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Software development is a game of the mind. Companies come up with lots of metrics as if it's a Moneyball strategy to predict winning developers. However the qu
by FlyingSnake 6y ago
Software development is a game of the mind. Companies come up with lots of metrics as if it's a Moneyball strategy to predict winning developers. However the quality of the outcome of my work is highly dependent on several undervalued aspects like my emotional level, how distracted I'm, my hunger level, time of the year/day etc. All of these intangible aspects make a huge impact on my productivity, but I don't see no one talking about them.
When companies like Leetcode, Hackerrank etc try to quantify programmers, none of the evaluations factor for the intangible aspects. No wonder hiring in software is so utterly broken.
- xyzelement 6y agoI was with you until the end. It's hard for me to say hiring is broken because of the outcomes I see: Companies which strive to attract and hire excellent developers, by and large, do. Excellent developers end up (or have the option to, certainly) at these companies by and large. So it seems that the process sorts things out fine. Sure there are always guys on HN who say "oh I'd do super well at a FAANG if only my interview was a take home test" but I don't think that's actually an indication of a break.
- FlyingSnake 6y agoHiring is broken for non-FAANG companies, which is rest of the software world. Excellent developers do end up at FAANG due to the competitive nature of the entrance exams. However FAANG are just 5 of the millions of other companies, and not all of the rest can use FAANG techniques to hire the developers. None of these companies offer the money, prestige, and perks that FAANG offer so they should not be cargo-culting their hiring practices.