typo is probably the worst criteria to find a new programmer, when you have a hundred resumes on your desk, it's the only reasonable way to filter once you have filtered by skillset. I have seen resumes that had never been sent through a spellchecker or proofread by another human being. I'd rather try to find a sufficient amount of monkeys than hiring someone who cannot use a tool for the job.

It's pretty easy to see if someone is not a natural speaker or if he is plain lazy. Lazy people manage to spell even "the" wrong, while foreigners have problems with words like "excruciating".

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hth
-nv

She was so Blonde, she spent 20 minutes looking at the orange juice can because it said "Concentrate."

When in doubt, read the FAQ.
Then ask a smart question.

Jaqui

True, when the person is not using their "native" language, but is writing in a second or third language, then there are frequently mistakes in grammar. I have found that these mistakes are easily recognised for what they are, as the person's "native" language will dictate how they make the grammar mistakes.

Personally, I'm willing to overlook mistakes caused by using a second or third language, all else being equal. I'm not willing to overlook laziness, or incompetence in someone using their native language.

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apotheon

I prefer to focus on people who can manage to turn in a resume that is grammatically correct, without spelling errors, without having to be proofread by another human being. I find that people who actually need spellcheckers are easily recognized by the fact that they believe the spellchecker -- which is often wrong somewhere in the midst of any complex document (like a resume).

Typos in public fora (such as this or the one at TR) are easily overlooked, but if you screw up a resume, there's something severely suboptimal going on.

Jaqui

It's not just typos, it's the grammar as well. no grammar checker will catch every error, or even most errors.

most people don't even use the grammatic that is in their word / text processor.
When the grammar errors are indicating that it is someone using a second language, I'm more forgiving, when it's just laziness then I'm not forgiving at all.

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Dante Shamest

Hire only hot females.

pianorain

Thank you. I was wondering when this thread would get back on topic.

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Rule #1: Every rule has exceptions

whiteflags

Or read the Microsoft documentation.

psychopath

hi gize i thinks taht u shudnt get on ppl bcuz of gramer som ppl cant speel an its nto alwayz there fault an bsidz its teh nternet an n0t evry1 needs to hav good gramer on teh nternet (bcuz its teh nternet lolz !!!11 >.<

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Jaqui

I don't have a problem with that

but if they can't communicate in english effectively, then I won't hire them.

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Jaqui

lets look at the url itself for a minute shall we?

the important part in it is /children/, guess it proves the point, no-one who wants to be taken seriously will use this "l33t" speak wherever they expect their opinion to be taken seriously.

it may be acceptable for children that don't know correct spelling and grammar, but it's completely unacceptable for anyone over the age of 9 to use it.

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whiteflags

I was trying to be funny.

Jaqui

the same ms documentation was pointed out in the discussion on TR, and someone made the same point about it. I was actually poking at the one who posted right after you.

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