Read on Twitter
Thread. Passion vs Priviledge. Yes, this is due to @BlizzardFitch honestly bad original take (he did correct it somewhat) of a #gamejobs thread, but trying to go past it. And it just happens that I've been thinking about these topics recently at Roblox as well. So here my 2cents:
There is no denying that passion is important in any job, if one wants to progress. And we are lucky enough to work in a field that you can truly be passionate about. But it is also true that having time and access is a major privilege, we have to realize that. So how to solve?
I think we should not pretend this is not a problem, and just saying that personal work doesn't matter is just not true, it won't lead to anything, it's empty outrage. What can we do instead? I think we should focus on how we can recognize potential and passion in an unbiased way
Trying to find potential in only one way is moronic, asking all candidates to have githubs, or even university degrees, or come from elite schools etc, it's all terrible. If you're doing that, please stop. Or don't, in the end you'll make your hiring worse and mine better ;)
We have to instead look for signs of excellence in the widest possible way. You managed to study on your own computer graphics as an immigrant, while working another job? Wow! You might not have exactly the same level of skills of someone out of Stanford, but you're a winner in..
..my books. Bias towards potential (gradient) rather than current skills. Take more risks, especially with juniors. Bias against the CV, stuff written on paper, and rather see what the person currently is. Be open in interviews. This is -NOT- lowering the standards. This is...
..about exceptionally high standards, about valuing passion and willingness to improve, but to do so one -has- to discount the privilege, otherwise what are you evaluating? What a person is, or the conditions they were born in? Last thing. US education is crap. That needs fixing.
