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Let's say you are a forward-thinking manager in a company making artisinal flowerpots. You know tech is the future and will set your company apart, and you want

Let's say you are a forward-thinking manager in a company making artisinal flowerpots. You know tech is the future and will set your company apart, and you want to build a top-tier team to take you there. You are willing to pay twice the compensation per engineer as google. Now a deluge of engineers show up for interviews. How do you tell which ones are top-tier and which ones are third-rate? Even tech companies struggle with this problem; surely you'll have no chance. You know you'll get mostly third-rate, because those are the ones looking for jobs. So instead of overpaying, you adjust your pay downward to compensate. So it looks like there's a shortage to the company (because the top-tier engineers aren't appearing even though they are willing to pay), but to top-tier engineers it looks like they are underpaying.

brundolf 5y ago
Tangent: I've thought about this "bootstrapping dev hiring" problem before (you don't know which candidates are good because you don't have anyone technical to interview them) I wonder if there's a business opportunity for a firm of experienced devs who do nothing but interview devs for other companies
- pmiller2 5y ago
  That’s very close to what Triplebyte does.
  - brundolf 5y ago
    Nice, I didn't know about this
- playing_colours 5y ago
  It can go beyond hiring developers - companies may need help with deciding on initial MVP, organising development process, and regularly checking for a while if things go well.
Redoubts 5y ago
Eh, I don’t like this theory because it’s hard to get real numbers until after the interview. The employer should know precisely what they’re buying at that point.
playing_colours 5y ago
You can invite an experienced contractor that can help you with bootstrapping development: deciding on MVP tech stack, hiring, and making sure the new team can deliver proper work. Sure, you need someone to refer a good contractor to you first, chicken-eggs problem. I wonder if there are companies that can help with it as well - not shops that try to convince you to outsource the whole development to them.

brundolf 5y ago

Tangent: I've thought about this "bootstrapping dev hiring" problem before (you don't know which candidates are good because you don't have anyone technical to interview them) I wonder if there's a business opportunity for a firm of experienced devs who do nothing but interview devs for other companies

pmiller2 5y ago
That’s very close to what Triplebyte does.
- brundolf 5y ago
  Nice, I didn't know about this
playing_colours 5y ago
It can go beyond hiring developers - companies may need help with deciding on initial MVP, organising development process, and regularly checking for a while if things go well.

Redoubts 5y ago

Eh, I don’t like this theory because it’s hard to get real numbers until after the interview. The employer should know precisely what they’re buying at that point.

playing_colours 5y ago

You can invite an experienced contractor that can help you with bootstrapping development: deciding on MVP tech stack, hiring, and making sure the new team can deliver proper work. Sure, you need someone to refer a good contractor to you first, chicken-eggs problem. I wonder if there are companies that can help with it as well - not shops that try to convince you to outsource the whole development to them.