I once had a programmer who had become one after dropping out of school, working as a waiter for several years, then not being able to find waiting jobs any more and deciding that construction work sucks.
He went into programming as “a job where you sit down indoors all day.”
Very nice guy, but about as sharp as laminate floor. If you gave him pseudo code he’d program it; if you went to him with a question, trying to get information you needed in order to design the solution to a problem, he’d stare at you with a fearful look “oh my god, I hope she doesn’t expect me to actually solve this!”
So, he was a good programmer but definitely no analyst.
When, in my next job, someone from HR asked me “hey, we’re thinking of hiring this guy as an analyst, what do you think?” I told them “he’s a good programmer but he’ll never be an analyst; very nice guy, great coworker, but he has neither the ability nor the interest to be an analyst.”
The HR guy later called me and told me “we’re hiring that guy you dislike, thought I’d give you a heads-up” “I don’t dislike him, I said and it’s in writing that I like him… I just don’t see him as an analyst. Are you hiring him as an analyst or a programmer?” “Analyst” “O…K”
Three years later he still isn’t any kind of analyst, no. But still a helluva nice guy!
If someone was shitty, why would you not warn your employer, given that they’re asking for your opinion? If it’s been a long time, state that they may have gotten better, but if someone was a slob two months ago, he’ll probably be a slob now.