14 ms·
Perhaps the title should be: "how to hire a hacker, assuming that there are tons of them to choose from." Your premise is that there's a compromise required. I
by cliftonmckinney 14y ago
Perhaps the title should be: "how to hire a hacker, assuming that there are tons of them to choose from."
Your premise is that there's a compromise required. If I'm a Ruby shop, then ideally I'd want to hire someone who loves Ruby, loves what I'm doing, loves my team, and lives where I live. But I don't often get all four, so I should sacrifice the language preference for the fit stuff. This makes sense, but I'd take it a step further and say that oftentimes (at least in this day and age) you get one, maybe two of the four and the required compromise is much deeper. Of course if you plan for it (make training available, remote work possible, etc.) then things can still work out.
I think the post is missing a key element though. How do you find these people in the first place?
- RTigger 14y agoI don't think it's as much as a compromise, just that we should focus less on the language aspect of it. Technical details like implementation and syntax are easily learned. Passion for development is more of a character trait that can't easily be taught. Out of your 4 criteria, I'd say (personally) that the important ones are "Loves what you're doing" and "Loves your team". If you hire someone who is a Ruby god but has no passion for the problem they're solving, or causes problems with your existing company, culture, or team, you're probably going to have a net loss. Working remotely is a different topic and can be done well (http://blog.davidtate.org/2013/01/companies-that-support-remote-workers-win-against-those-that-dont/ http://blog.davidtate.org/2013/01/companies-that-support-rem...) I did want to talk a bit about finding those passionate developers, but thought it'd make for a separate blog post later on. One key quote I've heard good recruiters say: "The good developers you want to hire aren't looking for jobs, they already work somewhere".
- cliftonmckinney 14y agoI take issue with that last point. While it's true that good developers aren't currently unemployed--especially these days--that doesn't mean they're not looking for something new, especially if what you have to offer (better fit and something awesome to work on) is available to them. I for one would be interested in reading your proposed next blog post. ;)
- RTigger 14y agoAsk and ye shall receive! http://rtigger.com/blog/2013/01/17/how-to-find-a-hacker/ http://rtigger.com/blog/2013/01/17/how-to-find-a-hacker/