You’re not the only one who is (was?) hard on Spolsky. I think this is because he’s one of those people that people either hate or fellate. So the haters, hate him all the more for the fellation, if you will.

I think, at the end of the day, I think he’s just mostly OK. He’s got some good chestnuts, but he’s not some kind of god either. For instance, I think he’s dead wrong about asking “impossible questions” on an interview. I find nothing more annoying as both an interviewer and interviewee than questions like that. Theoretically, people will show you how great they are at general problem sovling but I find that many creative people may not be functioning at 50% creativity level during an interview. Rare candidates can be 100% creative in an interview, but this doesn’t mean their 100% is much better than the nervous guy’s 100% when they aren’t in an interview setting.

Etc. The point is, he’s just another engineer with some opinions. Some good ones. Some not so good ones. ’nuff said.