Every company faces that problem irrespective of start up. * Start ups face this problem in a magnified way due to bias and non-commoditization. In software hi

Every company faces that problem irrespective of start up. * Start ups face this problem in a magnified way due to bias and non-commoditization. In software hiring is always plagued by bias and in start ups this tends to be magnified. That is because hiring is higher risk for start ups and nobody can define a standard for competence in writing software. * Most software developers aren’t that good and when a candidate is potentially stunning they tend to get overlooked for really bad reasons. When you put all the perceptions, bias, and bullshit aside writing software is just another form of technical writing. If a person cannot write in their natural language, such as an essay, they won’t be able to write original application code. The mental challenges are all the same, so just give candidates an essay as their technical filter. Tools, frameworks, and other bullshit cannot compensate for this but most employers, especially start ups, will pretend otherwise at great cost and disappointment. * So many people value all the wrong things in software that they deserve to fail. The only purpose of software is automation, so automate the shit out of it. If the value returned by a developer is directly proportional to their manual efforts that developer is just costing you money and it’s most likely your fault as the employer for setting horrid expectations. Part of the reason is because people set really low expectations for success, such as struggling to just put text on screen (that is not an elaboration) and then believing that to be an enormous triumph like walking on the moon. Seriously, grow up and set more valid expectations. There are many people in software who fail at this out of fear or cowardice due to emotional, behavioral, or neurological failures despite putting up a tough, deceptive, or narcissistic front.