49 lines
3.1 KiB
Markdown
49 lines
3.1 KiB
Markdown
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---
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title: How to hire a programmer, a.k.a. tech recruitment explained
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date: 2011-07-24 20:31:55
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tags: [recruitment]
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category: hopefully influential
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---
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Today’s post is not a recipe at all. Here’s what I think the tech recruitment should look
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like. It won’t be cheap. Start by describing the position. Who are you looking for,
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what would they do for you, how would they bring money to your company.
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Use words, not techie talk. I found most of the job descriptions online
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do not match the real expectations of the employer. You just want a good
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programmer, a person who thinks about what they does. It really doesn’t
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matter if they know Haskell and you write in Erlang. I doesn’t matter if
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they think in asm when you’re looking for Forth. I doesn’t matter if
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they are Linux nerds and you’re Windows-only, if they know how
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computers work. As long as they think about what they do and agree with your goals, that’s perfectly fine. If you
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translate your desire for a good programmer into a bulletpoint list of
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tech words you dehumanize it. Don’t look for skillsets, look for people. How to check whether someone is a good programmer then ? How to
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score people against such a vague job description ? You don’t score
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people, you just sort the set of people. Start by a rather loose
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conversation. Tell me about the point in life you’re in, tell me
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something about what fascinates you in the programming and finally
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what’s your motivation for changing the job and why do you want to work
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with us ? Somewhere in the middle I ask about the projects, what
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technologies you do like, what not, why not. Do you feel comfortable
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teaching others ? If someone is fascinated by
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The Machines you're noticing it by now. Same with
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boring people or annoying people. If you do not want to work with them
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then do not hire them. Even if they’re brilliant. How does the computer
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work then ? How does this happen that I have this text file full of
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strange writings and suddenly they make the computer do stuff ? Why it’s
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not a good idea to get the modern pc to fly a space shuttle ? What’s a
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stack and what’s a heap ? Is the stack memory different from the heap
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memory ? Why so. And the why. The most important question for me is the
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mighty why. Not only should they understand how something works, but
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more importantly why it works like that. I enjoy working with people who
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are microwave-curious than the hex-feared ones. How does the microwave
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oven heat things ? Does the DEADBEEF scare your ? Talk with people, make notes. What annoys you, what
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impresses you. Do the exercises with them. Ask them how would they solve
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a simple but a reallife problem. Design the solution with them. The more
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lifelike the work scenario the better. Do the things you’d normally do
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with your work colleague. And order the set of candidates. Work as the
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simple max function. Decide
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which one seems better suited for you. Then take the next one and
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compare her to the current max. And please hire people only when you’re
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ready to hire them. UPDATE. After writing this post I've stumbled onto
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this [37signal's article](http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2628-how-to-hire-a-programmer-when-youre-not-a-programmer)
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