It seems most jobs that I've been exposed to come with a 3 month trial period, during which the employer decides whether the employee is doing good enough work, and is a good fit. 3 months seem like overkill to me, for most cases we've known much sooner whether someone wasn't a good fit.How long does it take you, on average, to evaluate whether a newly hired programmer is both talented and a good fit for your team?
How long of a trial period do you use with programmers - how quickly can you tell if they are talented and a good fit?
hiring
It depends on the person. I have worked with people that were able to hide all sort of stuffs for 6 months. But for technical abilities, you will figure it out a lot faster. I'd say 4 to 6 weeks or a couple of iterations.Technical abilities: 4 to 6 weeksYou really know someone when bad things happens. Behaviors change and real personality of someone is revealed. So you will have to wait longer. I have personaly observed that I can say I know someone after 6 months of work with him.Non Technical abilities: 6 monthsBecause of that, I don't trust my short term judgment anymore. I've been very enthusiastic with people that with time turned out to be really evil, and was doubtful with others which are now my best friends.That's why my hiring process is more like a trial & failure job with some strict upfront test on personality and less technical eliteness.