Recently i had to interview a guy with 10 years of frontend experience for a react developer role

Me : Do you know what ecmascript is ?
Him : Yes
Me : Which version would you prefer to use and why ?
Him : I dont use it. I am more comfortable with JavaScript.
Me : (totally confused) 😶
Him : (trying to be oversmart) I know you young guys prefer to use these fancy frameworks because you dont know how powerful raw javascript is.
Me : (Trying hard to not "react") Ok.

How would you "react" to this ?

Say to him. Ok thanks for your time. We'll just contact you.

But that would be "react"ing. He wanted me to not "react" 😂😂😂

If you don:t know what I'm talking about, be honest. ECMASCRIPT is the standardization of JavaScript, so it has nothing to do with frameworks.

Please don't assume, instead ask questions and be honest.

Well. When the subject is Javascript, Assuming someone is talking to you about a new framework is almost a given.
Not an excuse not to engage your brain though....

I did once fuck up in a similar way during an interview. I was asked to describe some features introduced in ecmascript 2019, but I had a brain meltdown and started waffling about html 5 🤔🙄

Can happen to any of us I guess.

@nibor That's a truly dumb question though. Why would anyone know that unless by coincidence or pure nerdyness?

Just in case anyone here ever is in such an interview situation - the correct answer to preferred version of ECMA/JavaScript is:
"I don't memorize JavaScript versions. I just check browser support from time to time and update the target of the TypeScript transpiler accordingly."

@nibor totally agree with @ScriptCoded , they gave you a shit question. JS is my strongest, I use vanilla, jquery and react and I couldn’t answer that either. Better questions would be more general, aka async/await, == vs ===, etc

ECMAScript is the specification and JavaScript conforms to that specification.. much like the DOM is an interface and HTML conforms to that interface..

When.. why.. how.. do they let people like this.. -lost for words-

To avoid lawsuits, I agree with below comments and I would indeed react with something generic like: "Thank you for your time, we'll contact you".

Not that it matters but I only have about 7 months real-world experience with JavaScript..

I'd give him just the slightest chance to recover, just in case it was an honest mistake... I'd say "Hmm, maybe I'm misinformed, could you help me out? Could you please explain to me what the difference between JavaScript and ECMAScript is?", or something like that. It's possible the answer will be a blank stare for a few seconds and then "OMG, I apologize, I got confused- they're actually the same thing!" and you can move on. I always let candidates "get away with one" since I know how stressful interviews can be and sometimes brainfarts happen. Of course, once they do, you have to be on heightened alert for other warning signs, but don't let one mess-up, assuming they correct themselves, derail the whole thing. Obviously, if they continue down the same screwed up path, then that's that, cut it short and call it a day.

@fzammetti, I agree with you totally, and i tried to give him the chance but the arrogant reply he added in a vain attempt to be oversmart was the deal breaker for me. No matter who you are, what you know, how much experience, arrogance is a strict deal-breaker

> The last one
Who doesn't want to work with the last version of a language honestly?

funny fact is that javascript is standardized by ecma organization cause netscape pissed off iso

If only his response had been "Actionscript 3 is by far the best version of ECMA".

@Tounai I can't - I work with Opensource browser-based TV's - some of the older ones can't deal with any version less than 5+ years old. I had to unlearn all the latest techniques just to get the most basic scripts to run.
Array avoidance and global parameters became a thing again.

@ojt-rant I'm just saying that it's no pleasure to work with outdated stuff. But in theory, Babel or TS should allows you to use modern JS with an outdated target

Apologies in advance.

Man you really need to ask better question, ask something Google can't answer for him. To know about ecmascript anyone can Google it before the interview. Ask him on problem solving , real situation in the production like how they handle the code. Because trust me these are more important than to know whether ecmascript or JavaScript better.

Usually some senior software dev have high ego, they cant communicate (not friendly to juniors) , want to do the entire project in his OWN way.

Candidate can boast about what tech stack is what and what ... But not impressive, what is impressive is how they provide a solution to the problem you created in your mental screen. Here's 3 points to know someone is experienced. Asked them

1. If X happened , what is he /she best approach to solve it.
2. Why this approach is working?
3. If the company refuse to use this method is there any Alternative you can provide?

@johnmelodyme this

@TeachMeCode this?

@johnmelodyme sorry, “this” means “I agree with this post”

@TeachMeCode oh I see. (n_n)

@johnmelodyme This is just a simple question to filter out the 2 types of people who absolutely dont fit the role.
1. People living under a rock or perhaps under the shadow of their own ego.
2. The ones who are experts in some other language and think all languages are same, so dont even bother to understand the standards of the language.
And it surprises me, how effectively it has been able to filter out such guys.

@coldfire yeah react is a super different ballgame from javascript. You have to get used to the idea of state and how it changes the components that own it

Honestly, idk why would you even ask "What is ECMAScript?" to someone who's applying for a senior FE position

This isn't a trivia lol

@RexGalilae Guess who failed to answer it ! The guy with 10 years of experience 😆😆😆

We should work on giving them the gift of mutant deer and glowing fish lol

The gift that goes on giving for 70 years !

I know that’s the standArd
JavaScript technically adopts the standard apparently it’s not the same thing

But besides the point I’d never tell someone I used ecmascript because no one calls it that !!

And honestly I’d be more interested if he knew how to do the job

He just sounded like he was nervous and a tad annoyed at someone referencing some standard no one calls the actual language by

“what framework? I was asking about ecmascript”