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Ask HN: Have you ever regretted hiring a developer?

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Re: Ask HN: Have you ever regretted hiring a developer?

#61

Post by late2part »

Spooky23 wrote: post #39
samblr wrote: post #30

In interview what appeared to be a potential-hire's strength - became a real nuisance when we hired him. We wanted someone who could do both android and iOS. He was a senior, had enough to showcase and plenty to 'talk about software architectural things'. It turned out, he was jack of all trades (python, java, objective-c) but he really-really struggled at designing software but he could talk through people and walls…

Sometimes people like that are better in leadership roles. Knowing a little about a broad scope of things is very useful in those roles.

Managers that can't do are generally shepherds. Only sheep follow them.

Yes, it's good that managers can know a lot about a broad amount, but they should be skilled enough to dive fairly deep and realistically be expected to jump into anyone's job.

Otherwise, you're hiring an administrator or a non-technical manager.

And there's a place for that, but not one I want to be near.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever regretted hiring a developer?

#62

Post by blablabla123 »

wheelerwj wrote: post #57

This is an interesting question, because it signals that you are most likely very new to hiring, and maybe ill-equipped to handle managing people in general. Although, at least you're asking questions. First, very rarely does a manager regret a hire even though it's very common for a hire not to work out. Hiring and interviewing are in terrible shape right now, and more often then not lead to terrible hiring/job acce…

>Lack of technical expertise is a problem sometimes, but it

>can be nurtured. Lack of personal skills is a huge problem

>in an office environment, and is much, much harder to

>nurture. But neither of these are regrettable in-and-of

>themselves.

That's actually a cool attitude. When looking the first time for a full time job 7 years ago I was astonished how static employers seemed to perceive skill - at least in Germany. I had various conversations with headhunters/recruiters and oftentimes it went like this: "Do you know [insert simple technology X]?" - "No, but I can learn it quickly as I have experience with [similar technology Y]" - "Ok, but I asked for X". I found that really frustrating.

Also in most jobs I worked in between I had to learn everything on my own initiative - no matter if that was tech or people skills. There were countless occasions when people, especially ones in manager(-like) positions would discourage me from spending time learning certain skills. I'm happy that I didn't follow so much on that.

Anyways, on my recent job hunt I was very surprised to find companies that actually have programs to develop their tech employees on a wide range of skills. Luckily I'm now working at a place that at least has interest in developing their people.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever regretted hiring a developer?

#63

Post by pryelluw »

dilap wrote: post #50
cauterized wrote: post #15

I've never had a hire go wrong for technical reasons. I have hired, participated in hiring, or inherited several developers who had to be let go for reasons related to attitude or soft skills. Some examples: - a guy with an alcohol problem who would disappear for a week at a time or come in to work sloshed - a junior developer who had major problems with authority, mixed with bizarre paranoia. He refused to take dire…

The perfect code guy doesn't sound so bad.

Until you ship a product so late that its declared DOA. Perfect coders are more dangerous than shitty ones. They usually slow down progress in the name of perfection so much that nothing gets done. IMO.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever regretted hiring a developer?

#64

Post by late2part »

yuhong wrote: post #59

This reminds me that the laws for firing vary by state. I think California is one of the strictest in this area, right?

Generally these sort of discussions are not focused on the laws about firing - but more about the risk of valid or invalid accusations of violating EEOC enforced laws[1].

The risk in most places is that firing is often subjective, and folks rightly worry that the firing is done on subjective means, especially if the person is a 'protected class' which is generally loosely interpreted as anyone other than a white male under 40.

There are rules and laws that govern firings, especially with large layoffs at large companies - but the 'fear' you hear in Silicon Valley and other places is the fear of a lawsuit about the firing more so than breaking a law per se.

[1] https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever regretted hiring a developer?

#65

Post by late2part »

blablabla123 wrote: post #62
wheelerwj wrote: post #57

This is an interesting question, because it signals that you are most likely very new to hiring, and maybe ill-equipped to handle managing people in general. Although, at least you're asking questions. First, very rarely does a manager regret a hire even though it's very common for a hire not to work out. Hiring and interviewing are in terrible shape right now, and more often then not lead to terrible hiring/job acce…

>Lack of technical expertise is a problem sometimes, but it >can be nurtured. Lack of personal skills is a huge problem >in an office environment, and is much, much harder to >nurture. But neither of these are regrettable in-and-of >themselves. That's actually a cool attitude. When looking the first time for a full time job 7 years ago I was astonished how static employers seemed to perceive skill - at least in Germa…

Have you ever gone and quickly learned it and called the recruiter/company back?

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever regretted hiring a developer?

#67

Post by jkmcf »

zepolen wrote: post #14
dougireton wrote: post #3

Developers who insist that their favorite technology is the best vs. what's the best for the task at hand, what technology will the team as a whole be successful with. Developers who don't have empathy for less experienced team members; who can't/won't mentor well.

Meh, takes me back to a couple years ago when the MEAN stack was all the rage, I was pointing out flaws/problems which would arise from: - Mongo not having a schema, relations - Angular having a fundamentally flawed update system But of course the argument was that 'MEAN is what everyone is using, its easy to find MEAN developers'. Sure, if you mean it's easy to find kids who learnt how to make apps, via a MEAN stack…

You sound like my twin. Wait, are you me?

Seriously, I was surprised to find that Splunk uses Mongo. Given its performance and reliability with Splunk, I'm willing to give Mongo another chance given the right conditions (given that someone on my team has significant experience administering it).

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever regretted hiring a developer?

#68

Post by lobotryas »

enjo wrote: post #37
hayleox wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is very much the case. When employees/employers broadcast negative info about each other, both parties suffer. Obviously, the accused suffers because all this negative info about them is now public, but the accuser also suffers because they look like a jerk for publishing it. Who would want to work with a person/company that is known to talk crap about people they work with? I think angvp is only publishing this…

I think the question was about the last second to last sentence: "and always check his background with their previous employers (guy #1)."

Maybe rules/practices are different in other countries. Never assume that OP is from US.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever regretted hiring a developer?

#69

Post by yuhong »

late2part wrote: post #64
yuhong wrote: post #59

This reminds me that the laws for firing vary by state. I think California is one of the strictest in this area, right?

Generally these sort of discussions are not focused on the laws about firing - but more about the risk of valid or invalid accusations of violating EEOC enforced laws[1]. The risk in most places is that firing is often subjective, and folks rightly worry that the firing is done on subjective means, especially if the person is a 'protected class' which is generally loosely interpreted as anyone other than a white male…

Yea, I dislike anti-discrimination laws too for that reason. They probably worked well for manual labor and the like. Don't forget "performance reviews" and "PIPs" too.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever regretted hiring a developer?

#70

Post by jkmcf »

aisofteng wrote: post #9

About a year or so into my professional career and in the second position I ever had, I was asked to help interview candidates who had passed some initial screening which consisted of asking the candidate about their resume, but, importantly, no programming or whiteboard test. The company I was working for was a multibillion dollar corporation in a non-tech industry (think something like healthcare or petrochemical),…

Did she have a CS degree? I find it hard to believe someone with a CS degree from a top school could float through w/o being able to code at all. Why would you apply for a job you know you couldn't hit the ground running and then not try at all?

I've seen many CIS-type grads not know squat and still be able to churn out something.

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