Our team lead just hired another contractor from the same agency I am working through.  The contractor went through the interview rounds (full-time’s only) including the team lead and group lead.

Per the team lead the developer has lots of experience with Java, JSF, SOA, etc…  All the stuff we need on the team

The guy talks, a lot.  This is just a personality trait that irks me.  So, maybe he’s ok anyway.

Then I overhear the conversations he’s having with other developers (see talks a lot above) and some of the questions he has asked me:

• When a screen (from the functional spec) has multiple checkboxes does that mean the user can select multiple items?
• Similar when a screen has multiple radio buttons does that mean the user can select only one?
• Do I need the JDK installed to compile the application?
• Are all of the user actions affecting the database?

I guess the worst part is I bet he is getting the same hourly rate (or better) than I am.