4 ms·

I think there is a reasonable chance that the number of non-"shithole" employers (using Joel's term from the article) that know the difference or maybe even car

by tom_b 17y ago

I think there is a reasonable chance that the number of non-"shithole" employers (using Joel's term from the article) that know the difference or maybe even care that they are not getting the top 10% of talent is overestimated. I hope that StackOverflow Careers site does turn the job market upside down for the best software developers. I completely respect the idea they are trying to get across to employers looking for good candidates. But pointing at some online reputation and technical question forum isn't going to help the people who wouldn't know a great hacker from a turnip. Which, as discussed here many times, is the vast majority of people, including other hackers. I think that it is more effective for hackers to offer up portfolios of completed work to potential employers. Projects the hacker designed, implemented, integrated with the work of others, in X time, that serve Y customers. I also don't buy the idea that charging people to post their resume/CV before it will show up in potential employer's searches helps filter so that only "active, serious job applicants" show up (from the FAQ). Its a bit on the slimy side - you're charging us for the content you're selling to someone else?

roc 17y ago
The charge stuck out to me too. My immediate reaction was that making developers pay a fee to be searchable doesn't seem to be turning the job market on its head at all. I don't know if there's a non-slimy way to take money from developers when your stated goal is to help developers make money. It comes off sounding like any other job-assistance scam, where they take $20 to drop a resume into a template and spam it to X-hundred companies. If you only want serious job applicants, you could just require the developer to check in every now and again. And if this were really turning the market on its head it would need to provide developers far more information that they could use to get a leg up during negotiation and assessment. Developers would need to see things like: who's looking at their resume, what salary range they're looking in, team sizes, technologies in use, what search terms brought them to your name, what other developers they looked at, how many positions they're trying to fill, etc.
- netcan 17y ago
  I don't know if there's a non-slimy way to take money from developers when your stated goal is to help developers make money. Come one. I dig free too. Maybe it's even better if it's free. But you can't just disqualify any attempt to charge for a service as slimy. $20 to post a resume if it might connect you to a job you want is nothing. There is nothing wrong with charging developers (or anyone else) when your stated aim is to help them make money. In fact, that is a very normal way of doing business. Charge money for something that is valuable because it helps you make money.

by tom_b 17y ago

roc 17y ago

The charge stuck out to me too. My immediate reaction was that making developers pay a fee to be searchable doesn't seem to be turning the job market on its head at all. I don't know if there's a non-slimy way to take money from developers when your stated goal is to help developers make money. It comes off sounding like any other job-assistance scam, where they take $20 to drop a resume into a template and spam it to X-hundred companies. If you only want serious job applicants, you could just require the developer to check in every now and again. And if this were really turning the market on its head it would need to provide developers far more information that they could use to get a leg up during negotiation and assessment. Developers would need to see things like: who's looking at their resume, what salary range they're looking in, team sizes, technologies in use, what search terms brought them to your name, what other developers they looked at, how many positions they're trying to fill, etc.

netcan 17y ago
I don't know if there's a non-slimy way to take money from developers when your stated goal is to help developers make money. Come one. I dig free too. Maybe it's even better if it's free. But you can't just disqualify any attempt to charge for a service as slimy. $20 to post a resume if it might connect you to a job you want is nothing. There is nothing wrong with charging developers (or anyone else) when your stated aim is to help them make money. In fact, that is a very normal way of doing business. Charge money for something that is valuable because it helps you make money.