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Dear HN "Who's Hiring" responders

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Re: Dear HN "Who's Hiring" responders

#71

Post by sybhn »

calinet6 wrote: post #23
niggler wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is absolutely a hirers' market if the market is for a low-level coder. Many people, especially coming from an engineering background, have the requisite programming and computer science experience to do what you need. It's a hirees' market at the rockstar level, as always.

Rockstars are a myth. So are low-level engineers who "know what they're doing." Hire smart people who can learn new things instead of resume bullet points and/or mythological creatures.

i always thought that rockstars are smart, driven people who were able to achieve substantial results because of favorable circumstances. The term itself is laughable at best, especially when self proclaimed!

Re: Dear HN "Who's Hiring" responders

#72

Post by tracker1 »

rdouble wrote: post #54

That sort of email only doesn't work if the resume is bad, or like you say, if they have their profile settings wrong. If it's a good resume, a brief email is preferable.

That was my thought, and has been my experience as well... In the past when looking, I've usually done about two sentences, and attached my resume. My personal site has my resume in a few different formats, so they can take their pick... I haven't updated it in a while, as I'm pretty happy where I am, and the past 3 jobs I've had started without any down time after the prior job.

I would say it's definitely an hiree's market. I've removed my profile pretty much everywhere I have ever put it up, and still get 3-5 contacts a day. This is without the newer projects I've been working on (and newer technologies/frameworks).

I think that given how much developers are simply pursued by recruiters who put in no effort, I think that a few sentences and an up to date resume are an appropriate introduction.

Re: Dear HN "Who's Hiring" responders

#73

Post by pekk »

jpdoctor wrote: post #34

> tl;dr if it'll take the company more effort to reply to your email than you put into sending it, you're doing it wrong. No no no, they're doing it right. All those lame responses? You think you're gonna get better behavior after hiring? It's not a response so much as an organization intelligence test. You hire 'em, you get what you deserve.

Cuts both ways. Stupid hiring process - you think you'll be treated better after getting hired?

Re: Dear HN "Who's Hiring" responders

#74

Post by bvdbijl »

pyre wrote: post #45
orangethirty wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's probably it. Plus there is an added benefit of a reverse filter. I don't want to work with any company that will, at the least, exchange a couple of emails with me. Any company who disqualifies me from just looking at my CV is not a good fit. Team chemistry for me is very important. I don't want to work in a place full of incompatible personalities. Not fun.

Plenty of places with good teams may have poor hiring practices.

How can a place get a good team if their hiring practice is poor?

Re: Dear HN "Who's Hiring" responders

#75

Post by [deleted] »

jaredsohn wrote: post #65
niggler wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is absolutely a hirers' market if the market is for a low-level coder. Many people, especially coming from an engineering background, have the requisite programming and computer science experience to do what you need. It's a hirees' market at the rockstar level, as always.

I'm confused as to what is meant by "low-level coder" here. Is it programmers who work with C or assembly and maybe on embedded systems or programmers who lack much ability? (My intuition and a google search suggests the former, although many comments and the contrast with 'rockstar' (unless that refers to another programming domain :)) suggests the latter. Edit: It is especially weird when the post then refers to pe…

[deleted]

Re: Dear HN "Who's Hiring" responders

#77

Post by pekk »

eli wrote: post #67

Poor cover letters are really one of my pet peeves. Dear Applicants: Why would you send me what is very obviously the same cover_letter.doc that you send everyone? What do you think it says about you as a candidate if you couldn't be bothered to replace "Dear Hiring Manager" with my name? And that little informal note in the body of your email ("Hi, saw your ad on X. See my attached cover letter and resume"), that ef…

If you want someone to get serious about your messy, hacked-together infrastructure, then please put it in the job ad rather than requiring people to become psychic or claim they are Gods of Engineering in the cover letter in order to pique your interest.

Because we demand that everyone guess what you want and turn the sales knob up to 11, you are getting a lot of applications from people who could better disqualify themselves, and lots of dishonest bullshit to filter in applications. If we would all be more honest and just say what we mean then this would all be easier.

Re: Dear HN "Who's Hiring" responders

#78

Post by nollidge »

waterlesscloud wrote: post #69
lhnz wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Smart people who can learn new things are the rockstars. (Even though in actuality this term is a joke turned into a marketing term to attract confident developers.)

"Smart people who can learn new things" That seems like a pretty low bar.

Maybe look at it as can and will learn new things. Plenty of people are not so motivated.

Re: Dear HN "Who's Hiring" responders

#79

Post by lhnz »

waterlesscloud wrote: post #69
lhnz wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Smart people who can learn new things are the rockstars. (Even though in actuality this term is a joke turned into a marketing term to attract confident developers.)

"Smart people who can learn new things" That seems like a pretty low bar.

Depends what you define as smart, and what you define as new. Also who is accessible and verifiable.

I consider it a low bar to have repositories on GitHub or answers on StackOverflow yet the fact is that in London this group numbers in the thousands. This isn't all of the talented people but it gives you an idea of the rarity.

Re: Dear HN "Who's Hiring" responders

#80

Post by pekk »

niggler wrote: post #17

I've talked to some people who have tried, and the ultimate conclusion was that adverse selection works against you: the people you think are really bright on HN don't end up applying, and the people who reply usually have some problem that makes them unappealing. This is true of all places you could look to hire people, though, so you shouldn't have any higher expectations.

"the people who reply usually have some problem that makes them unappealing," said the obese and unattractive man about the dating site he uses to find dates.
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