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Ask HN: Finding tech talent is getting harder. It's not a Bay Area problem only

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Re: Ask HN: Finding tech talent is getting harder. It's not a Bay Area problem only

#21

Post by SmellyGeekBoy »

daveFNbuck wrote: post #18
aantix wrote: post #10

This problem is no longer exclusive to the Bay Area. Hiring is time-consuming and expensive, and many startups feel that they can’t compete with some of the top salaries and perks offered by deep-pocketed alternatives. Offer to teach the developer something. "Java developers - want to learn Node and React?" "Rails developers - want to learn Elixir?" Get one senior person on staff who really knows the stack well and r…

If good developers want to level up their skills, how do you keep the senior developer who you've turned into a tutor happy?

Pay them a lot.

Re: Ask HN: Finding tech talent is getting harder. It's not a Bay Area problem only

#23

Post by hichamin »

amarraja wrote: post #14
sharemywin wrote: post #3

Curious what your definition of an A versus B profile is?

Not OP, but during a recent hiring process we asked for backend engineers (e.g. java/golang/databases etc). Half of the CVs we received were for Angular/React developers. I'm unsure how this could happen with any sane vetting process.

Wow, is that even true?

I do believe the "technical" layer in a recruiter is the most important thing. Amarraja, how do you go about vetting your recruiter? Have you had any set of criteria to identify a solid talent acquisition partner?

Re: Ask HN: Finding tech talent is getting harder. It's not a Bay Area problem only

#24

Post by aantix »

daveFNbuck wrote: post #18
aantix wrote: post #10

This problem is no longer exclusive to the Bay Area. Hiring is time-consuming and expensive, and many startups feel that they can’t compete with some of the top salaries and perks offered by deep-pocketed alternatives. Offer to teach the developer something. "Java developers - want to learn Node and React?" "Rails developers - want to learn Elixir?" Get one senior person on staff who really knows the stack well and r…

If good developers want to level up their skills, how do you keep the senior developer who you've turned into a tutor happy?

Fair question.

At least in the above scenario, it was Andres doing the work of initially getting someone up to speed and then pairing the coworkers on an appropriate level feature/bug. He'd stop by and check in to see where they were stuck and would genuinely try and solve the problem.

So, it has to be someone who is a great coder for that stack and enjoys teaching.

If it's done right, other members of the team become good teachers as well, so the initial burden of teaching is lightened.

Re: Ask HN: Finding tech talent is getting harder. It's not a Bay Area problem only

#25

Post by stakhanov »

Of the dozen-or-so companies that I've been through at this point, there were only three where I would say they put a decent effort into trying to retain the talent they ALREADY HAD. So if finding "fresh meat" is becoming more difficult, maybe there is some good in that, if it incentivizes more to adequately value the talent they already have and put a decent effort into trying to retain them.

Re: Ask HN: Finding tech talent is getting harder. It's not a Bay Area problem only

#26

Post by dkersten »

JSeymourATL wrote: post #5

> Job boards are getting crowded. Recruiters are generally worse. It seems that most (young) recruiters these days rely primarily on Linkedin as a sourcing tool. But that's not where the best talent is found. The Hack to finding talent is to truly learn the recruiting process. That is to say, can you identify, assess, and ATTRACT decent people on your own? Start by asking: Who would know know my ideal candidate? ON t…

> ATTRACT decent people

This reminds me of a recent post that rings pretty true: "When hiring senior engineers, you’re not buying, you’re selling"

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18955731

Re: Ask HN: Finding tech talent is getting harder. It's not a Bay Area problem only

#27

Post by malvosenior »

It's funny because people keep saying this yet I've noticed something... The interview process for developers is about 10X harder than it used to be a decade ago. It used to be that you'd chat with a couple of people about tech, projects you'd worked on... then get a job offer. Now there are multiple rounds spread out over weeks with a massive number of team members, live coding challenges galore, non-tech screening for all manner of sketchy things (culture fit, dedication to diversity...).

I think a lot of this is based on they myth of: A bad hire causes tons more damage than not hiring a good person.

I call BS. To me this is just weak management. It's actually not that difficult to fire someone. If you're in doubt, put an explicit probation period in the contract. I think being able to effectively fire is management 101 but looks like it's becoming a lost art. I'm not sure if this is because people are afraid of confrontation or they're just cargo culting the story they've heard about bad hires.

Easy in, easy out and you'll see your dev shortage problem start to solve itself.

Re: Ask HN: Finding tech talent is getting harder. It's not a Bay Area problem only

#28

Post by akvadrako »

ebiester wrote: post #20
edhowzerblack wrote: post #2

As a developer who has recently been through the hiring process, I think the problem is not a shortage of talent, but rather that companies are awful at hiring. Here are a few of the main issues: 1. Don't limit your potential talent pool to the miserable and the unemployed. In theory, any developer who is currently employed might be interested in leaving their job to work for you. Perhaps you will offer them more mon…

I got it! We will hire anyone who sounds good, and fire them within a month if it turns out they're not up to our standards. Then, we will ensure we never get anyone who isn't already employed and anyone just looking for a paycheck or three. If you heard that even 20% of people were fired within the first month, how likely would you be to take that job? Note: It's usually called contract to hire. And it just takes th…

So what? If you are used to freelancing, it's the same thing.

I would prefer that 80% of people are fired in the first month.

Re: Ask HN: Finding tech talent is getting harder. It's not a Bay Area problem only

#29

Post by wrestlerman »

I'm from Europe, so I will say why I don't want to work in London (and I get a lot of offers from there!)

The salaries that are offered are a joke in London. The expenses are so huge there! Even if the salary is a bit higher than my current one, I would spend much more.

There are a lot of joke startups, some new cryptocurrency or blockchain startups... Nope, I'm not gonna join anything like that.

Also, I'm not a huge fan of big cities and London is too crowded (for me).

Allow remote and I'm sure you are gonna find someone.

Re: Ask HN: Finding tech talent is getting harder. It's not a Bay Area problem only

#30

Post by murph »

daveFNbuck wrote: post #18
aantix wrote: post #10

This problem is no longer exclusive to the Bay Area. Hiring is time-consuming and expensive, and many startups feel that they can’t compete with some of the top salaries and perks offered by deep-pocketed alternatives. Offer to teach the developer something. "Java developers - want to learn Node and React?" "Rails developers - want to learn Elixir?" Get one senior person on staff who really knows the stack well and r…

If good developers want to level up their skills, how do you keep the senior developer who you've turned into a tutor happy?

Mentorship and teaching are also valuable skills. Many good senior engineers would love to focus on them if their employer recognized it as valuable.
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