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Ask HN: Results of hiring senior engineers from StackOverFlow ads?

33 points by joshdance 8y ago

We are considering putting an ad on SO hiring a Senior Engineer. Anyone have stories about how effective it is?

mlthoughts2018 8y ago
It really depends on the skill area you are looking to focus on. If you're looking for senior web developers or general backend system developers, it can be a good place. If you're looking for a special technical skill set like security, cryptography, specific database systems, machine learning, other mathematics focuses, etc., it can be a lot harder. In my experience talking with candidates from SO the main issues are: - it is perceived as being overrun with start-up job ads looking for cheap, "full-stack" engineers, with job ads that have a distinctly "disposable engineer" vibe to them. - among more legitimate-sounding ads, the perception is that it's all web development, not really worth the effort to search if you're in a technical specialty area. - Stack Overflow itself does not really enforce employers to be any nicer than they have to be on any other site. Employers still give little or no feedback, waste candidate time, and 'ghost' them by dropping out of communication inexplicably in parts of the interview process. - I've also heard from candidates, and experienced myself, almost outright antagonism for having a high reputation score on the site, or having a curated list of well-written answers highlighting skills. The last point goes into much bigger issues with tech hiring, like the whole whiteboard hazing phenomenon, and the arms race to have more and more outrageously complex interview practices or inappropriate hiring standards (like rapidly answering esoteric trivia through some online coding test portal). It seems like when a candidate can give you something, like a link to their GitHub page, a link to a live-running personal project, a link to their Stack Overflow answers -- then other developers in the interview process almost act more antagonistic and more skeptical of someone's software skills -- almost like they need to prove that the candidate is not as skilled as they are, and that these outward credentials don't matter. It's an attitude like, "only the credentials that I have matter, so I need to poke holes in this other person's profile, to validate myself as being better." I've definitely reached out to passive candidates on Stack Overflow and learned feedback like this, that they don't pay much attention to job activity there because if they put effort into their Q&A activity, it's as likely to be held against them as it is to help get them a job. These are just my experiences ... your mileage may vary.
- tzahola 8y ago
  Your last point makes me very sad.
  - imhoguy 8y ago
    Sure sad, but sometimes better to uncover company culture issues quickly and leave before engaging. Would you like to work with such selfish perfectionist everyday?
    - tzahola 8y ago
      True. The company I worked for the shortest time in my life had a similar culture. There was basically no interaction between employees other than trying to one-up each other with tricky math puzzles and obscure details of the C++ specification. And not in a friendly banter way. I quit after 4 months.
      - acou_nPlusOne_t 8y ago
        Even more vicious behaviour if the employees add these math puzzles, unnecessarily to code and setup traps for those who interact with the component.
  - ggregoire 8y ago
    From my experience, it feels like people just don't care at all about it. My resume has a section "Achievements" with "StackOverflow: top 2%, 300 answers" with a link to my profile. IMO a good StackOverflow profile shows: 1) A skillset 2) A proficiency to solve real life problems (quickly) just by reading (incomplete/wrong) problems description 3) Good communication skills 4) A self-motivated and passionate person Well, nobody never said/asked anything about mine. As if every one of their candidates had 10k points on StackOverflow. I still had to pass really stupid/basic tests for jobs I'm obviously competent for. Worth noting I also have 7 years of xp, including xp as tech lead. And a master in CS.
- sp527 8y ago
  On the flip side, I can't think of a single time an employer has questioned my complete lack of a public profile. For every discriminating company that thinks a saturated GitHub and routine Medium posts are meaningful heuristics, there might be at least 9 others that couldn't care less.

33 points by joshdance 8y ago

We are considering putting an ad on SO hiring a Senior Engineer. Anyone have stories about how effective it is?

mlthoughts2018 8y ago

It really depends on the skill area you are looking to focus on. If you're looking for senior web developers or general backend system developers, it can be a good place. If you're looking for a special technical skill set like security, cryptography, specific database systems, machine learning, other mathematics focuses, etc., it can be a lot harder. In my experience talking with candidates from SO the main issues are: - it is perceived as being overrun with start-up job ads looking for cheap, "full-stack" engineers, with job ads that have a distinctly "disposable engineer" vibe to them. - among more legitimate-sounding ads, the perception is that it's all web development, not really worth the effort to search if you're in a technical specialty area. - Stack Overflow itself does not really enforce employers to be any nicer than they have to be on any other site. Employers still give little or no feedback, waste candidate time, and 'ghost' them by dropping out of communication inexplicably in parts of the interview process. - I've also heard from candidates, and experienced myself, almost outright antagonism for having a high reputation score on the site, or having a curated list of well-written answers highlighting skills. The last point goes into much bigger issues with tech hiring, like the whole whiteboard hazing phenomenon, and the arms race to have more and more outrageously complex interview practices or inappropriate hiring standards (like rapidly answering esoteric trivia through some online coding test portal). It seems like when a candidate can give you something, like a link to their GitHub page, a link to a live-running personal project, a link to their Stack Overflow answers -- then other developers in the interview process almost act more antagonistic and more skeptical of someone's software skills -- almost like they need to prove that the candidate is not as skilled as they are, and that these outward credentials don't matter. It's an attitude like, "only the credentials that I have matter, so I need to poke holes in this other person's profile, to validate myself as being better." I've definitely reached out to passive candidates on Stack Overflow and learned feedback like this, that they don't pay much attention to job activity there because if they put effort into their Q&A activity, it's as likely to be held against them as it is to help get them a job. These are just my experiences ... your mileage may vary.

tzahola 8y ago
Your last point makes me very sad.
- imhoguy 8y ago
  Sure sad, but sometimes better to uncover company culture issues quickly and leave before engaging. Would you like to work with such selfish perfectionist everyday?
  - tzahola 8y ago
    True. The company I worked for the shortest time in my life had a similar culture. There was basically no interaction between employees other than trying to one-up each other with tricky math puzzles and obscure details of the C++ specification. And not in a friendly banter way. I quit after 4 months.
    - acou_nPlusOne_t 8y ago
      Even more vicious behaviour if the employees add these math puzzles, unnecessarily to code and setup traps for those who interact with the component.
- ggregoire 8y ago
  From my experience, it feels like people just don't care at all about it. My resume has a section "Achievements" with "StackOverflow: top 2%, 300 answers" with a link to my profile. IMO a good StackOverflow profile shows: 1) A skillset 2) A proficiency to solve real life problems (quickly) just by reading (incomplete/wrong) problems description 3) Good communication skills 4) A self-motivated and passionate person Well, nobody never said/asked anything about mine. As if every one of their candidates had 10k points on StackOverflow. I still had to pass really stupid/basic tests for jobs I'm obviously competent for. Worth noting I also have 7 years of xp, including xp as tech lead. And a master in CS.
sp527 8y ago
On the flip side, I can't think of a single time an employer has questioned my complete lack of a public profile. For every discriminating company that thinks a saturated GitHub and routine Medium posts are meaningful heuristics, there might be at least 9 others that couldn't care less.