11–20 of 82 posts
If you're picking 10 candidates and only (initially) asking them for 1 hour's work, they're probably dropping off due to lack of interest in your project. They might not be taking you seriously.
"Something interesting happens at this point in the process. An average of 50% of the candidates never continue past this step. The reason is not exactly known but I suspect it is because they simply do not know how to perform the task that is given to them" If you're picking 10 candidates and only (initially) asking them for 1 hour's work, they're probably dropping off due to lack of interest in your project. They m…
RE $5/hr - You'd be surprised what kind of applicants you get from around the world. I've had a very good iOS developer from India for $12/hr for awhile now. Great find. I also give my workers bonuses if they finish early, go above and beyond, etc. Key thing: Take care of people and most likely they'll take care of you.
Is anyone else tired of being assigned homework when applying for jobs? In both this and the author's previous article on hiring, he mentions giving people tasks to complete by a certain deadline as part of the hiring process. For someone that's just starting out as a programmer then maybe that's reasonable, but for those of us that've been in software for years, what's the point? You wouldn't ask a carpenter to make…
If you have a look at his examples, they seem like reasonable questions too; they're not "turning a string of numbers into math problems", they're practical demonstrations of applications of the different technology stacks. If I were hiring a freelancer for a project, I'd probably do something like this with the option of just showing me some past work instead.
I've honestly never hired a carpenter or mechanic for a business before; from what I understand though there's usually a short probation period at the start where they're paid but can be let go summarily. This is the same kind of situation, only it's a shorter period.
Is anyone else tired of being assigned homework when applying for jobs? In both this and the author's previous article on hiring, he mentions giving people tasks to complete by a certain deadline as part of the hiring process. For someone that's just starting out as a programmer then maybe that's reasonable, but for those of us that've been in software for years, what's the point? You wouldn't ask a carpenter to make…
Is anyone else tired of being assigned homework when applying for jobs? In both this and the author's previous article on hiring, he mentions giving people tasks to complete by a certain deadline as part of the hiring process. For someone that's just starting out as a programmer then maybe that's reasonable, but for those of us that've been in software for years, what's the point? You wouldn't ask a carpenter to make…
I have been encumbered by IP agreements for years that make showing my code to anyone seriously problematic. Even talking about certain architectures can be borderline.
"Something interesting happens at this point in the process. An average of 50% of the candidates never continue past this step. The reason is not exactly known but I suspect it is because they simply do not know how to perform the task that is given to them" If you're picking 10 candidates and only (initially) asking them for 1 hour's work, they're probably dropping off due to lack of interest in your project. They m…
I should clarify, I hire them for 1 hour and if they succeed in the task and I like their work I'll hire them for the project. RE $5/hr - You'd be surprised what kind of applicants you get from around the world. I've had a very good iOS developer from India for $12/hr for awhile now. Great find. I also give my workers bonuses if they finish early, go above and beyond, etc. Key thing: Take care of people and most like…
Is anyone else tired of being assigned homework when applying for jobs? In both this and the author's previous article on hiring, he mentions giving people tasks to complete by a certain deadline as part of the hiring process. For someone that's just starting out as a programmer then maybe that's reasonable, but for those of us that've been in software for years, what's the point? You wouldn't ask a carpenter to make…
I generally solve this issue by paying the developer for the programming challenge. Usually, it's something that benefits the project that I'm working on. Then, if I hire them, it's a pretty easy transition.
So what if I find a bad dev or two and lose a bit of money. The good devs way more than make up for the investment in the bad ones.