5 ms·

I don't have an explanation for you. I'm not saying you didn't have 15 out of 17 interviews that couldn't program, but that certainly hasn't been my experience.

by trotsky 16y ago

I don't have an explanation for you. I'm not saying you didn't have 15 out of 17 interviews that couldn't program, but that certainly hasn't been my experience. Maybe it's the market, how desirable the opening is, salary/experience ranges or screening processes? It certainly doesn't sound like your recruiter is a winner (most of them aren't). For the record I'm talking mostly about SF bay hires, 100K+, 3-5 years+, sourced mostly from internal recommendations, placement agencies we had a good track record with, and self listed openings. AFAIK never bulk advertised ones. If you have a 2/17 record with a placement agency you stop using them, right?

RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
No recruiter has ever worked, except when we supply a trivial programming task to be supplied with the CV. + SF bay hires We're not in the bay area. We're really, really not in the bay area. + sourced mostly from internal recommendations We have no internal recommendations - most people who work here don't know any other programmers. + placement agencies we had a good track record with We have zero placement agencies with good records. + AFAIK never bulk advertised ones We have to - we have no other source of applicants. An obvious hypothesis is that if you want to employ programmers other than in the bay area, you're screwed.
- trotsky 16y ago
  Well, it sounds like you have good reasons for using your techniques. I think it was a good discussion, in that it showed techniques that work for one situation may be wholly inappropriate for another. An obvious hypothesis is that if you want to employ programmers other than in the bay area, you're screwed. For the record, I've also hired folks in Boston, Boulder and Washington, DC with similar experiences. I'll admit, though, that the average quality in SF was the best.

5 ms·

I don't have an explanation for you. I'm not saying you didn't have 15 out of 17 interviews that couldn't program, but that certainly hasn't been my experience.

by trotsky 16y ago

RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
No recruiter has ever worked, except when we supply a trivial programming task to be supplied with the CV. + SF bay hires We're not in the bay area. We're really, really not in the bay area. + sourced mostly from internal recommendations We have no internal recommendations - most people who work here don't know any other programmers. + placement agencies we had a good track record with We have zero placement agencies with good records. + AFAIK never bulk advertised ones We have to - we have no other source of applicants. An obvious hypothesis is that if you want to employ programmers other than in the bay area, you're screwed.
- trotsky 16y ago
  Well, it sounds like you have good reasons for using your techniques. I think it was a good discussion, in that it showed techniques that work for one situation may be wholly inappropriate for another. An obvious hypothesis is that if you want to employ programmers other than in the bay area, you're screwed. For the record, I've also hired folks in Boston, Boulder and Washington, DC with similar experiences. I'll admit, though, that the average quality in SF was the best.