Do your homework

How many times have you had to explain who you are and what you do because of someone else's request?  That is so old school.  I just read Jason's entry where he talks about interviewing someone for a job.

Call me ignorant or biased (or visionary), but when I profile an interview candidate for a technical position these days, I spend less and less time on their resume, and more time Googling them, perusing their blog(s) and podcast(s).  I don't base my entire opinion of them based on such material, but it does give me an idea of who I'm dealing with.  Give me a couple of days, let me subscribe to your feed, read/listen to some of your stuff, look through your archive and formulate an opinion of your technical acumen, general intellect, personal interests and area(s) of expertise.

Before I interview someone for the ASP.NET Podcast, I google them and try to find a little bit of information about them.  From that I try and base a series of questions about them that I think are of value to the listeners.

What can you take from this post?  I feel that most people don't do their homework and don't even know who they are dealing with in a technical situation.  I honestly will try to not repeat my Rob Howard mistake of early 2001 when I didn't realize who Rob was/is.  I suggest that the reader do the same.

Wally