The author talks about being asked a question regarding web elements when he was leaving the Search team for the Developer Relations team.
A commenter talks about being asked algorithm questions despite being interviewed for a sysadmin role.
Another commenter talks about telling the interviewers that she is not a coder and then is asked a bunch of coding questions despite interviewing for a testing position and having written a book on testing and having years of domain experience.
If you are just wanting algorithm people then surely they're going to be lacking in other areas (e.g. Google Wave, designed by algorithmers).
The objections raised here seem to be along the lines of that the questions are not related to the jobs people are interviewing for. This has two impacts:
- people are not being asked questions about their domain (it seems incredibly stupid not to ask questions about testing if the interviewer is a tester)
- you will cut down on the diversity of your staff if you just want algorithmists (which means that you are more likely to produce more Google Waves).
Well, to be a very good software tester you do need to code. I wouldn't have thought this to be controversial. Yeah, there are activities that don't involve programming, like plain manual testing, test planning and management, etc. But test automation and making code testable require programming skills.
The common factor is programming. They're looking for web designers with programming experience, sysadmins with programming experience, managers with programming experience.
It sounds like they're doing it right to me. It's not the be-all and end-all but it is a differentiator.
"Developer Advocate is a highly technical role [1]."
Doesn't appear to be from the link you gave.
From your link:
"You will be an evangelist for our newest technologies in the outside world, as well as a vocal advocate for developers' needs within Google. You will be an engineer who thrives on the cutting edge of technology and loves seeing exciting, new applications and business that other developers are building. Your job is to drive momentum for exciting new technologies such as Chrome, Android, App Engine, Google Wave, Google Maps API, HTML5, and our core Google Apps and Ads APIs. "
Guy Kawasaki was one of the first evangelists. He was a jeweler previously. Of course Guy has a great many talents, but I don't think anyone would call him "highly technical." Notice the middle sentence says "you will be an engineer", but the rest of it talks about being an "Advocate" and "your job is to drive momentum", etc.
The requirements don't seem to be highly technical either. (most of the languages are scripting languages, for instance.)
From the description:
BA/BS in Computer Science or a similar technical degree preferred.
Experience blogging and writing technical articles, ideally with an existing follower base.
Strong command of web application or mobile application development landscapes.
Experience working directly with large partners, or with press and bloggers preferred.
Considerable success as a software developer, architect, technology evangelist, CTO, or consultant working with web or mobile technologies.
Strong command of web application or mobile application development landscapes.
Solid programming abilities in one or more of the following languages: Java, PHP, Python, Ruby, .NET, JavaScript.
A commenter talks about being asked algorithm questions despite being interviewed for a sysadmin role.
Another commenter talks about telling the interviewers that she is not a coder and then is asked a bunch of coding questions despite interviewing for a testing position and having written a book on testing and having years of domain experience.
If you are just wanting algorithm people then surely they're going to be lacking in other areas (e.g. Google Wave, designed by algorithmers).
The objections raised here seem to be along the lines of that the questions are not related to the jobs people are interviewing for. This has two impacts:
- people are not being asked questions about their domain (it seems incredibly stupid not to ask questions about testing if the interviewer is a tester)
- you will cut down on the diversity of your staff if you just want algorithmists (which means that you are more likely to produce more Google Waves).