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We Only Hire the Best

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Re: We Only Hire the Best

#101

Post by why-el »

dbg31415 wrote: post #57
jemfinch wrote: post #32

Nothing is said here that wasn't better said by Joel Spolsky over a decade ago: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2005/01/27.html

Expected this to be the top comment. Nothing new DHH isn't widely praised for originality, but come on this whole article is like a total re-hash. And he doesn't even bother to mention Joel... to me that means he's trying to take credit, or he doesn't know about Joel... uh, yeah.

> DHH isn't widely praised for originality

Unless you have more to say I think this is an unnecessary attack on David's person, especially that one might think of a couple of things he did that are original. ;)

Re: We Only Hire the Best

#102

Post by pmiller2 »

pascal1usa wrote: post #88
pmiller2 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't worry. I'm sucking right there along side you. 3.5 years experience and I'm not even getting recruiter spam in the volume some of the people here are. :P

You probably would be if you lived in SF. Since the available housing ratio to jobs is 1 to 3, they have effectively guaranteed that not all jobs can ever be filled. Great for the job supply!

I work in SF now.

Re: We Only Hire the Best

#103

Post by bthallplz »

andybak wrote: post #27
LargeWu wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the mission is feeding starving children, or curing cancer, or public service, then yes, I want people who are motivated by the mission. But usually the mission, the real mission, is to make the founders exceptionally wealthy, and forgive me if that doesn't get me out of bed in the morning.

This man speaks the truth. :-) I think it's a lost battle but I used to rage whenever I saw a company talk about their 'Vision'. Unless you're a poet, religious mystic or philosopher king - then you're being pretentious and grandiose.

Assuming that I am a cash-strapped philosopher king with a grand vision for my business, how might I sway people to take the vision seriously and work towards the fulfillment of the vision?

Re: We Only Hire the Best

#104

Post by vonmoltke »

joncrocks wrote: post #91
dsr_ wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing about salespeople is that you can objectively determine their value over any given time period. That's how they should be paid: a very small base salary that wouldn't cover their mortgage, coupled with a clear and unambiguous bonus structure that gives them a reasonable amount of money when they hit the targets that make the company profitable. Salespeople "actually do things". The problems come when you ma…

The counter-point is that without something to sell, the sales people wouldn't make any money. They don't make the company any money, they're middle-men. The value comes from the product. I would argue it's equally hard to objectively measure the value of a salesperson, but as there's already specific figures one can latch onto, it's easy to think it's easy.

> The counter-point is that without something to sell, the sales people wouldn't make any money.

> They don't make the company any money, they're middle-men. The value comes from the product.

It is supposed to be a symbiotic relationship. Sales staff can't make money if they have nothing to sell, and engineers can't build product if they have no customers.

The sales staff is just as critical as the product development staff for the company making money. Rare is the product that can sell itself.

Re: We Only Hire the Best

#105

Post by dylanrw »

dbg31415 wrote: post #57
jemfinch wrote: post #32

Nothing is said here that wasn't better said by Joel Spolsky over a decade ago: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2005/01/27.html

Expected this to be the top comment. Nothing new DHH isn't widely praised for originality, but come on this whole article is like a total re-hash. And he doesn't even bother to mention Joel... to me that means he's trying to take credit, or he doesn't know about Joel... uh, yeah.

Or he's just ranting as he's prone to do.

At no point does he make an originality claim, and you don't need to be original to voice disappointment...

Re: We Only Hire the Best

#106

Post by Karunamon »

leroy_masochist wrote: post #51
stillworks wrote: post #19

The best line I heard "we don't hire a$$$holes". That's a check-mate statement. I think to myself what if I don't get selected :-( . I did get selected only to realise they hired people down the line whom I'd consider rectal orifices. Can't catch a break really...

"We don't hire assholes!" ... "Our company is founded on an engineering mindset in which the best ideas always win and people are encouraged to candidly speak their minds!"

Those... are not mutually exclusive. It is possible to have a culture in which people are not shut down for saying "This course of action sucks because X" without there being a lot of profanity and other between-the-lines nastiness in that previous sentence.

Of course, some people find being told "no" to be asshole move. 🤷 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Re: We Only Hire the Best

#107

Post by ArkyBeagle »

dccoolgai wrote: post #77
CaptSpify wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see a similar effect that drives me nuts: Corp: "We only hire the best, but we can't find any good people. There must be an industry shortage of good engineers!" Me: "What about $candidate that we interviewed last week, I thought you liked him?" Corp: "He was great! But he wanted too much money" Me: "..."

And almost always these places pay their conference-calling-bullshitters top dollar. But it's like the apocalypse if you try to get more money for the people that actually do things.

That's because from their frame of reference, conference-call BS is Real Work(TM).

Re: We Only Hire the Best

#109

Post by restalis »

bitwize wrote: post #56
braythwayt wrote: post #2

"Everyone thinks they're hiring the top 1%.”—Joel Spolsky, 2005 http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2005/01/27.html

Well I must suck then because there aren't companies lining up to just hand me a job like Joel says happens to all good developers. I have to hustle in order to keep food and a roof.

Is your work exposed somewhere to speak for itself or the approaching should have some other reasons?

Re: We Only Hire the Best

#110

Post by joncrocks »

arethuza wrote: post #99
joncrocks wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The counter-point is that without something to sell, the sales people wouldn't make any money. They don't make the company any money, they're middle-men. The value comes from the product. I would argue it's equally hard to objectively measure the value of a salesperson, but as there's already specific figures one can latch onto, it's easy to think it's easy.

"The counter-point is that without something to sell" Never met a salesperson who was deterred from selling something by the trivial detail that it doesn't actually exist. ;-)

Heh, "But it could, theoretically exist right?"
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