Today, a junior developer I sit next to, asked me if I had a few minutes to talk. As I had been a bit short with him a few days ago, I prepared my apology to him as I figured he was going to be stunningly mature beyond his years and call me on my shortness. Instead, he surprised me when I sat down, by asking,

Are we being tested?

I sat there staring at him for a bit before he continued. "Do managers test developers? Are we being judged?" Eventually he explained that his manager had asked for his calendar and to see his code, and he didn't know why.