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Your filter sucks. Not from a fairness point of view, but from a you're-not-doing-your-job-very-well point of view. In my experience, length of stay doesn't co

Your filter sucks. Not from a fairness point of view, but from a you're-not-doing-your-job-very-well point of view. In my experience, length of stay doesn't correlate accurately with technical skill at all. It's often quite the opposite - 3-5 years of experience at BigCo. with lots of TLAs means that you couldn't find a better job elsewhere. Ditto if they've worked 12 months in a crappy PHP shop and couldn't hack it. If someone's worked 3 jobs in 3 years, with growing responsibility in each position, and a mix of technologies, that's generally a good sign. I've also seen awesome programmers, with crappy resumes (ie. badly formatted, with all of the good stuff at the end). If you're filtering on anything other than "do they sound like a good/great programmer", then you're missing out on some good people. Try other mechanisms, like networking and code screening if your workload is too high.

mgkimsal 16y ago
"length of stay doesn't correlate accurately with technical skill at all" They're not looking for technical skill - at least, not as a primary factor. They're looking for people who will stick around even when things get crappy, will put up with internal political maneuverings, people who will grit their teeth and deal with annoying coworkers and will tend to stay even when there's better short term offers. For the company this is a win on a number of levels. Less cost of retraining new hires and the lost productivity that comes with new people entering a shop. Less need to get institutional knowledge out of people and in to documented systems. Freedom to experiment with new directions, because if things go south, they'll have a 'loyal' team who will stick around anyway. These aren't necessarily good or bad, just how it is. So, keep that in mind. Companies often are not looking for top-notch software skills, but a 'whole package', and they'll way often settle for 'good enough' on the whole package, even if it means average software skills.
- anthonyb 16y ago
  Except that it's a false economy, and rarely works that way in practice. Either you have decent technical talent, or the dead sea effect. If your workplace is mediocre, and you're good - you'll leave. The only people who "stick around when things get crappy" are the people who have to - either for life reasons or because they can't find a better job anywhere else. Your company might win in the short term, but once you've gone too far down that path, you'll start losing and never recover.
exit 16y ago
"with lots of TLAs" what does TLA stand for? three letter acronyms?
- anthonyb 16y ago
  Yeah. That's the joke :)
lambdajack 16y ago
I agree TLA scanning is stupid and no indicator. I never said I did that, so don't assume I do. I look for interesting stuff they do. But if they show a trend that they can't seem to hold down at a place for any length of time, that is still a big warning sign.

mgkimsal 16y ago

"length of stay doesn't correlate accurately with technical skill at all" They're not looking for technical skill - at least, not as a primary factor. They're looking for people who will stick around even when things get crappy, will put up with internal political maneuverings, people who will grit their teeth and deal with annoying coworkers and will tend to stay even when there's better short term offers. For the company this is a win on a number of levels. Less cost of retraining new hires and the lost productivity that comes with new people entering a shop. Less need to get institutional knowledge out of people and in to documented systems. Freedom to experiment with new directions, because if things go south, they'll have a 'loyal' team who will stick around anyway. These aren't necessarily good or bad, just how it is. So, keep that in mind. Companies often are not looking for top-notch software skills, but a 'whole package', and they'll way often settle for 'good enough' on the whole package, even if it means average software skills.

anthonyb 16y ago
Except that it's a false economy, and rarely works that way in practice. Either you have decent technical talent, or the dead sea effect. If your workplace is mediocre, and you're good - you'll leave. The only people who "stick around when things get crappy" are the people who have to - either for life reasons or because they can't find a better job anywhere else. Your company might win in the short term, but once you've gone too far down that path, you'll start losing and never recover.

exit 16y ago

"with lots of TLAs" what does TLA stand for? three letter acronyms?

anthonyb 16y ago
Yeah. That's the joke :)

lambdajack 16y ago

I agree TLA scanning is stupid and no indicator. I never said I did that, so don't assume I do. I look for interesting stuff they do. But if they show a trend that they can't seem to hold down at a place for any length of time, that is still a big warning sign.