mpmpmp

programmingpraxis makes a comment in the latest post on Maximum Sum Subsequence:

"any programmer who doesn’t know about the solution will likely fail the interview, on the theory that if he isn’t at least interested enough in his profession to read Bentley [Programming Pearls], he isn’t interested enough in his profession to work for me."

In a follow-up comment:

"I still think a candidate not versed in the programming folklore will be less productive than one who is, and thus less suitable for hiring."

Is this a good or valid criteria for judging a programmer's abilities or future abilities?

Very true points.

As for working at a startup now, I could expand my search, however I have worked at startups the past years and would like something with more stability than the rocking horse ride I have been given so far.

I certainly would not want to be stuck only in a .Net world, but I understood the Microsoft job would not be .Net-centric.

(I had only put one newline between paragraphs, not two, so it inserted p-tags)