How to hire a (good) developer

September 27, 2009 16:02
Recently Seth Godin wrote a riveting post on some general theory of hiring (you might want to read the post before moving on).

And hey, can we developers borrow something from that? Or is it only about employing a marketer?

Indeed, hiring someone who'd talk to people is different from hiring a software dev. That's why marketers can swiftly discern an expert in 5 minutes - while others need one hour and an open book test. Seth's ideas are not really applicable in our case.

Or maybe they are.

Hire those you know.

What really resonated with me was that point of employing people after you have worked with them. I hope this doesn't mean hire away your friends from previous jobs - but instead fork off a few side (open source?) projects and, after a while, cajole and employ the best contributors.

Good news is that this "hiring" works right along, not just when you've posted ads. Sort of bad news is that it needs your constant involvement - someone should lead the process.

That's what I find amazing, "try and buy" sort of hiring - of course, in a fair and square way, where candidates don't feel being used.

Question.

Seemingly, that is something software development shops can easily try. The only question left - would it be difficult for you to volunteer for 3-4 hours per week, if the task is interesting - or, dare I say, even remunerated?


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