In his book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, author Daniel Kahneman explains that humans have two systems of thinking, which he creatively calls “System 1” and “System 2”.

System 1 is fast, insinctive and emotional.

When you hear a fire alarm go off, and you rush out of the office building, this is system 1 at play.

System 2 is slower, more deliberate and more logical.

When you’re trying to decide where to go on vacation, you’re using system 2.

What does this have to do with hiring?

A lot of hiring screening is focused on system 1.

“Trivia” quizzes, timed coding challenges, even timeboxed conversations. These all favor fast, on-your-feet types of thinking. System 1.

But here’s the thing…

In IT, success on the job hinges a lot more on System 2 thinking.

Deciding on the optimal architecture for your project, debugging complex code, and even writing documentation are all System 2 processes.

What can we do to overcome this disconnect? Please share your thoughts with me!