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Why Resumes and Code Screenings Are Obsolete with GitHire

githire.com

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Re: Why Resumes and Code Screenings Are Obsolete with GitHire

#2
One thing something like this misses in comparison to resumes - what was the effect of the code they wrote?

Sure, I can see that you wrote a kick-ass routine to geocode addresses. What problem was it trying to solve? What benefits did it bring to the end user? Did it have an effect on any measured metrics? This is the kind of stuff people usually put in their resumes.

I'm not that interested in the code a developer writes. I want to know what effect they and their code has on the organisation. It's the same reason I dislike recruiters, because they sell candidates to me on "x years in y!"

Re: Why Resumes and Code Screenings Are Obsolete with GitHire

#3
post #2

One thing something like this misses in comparison to resumes - what was the effect of the code they wrote? Sure, I can see that you wrote a kick-ass routine to geocode addresses. What problem was it trying to solve? What benefits did it bring to the end user? Did it have an effect on any measured metrics? This is the kind of stuff people usually put in their resumes. I'm not that interested in the code a developer w…

To that end, there is more than just perfection of code. It's great to see a developer write perfect 'debt-free' code, however sometimes it's more valuable to get the code out the door in a simpler easier state.

A lot of developers I've worked with have problems getting to a stopping point. For hiring someone the 'perfect' code usually wins out, yet that person might not be the best fit.

Re: Why Resumes and Code Screenings Are Obsolete with GitHire

#4
Simple test: myself. Claims I have 5+ years of Emacs Lisp experience. Ahem, I wish. Second test: my boss. Claims he has 3-5 years of C experience (less than me, and less than he has C++ experience). Ahem.

I know these are estimates, but it highlights the flaw: it just looks at your repos and has no insight what's happening. Maybe it would work better if it could detect if your patches are actually being pulled by anone. (That means your code is desirable to at least 1 person).

Eliminating a code screening with this? Come on, don't make me laugh.

Re: Why Resumes and Code Screenings Are Obsolete with GitHire

#6
The thing that could be worrying here, is that it could clutter up github with people trying to game it to get a job, instead of actually caring about the project their contributing to.

It seems that in it's current state this could work very well, if this becomes a popular recruiting tool, it won't be sustainable.

Re: Why Resumes and Code Screenings Are Obsolete with GitHire

#8
Re: Code Screenings are obsolete. I think this is true for some code screenings. However my most recent job, they sent me their own framework, and I needed to make code within that. You're not going to find that on google. Sure I could have had a friend help me, but I think it would have been pretty obvious when I started, and the few that would do that would get weeded out in the first few months.

Re: Why Resumes and Code Screenings Are Obsolete with GitHire

#9
post #3
post #2

One thing something like this misses in comparison to resumes - what was the effect of the code they wrote? Sure, I can see that you wrote a kick-ass routine to geocode addresses. What problem was it trying to solve? What benefits did it bring to the end user? Did it have an effect on any measured metrics? This is the kind of stuff people usually put in their resumes. I'm not that interested in the code a developer w…

To that end, there is more than just perfection of code. It's great to see a developer write perfect 'debt-free' code, however sometimes it's more valuable to get the code out the door in a simpler easier state. A lot of developers I've worked with have problems getting to a stopping point. For hiring someone the 'perfect' code usually wins out, yet that person might not be the best fit.

Absolutely agreed. In fact, these kind of hiring services aren't of much interest to me because I think that a lot of developers are "good enough" coders- but that their personality (be it perfectionism, whatever) is more variable.

I'd prioritise finding a developer that is "good enough" and fits well into a team over a razor-sharp developer that can't work to deadlines or participate in meetings.

Re: Why Resumes and Code Screenings Are Obsolete with GitHire

#10
Finding exceptional talent on GitHub certainly a solvable problem, but the real challenge for GitHire is the one you can see immediately when you pull up this page:

http://githire.com/order

In the first few reloads, I've seen John Resig, David Heinemeier Hansson, and Yehuda Katz pop up. Maybe they're free to do a quick phone screen?

Here's hoping that there's a lot of secret sauce keeping companies from trying to date supermodels (most of whom are already in a relationship).

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