>It can come across as nonsense because if I'm good and know I'm good, I'd expect any potential employers to be able to recognize that easily without a trial period.
I can only speak for startup / small team hiring, but the problem I see here is that the only hiring metric that you seem to be testing for is if the person is a good engineer or not. I believe that is rather objective, and in these days pretty clear to assess with the plethora of people writing open source projects. Simply put, if I was recruiting, I would not have contacted if I didn't believe you weren't capable of the work. (I also have the same problem with "Traditional" interviews, inviting a person for a job then testing them with fizzbuzz is like hiring an athlete to join your sports team, and on the first day asking him if he can kick a ball.)
What really worries me - and why I'm more a fan of a trial period, is how do you, as a human being, fit inside our community. Other than "not being able to do the work" there are a million other reasons why someone would not enjoy, or atleast put up their place of work. Maybe the team always has 6 o clock beers, and you don't drink so you feel left out. Maybe the team are composed of entirely of Montagues and you are a Capulet. There are human factors in the work place, and I believe, everyone should be comfortable where they work - and despite talks of equality, openness, and acceptance, there are people that just plain can't get along with other people for whatever reason. Were human and we move on.
Now again, I'm trying to build a small startup team and it might be different in corporate. However what would you say to employers that are looking at "trial period" hiring as a way to gauge culture fit and ultimately employee happiness?
I can only speak for startup / small team hiring, but the problem I see here is that the only hiring metric that you seem to be testing for is if the person is a good engineer or not. I believe that is rather objective, and in these days pretty clear to assess with the plethora of people writing open source projects. Simply put, if I was recruiting, I would not have contacted if I didn't believe you weren't capable of the work. (I also have the same problem with "Traditional" interviews, inviting a person for a job then testing them with fizzbuzz is like hiring an athlete to join your sports team, and on the first day asking him if he can kick a ball.)
What really worries me - and why I'm more a fan of a trial period, is how do you, as a human being, fit inside our community. Other than "not being able to do the work" there are a million other reasons why someone would not enjoy, or atleast put up their place of work. Maybe the team always has 6 o clock beers, and you don't drink so you feel left out. Maybe the team are composed of entirely of Montagues and you are a Capulet. There are human factors in the work place, and I believe, everyone should be comfortable where they work - and despite talks of equality, openness, and acceptance, there are people that just plain can't get along with other people for whatever reason. Were human and we move on.
Now again, I'm trying to build a small startup team and it might be different in corporate. However what would you say to employers that are looking at "trial period" hiring as a way to gauge culture fit and ultimately employee happiness?