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> On the other hand, it is not necessary for a company to hire every good developer that walks through their door. What they need to do is to hire enough people

> On the other hand, it is not necessary for a company to hire every good developer that walks through their door. What they need to do is to hire enough people and try to optimise their good to not-so-good ratio. Even if their process would not select you (a good developer), it does not mean that it is not a good process. I am led to believe, by the people on this site and others, that unless you are AmaGoogBookSoft or a Valley darling good developers are so hard to come by that they can't afford to miss good ones.

mikekchar 10y ago
Sampling bias? ;-) I've worked in famous companies. I've worked in obscure companies. I've met amazing programmers in both. I've met horrible programmers in both. Most are somewhere in between. There are good programmers everywhere. Grabbing a couple (ideally including a senior dev) of really excellent people will go a long way improving your team. But you need to do more than advertise and interview to get these people. You need to go out into your community, participate, and create a reputation. You need to work on your internal processes and be interesting enough for an excellent dev to be interested in you. My advice for a small up and coming team is to spend the cash to hire a well known senior consultant with a good track record. From there you can get your culture set up and you can make contacts with other good devs that the consultant knows. After that it is really just hard work to hone everything that you do so that good people think that it will be a worthwhile career move to spend time with you. If your management strategy is to throw money at talent and hope that it gels, I think you will have a lot of trouble. Once you have talent, it's important that they are set up to succeed. This is more than just turning them loose on a project. IMHO, good teams have many dimensions to them. You don't necessarily need (or want) to have a superstar in every position. It can be good, but it requires a corresponding level of proficiency from management to get them all working together well. If you are worried about the one that got away in your interview process, then I think it is a sign that you have very much bigger problems that you need to deal with. If you tell me that this is common in the Valley, it will not be something that surprises me ;-)
- vonmoltke 10y ago
  That's not really what I am talking about. I'm talking about the oft-parroted "talent shortage" wherein companies claim they can't find enough good developers. If true, companies cannot afford to let good ones get away. I personally think "we have a talent shortage" is code for "we don't know how to hire".
sidlls 10y ago
I agree with the person you're responding to, mostly, in that not every developer (of any skill, including "rockstar", "10x" etc.) is compatible with every company. Filters like these help both parties make that determination before either wastes too much time, and I appreciate the transparency. I wish more companies were more honest about things like this. Of course, I've been on the interviewer side plenty, and have many times wished for more honesty in a candidate.
- vonmoltke 10y ago
  I have trouble agreeing with this, probably because I came up through traditional engineering. To me, this is a profession and a competent professional should be compatible with any company. Certainly some company-professional matches will be better than others. However, every significant "incompatibility" I have seen is the person, the company, or both being unwilling to admit that they have or had a problem.

mikekchar 10y ago

Sampling bias? ;-) I've worked in famous companies. I've worked in obscure companies. I've met amazing programmers in both. I've met horrible programmers in both. Most are somewhere in between. There are good programmers everywhere. Grabbing a couple (ideally including a senior dev) of really excellent people will go a long way improving your team. But you need to do more than advertise and interview to get these people. You need to go out into your community, participate, and create a reputation. You need to work on your internal processes and be interesting enough for an excellent dev to be interested in you. My advice for a small up and coming team is to spend the cash to hire a well known senior consultant with a good track record. From there you can get your culture set up and you can make contacts with other good devs that the consultant knows. After that it is really just hard work to hone everything that you do so that good people think that it will be a worthwhile career move to spend time with you. If your management strategy is to throw money at talent and hope that it gels, I think you will have a lot of trouble. Once you have talent, it's important that they are set up to succeed. This is more than just turning them loose on a project. IMHO, good teams have many dimensions to them. You don't necessarily need (or want) to have a superstar in every position. It can be good, but it requires a corresponding level of proficiency from management to get them all working together well. If you are worried about the one that got away in your interview process, then I think it is a sign that you have very much bigger problems that you need to deal with. If you tell me that this is common in the Valley, it will not be something that surprises me ;-)

vonmoltke 10y ago
That's not really what I am talking about. I'm talking about the oft-parroted "talent shortage" wherein companies claim they can't find enough good developers. If true, companies cannot afford to let good ones get away. I personally think "we have a talent shortage" is code for "we don't know how to hire".

sidlls 10y ago

I agree with the person you're responding to, mostly, in that not every developer (of any skill, including "rockstar", "10x" etc.) is compatible with every company. Filters like these help both parties make that determination before either wastes too much time, and I appreciate the transparency. I wish more companies were more honest about things like this. Of course, I've been on the interviewer side plenty, and have many times wished for more honesty in a candidate.

vonmoltke 10y ago
I have trouble agreeing with this, probably because I came up through traditional engineering. To me, this is a profession and a competent professional should be compatible with any company. Certainly some company-professional matches will be better than others. However, every significant "incompatibility" I have seen is the person, the company, or both being unwilling to admit that they have or had a problem.