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I had an idea for a startup that I think could be a much better solution than code interviews. It hinges on the fact you can get a much better sense of a devel
by jv22222 9y ago
I had an idea for a startup that I think could be a much better solution than code interviews.
It hinges on the fact you can get a much better sense of a developer after you've worked with her for a few weeks.
So, here's the startup idea:
Hire a group of developers to to work with you on a small project for a few weeks. They come in as a (virtual or real world) team and build something you've been meaning to do, but it's on your low priority stack.
All of the developers in that group are actually looking for a full time job. As you work with them during those 2 weeks you can see which dev you gel with best and offer them a job.
In the mean time, all the devs get paid for doing useful work for you for a short period of time, even if they don't get hired.
So... the startup is a central agency that engages developers looking for a full time job and then hires them out as a group to help clients do a small project, with a view to picking one or more of the developers for full time work.
This is a win for the agency because they have to do less work to convince a client about a candidate. It's a win for developers because they get paid to be on job interviews. And it's a win for the client because they get to try before they buy and as a result will make much higher quality hires.
Possible brand name: TeamHire
Edit: If you like this please feel free to take it and run with it :)
- ramphastidae 9y agoIs your idea limited to developers who do not already have a job? How would someone with a job use this?
- jv22222 9y agoI think you could do something like night or weekend teams. They could work in a virtual capacity in a hangout, or they could come in if they were close by.
- Epenthesis 9y agoBut why would I as a person looking for a job want to commit a week or more of my free time to do something like this? Especially since the current job market gives me plenty of much lower time investment options?
- jv22222 9y ago> Why would I, as a person looking for a job, want to commit a week or more of my free time to do something like this? Well, for one thing it would probably be a fun hackathon type team experience. It would also be good for growing your professional network and increasing your luck surface area.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- IncRnd 9y agoContract to hire is done quite frequently. Is that what you mean?
- jv22222 9y agoYes, but a web platform that is specifically geared to setting that up. Something like hired.com but just for this.
- IncRnd 9y agoHmmm. By Devs. For Business. Buy a Dev. Seriously, though, that's not a bad idea. I've seen similar startups that pre-interview a bunch of candidates (instead of farming them out for small jobs), so this is a different take to solve the same issue. Both sides get a chance to win, either way.
- gwbas1c 9y agoThis already (somewhat) exists with contracting firms. My team is mostly people hired this way. The problem is that the contracting firms still want to stuff your office full of their workers, so we still need to run diligent interviews. (This means making sure that they don't coach the candidates through the interview, because once the candidates are coached, we can't really evaluate them.) The good news, though, is that we get much better results working with a firm like this. Most of the people we interview we hire, unlike in the past, where most of the people we interviewed were straight up morons.
- jv22222 9y agoI think, with the right platform (ie like hired.com), you could automate much of that initial process of deciding who you wanted to be part of your team.
- hysan 9y agoGetting deja vu reading this several years ago. I think someone, maybe Stack Overflow, actually did this as part of their hiring process. I think the devs that were brought in were even paid for their work during this time.