Ask HN: Hiring managers, which type of engineer is hardest to find nowadays? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Hiring managers, which type of engineer is hardest to find nowadays?

#91

Post by warrenm » Mon, Feb 14, 2022, 2:21 PM UTC

edmcnulty101 wrote: post #16

warrenm wrote: post #2

The hardest "engineer" to find "nowadays" is the same as it was 10, 20, 40, 100 years ago: the one who can communicate what [s]he wants to do in a way that non-engineers can grok And, the flipside of that: the one who can take what [s]he is given in magic, hand-waving, bafflegab statements from non-engineers and convert it into something someone else can actually use If you can communicate to and understand from othe…

> Converting from Business people's idiot speak to actual technical spec Isn't that what a.Business Analyst does?

Just because a Business person gives a description in non-technical-eze doesn't make him/her an idiot

It means you're not yet fluent in their language

Re: Ask HN: Hiring managers, which type of engineer is hardest to find nowadays?

#92

Post by warrenm » Mon, Feb 14, 2022, 2:24 PM UTC

edmcnulty101 wrote: post #86

warrenm wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Isn't that what a.Business Analyst does? Not if you have any sense as an engineer :)

I love letting a Biz Analyst handle that. It's a nice luxury. I get a nice spec delivered to me to code. instead of translating from business people who don't even know what they want? Yes please.

I hate letting the Biz Analyst "handle that"

All too often, the "spec" a BizAn tries to hand over is nothing resembling a "spec", and instead just a bunch of word vomit I have to take back to the original source(s) and ask them to explain everything they wasted hours explaining to the "analyst" because the "analyst" didn't analyze anything - they just reformatted what the enduser(s) said into a standardized form

Re: Ask HN: Hiring managers, which type of engineer is hardest to find nowadays?

#93

Post by juancn » Mon, Feb 14, 2022, 7:41 PM UTC

faangiq wrote: post #87

juancn wrote: post #42

Past a certain level of seniority (Principal Engineer and above), you get recruited by headhunter types. They take a lot more time and effort to figure out who you are before even reaching out. My guess is that these are the hardest ones to fill, which involve some sort of leadership in the role.

How do you differentiate these recruiters from the run of the mill spambot recruiters? Or is this a delusional comment by someone who didn’t realize they were being sold?

They typically researched you somehow, they know the company you're at, and likely previous ones. They tend to approach you as a conversation about what you want to do, and what the company needs and try to find common ground that's good for both of you.

It's not just a bullet list of requirements and benefits.