4 ms·

META QUESTION, How hard has it been for you to hire? Curious developer seeks more anecdotes to complement pet theories regarding current labour market.

• tptacek 14y ago
  It is extraordinarily difficult to hire in my field. What more can I tell you? (We're always hiring: http://www.matasano.com/careers http://www.matasano.com/careers --- we love talking to devs from HN.)
  • mootothemax 14y ago
    Don't suppose Matasano's looking for a Polish outpost? ;) Should I ever end up in the States, like it or not, I will be beating down your door just for the chance of an interview.
    • tptacek 14y ago
      Hey, sorry it took so long to respond. We've got three offices --- Chicago, NYC, and SFBA (they're all about the same size). It took a long time to decide to open SFBA; we grow slowly. Oddly enough, if we were going to open up in Europe, Poland would be among the first places we'd consider. It's a bit of a hotbed for appsec talent.
      • mootothemax 14y ago
        Hehe, no need to apologise, thanks for replying :) That's really very interesting; I know that there's plenty of (IMHO absurdly underpriced) general programming talent here, but didn't know that extended to being a hotbed for appsec. If over the next few years you ever fancy finding out a bit more about Poland from a local here, feel free to drop me a line :)
        • zura 14y ago
          I hope this "under priced era" will end soon. Cost of living is pretty expensive here (in eastern Europe). It is on par and sometimes even more expensive than in USA.
  • sown 14y ago
    What if I have no real web-app experience other than what I've taught myself but I do have experience with binary analysis, embedded and kernel in MV? I had a few phone interviews a few months ago and I get the idea that's why I didn't get in, though. Maybe I'll try again real soon, though! :)
    • tptacek 14y ago
      You had phone interviews with us, didn't get an interview, and never found out why? That sucks. You should send me mail (I'd write you but don't know your email address). This is exactly the kind of thing I want to make sure we never do in our recruiting process.
      • sown 14y ago
        No, they did say why, after a bunch of vetting; I phrased it weird, sorry. I think I did OK, but I don't have any web app experience, and I can understand given the small team in MV. Your team did well, although, I'd like to have tried the web-app challenge. They encouraged me to apply again so I think I will this fall.
        • tptacek 14y ago
          Please definitely do, any time you feel up to it. We make bad calls sometimes, too; you can contact me directly if you have questions. I can do a pretty good job of predicting what the rest of the team is going to hit you with. :)
• rms 14y ago
  Remember how Paul Graham wrote those articles about how good programmers should start companies because companies don't pay the absolute best programmers the order of magnitude more money that they may be worth? Well, it seems the marketplace has updated somewhat more towards paying programmers what they are worth.