Earlier quoted context omitted.
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Ask YC: "Rock Star" Job Titles
91–100 of 126 posts
Re: Ask YC: "Rock Star" Job Titles
#92I do not want to be a rockstar - or a ninja . . . I stay away from those types of ads, although I probably should take a closer look as other posters have suggested.
If we are going to get into that naming territory, I think Wizard or Sourcerer (misspelling intended) are more appropriate . . . and Bounty Hunter, Gunfighter, Sniper, Commando, Surgeon, Evil Genius, Field Marshall, and Gladiator are still not quite as silly as rockstar
:)
Re: Ask YC: "Rock Star" Job Titles
#93Job ads are usually full of cliches. The interesting thing to me is how much they've have changed. Ten years ago it was "team player." Now it's "rockstar." Silly as it is, that's at least a sign of progress. It means employers have now realized that you want the smartest programmers, rather than obedient ones. I suspect Google's example is the main reason for this change. Or evolution.
So from your perspective the companies that use "rockstar" and similar terms are probably better for hackers than a standard job posting? Since they are at least looking for the right type of programmers... I can see that perspective. It's always possible that some horrible HR person posted the job. I've talked to some horrible HR people at Microsoft and Google in the past (when they were "cool" places to work with s…
So, smartest programmers = rockstars? Highly doubtful.
Re: Ask YC: "Rock Star" Job Titles
#94I think with engineers things are pretty binary. There is just 0 and 1. Some engineers can just follow (0) and other that lead (1). The (1) are the ones that just get things done. The (0) are the one that need some coaxing to get finish line. The whole idea or a rockstar, ninja is BS. It is like a project 0 you failed and are not complete 1 you've met the deadline. If you want a rockstar goto hollywood. If you want ninjas goto japan. If you want an engineer goto colos, star wars movies, your local tech meet ups.
Re: Ask YC: "Rock Star" Job Titles
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
Any company that leverages open source software should make an effort to donate back to the community, even if the core of their software is closed source. Use Linux? Python? Emacs? Firefox? Allowing your employees to donate some time towards open source projects is probably a good way to attract talent. Advertising for "rockstar ninja" positions is not.
While I agree that it's a much better way to attract talent, I'm going to say (as an OSS contributor myself) that unless it's already significantly into its funding cycle, a startup where you've got time to spend on random OSS stuff that doesn't directly benefit the company is probably focusing on the wrong things.
A startup where the co-founders have time to work on random OSS stuff is probably working on the wrong things. A startup where employees can spend 20% of their time hacking on OSS or side projects is likely doing just fine. I would be more worried about a startup that expects or demands that employees work 40+ hours. It either means that it's being run by suit monkeys that don't understand how programmers work or has poor project management that requires a constant crunch mode.
Re: Ask YC: "Rock Star" Job Titles
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
Side projects don't have to be additive - they could be something that's on the critical path for your main product and yet not intricately tied to your proprietary code. The decision is not "Can employees spend 20% of their time working on open-source?", but "Can 20% of the code that we already have to write be open-sourced profitably." I suspect that for many companies, the brand-building benefits of open-source an…
You're right. My comment is directed only at true side projects, not real work that could be opens sourced.
Even for true side projects, the solution is to make sure your project schedule doesn't depend on everyone working a strict 40 hours. Having time set aside to do some OSS hacking every week is actually likely to lead to less time wasted with other, likely less productive activities.
You also never know when one of those completely unrelated side projects will come in handy.
Re: Ask YC: "Rock Star" Job Titles
#97I used to love reading John Carmack's finger-based blog (flog?). "finger @idsoftware.com" still yields the company directory listing (not sure if it's still up-to-date). With the exception of the CEO, everyone has a simple, functional title like Programmer or Artist. The humility and understatement implicit in the listing -- John Carmack, Programmer -- is something that more companies and individuals should aspire to…
Engineer seems as humble as programmer to me.
Re: Ask YC: "Rock Star" Job Titles
#98I used to love reading John Carmack's finger-based blog (flog?). "finger @idsoftware.com" still yields the company directory listing (not sure if it's still up-to-date). With the exception of the CEO, everyone has a simple, functional title like Programmer or Artist. The humility and understatement implicit in the listing -- John Carmack, Programmer -- is something that more companies and individuals should aspire to…
I am reminded of how at Bell Labs/Lucent, all the geek jobs had the title "Member of the Technical Staff" or "Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff".
Re: Ask YC: "Rock Star" Job Titles
#99My wife asked if organizations really advertise for "rock star" programmers, so I did a search on the local Craigslist and got four hits. The first link I followed contained the following definition of "rock star":
[quote]
FileMaker Certified Developer. (If you’re not yet certified, we’ll get you there!)
Ability to install and configure FileMaker Server Advanced; knowledge of ODBC access and custom web publishing.
Experience managing software development projects.
Experience with SQL, javascript, PHP, Quickbooks integration.
Computer science degree or certification.
[unquote]
Res ipsa loquitur.
The ad on the second link I followed said that the company's software "performs like a rock star". I'm not sure I would consider this a good thing.
Re: Ask YC: "Rock Star" Job Titles
#100We've solved that another way. Our employees get to choose their own title (except they can't use a legally significant name or VP without permission). We have: * Head Greenskeeper * Mighty God of Thunder * Princess ... along with the usual "senior software engineer" and such. You might think that would remove the meaning from titles, but I can tell you... I'll take a Mighty God of Thunder or a Head Greenskeeper for…
Why don't you choose for the best, regardless of the label they apply to themselves?