We Only Hire the Best
m.signalvnoise.com
We Only Hire the Best
1–10 of 209 posts
Re: We Only Hire the Best
#2"Everyone thinks they're hiring the top 1%.”—Joel Spolsky, 2005
Re: We Only Hire the Best
#3so... they're really just lowering their standards... I was told here on HN that's wrong...
Re: We Only Hire the Best
#4So are you ..yourselves, thus? :)
Re: We Only Hire the Best
#5just like when you see signs "best pizza/hero in town" or "we use best ingredients" at eateries
Re: We Only Hire the Best
#6DHH back at it again, dropping truth on the dev game. This was a timely post because my friend and I were just mocking the phrase "we only hire the best" this past weekend. If you like DHH's writing, check out one of his other recent posts: RECONSIDER [0].
I think pointing out some of the absurdities of software development culture and startups is fun. It's unfortunate that Startup L. Jackson hung up his hat :/.
Re: We Only Hire the Best
#7Such a no brainer, but jezus it's about time for someone to call out the hiring posts.
Hiring a good employee is like shopping for a car. You don't buy the coup if you have a family of six, a gas guzzler when you're a commuter, or a 2wd when you live in the boonies. It's a balance of values.
I've seen "rock star" coders fail in team environments because they can't communicate. I've seen great communicators fail because they were all talk. I've seen really great team players impolode when facing the customer.
I'd rather have an employee who is good at a few things than one who is "The Best" at one thing. It's called hiring for employee fit, not so you can tell your buddies how l33t your team is.
Re: We Only Hire the Best
#8Thanks for this reminder of basic management practice which needs to be posted about once a year: hire good people and get the most out of them through superb leadership, great working conditions and ample incentives to achieve.
"We only hire the best" is a sales slogan, not a true management principle. The "best" aren't usually for hire at any given moment; they're very well employed already, or otherwise occupied. And when a high caliber person decides to move on, someone in his or her network will likely hear of it and snap them up.
I'd rather hear them say, "We have excellent hiring practices that filter out incompetence and unpleasant personalities. We have a great team here and we're really proud of the hard work they do."
Of course you can make a case for disruption; sometimes what a business needs is someone to challenge the norms, shake things up, rattle the chains, and that can be unpleasant if not downright threatening. An old manager of mine called such people "brilliant assholes". Gotta love'em for what they can achieve, but they're often not much fun to be around!
Re: We Only Hire the Best
#9It's signaling 101.
What are you supposed to say; we hire mediocre developers? Give me a break. "Best" is such a loaded, nothing term that it doesn't really mean anything without a ton of context.
This is a waste of outrage.
Re: We Only Hire the Best
#10"Losers always whine about trying to hire the best...." - J.P. Mason
"The best" is a relative measure. An absolute measure must be set first and gatekeepers put in place to guard it. Then, do all you can to find candidates exceeding that measure and then pick the best FIT you can from there.
blisterpeanuts is right on...