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How To Hire Outsourced Developers

donnfelker.com

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Re: How To Hire Outsourced Developers

#21

Post by bcbrown »

SheepSlapper wrote: post #9

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…

> when you could easily look at all the work I've already done?

While I agree with you that homework-style pre-screenings aren't something I like, I think for a lot of people it's hard for prospective employers to look at previous work, since it may be proprietary. Also, this is for a contractor role, and he says he pays their full rate for this homework assignment.

Re: How To Hire Outsourced Developers

#22

Post by donnfelker »

brandontreb wrote: post #20
SheepSlapper wrote: post #9

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 totally agree. 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.

Nailed it.

Re: How To Hire Outsourced Developers

#23

Post by aeon10 »

In the android app the line "Create a ListView that groups the recent commits by author in a custom view." is confusing to me. What I get from that is something of this form:

    author1:
        commit1
        commit2
        ...
    author2:
        ...
however the example jpg doesnt look like it.

Re: How To Hire Outsourced Developers

#24

Post by SheepSlapper »

tonyarkles wrote: post #13
SheepSlapper wrote: post #9

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…

Well, for context... This is for hiring a freelancer on oDesk, and he's paying them to do the homework. It seems like a pretty fair way to evaluate a candidate. 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…

His previous article on hiring[0] wasn't for freelancers and also included programming homework (a longer task, even). Like I said before, for someone that doesn't have previous work to show then this might be a necessary evil, but if I have a deep portfolio already then it just seems so... masturbatory.

Paying for the developer's time is awesome, and if you have to assign coding homework during hiring then paying for their time is a classy move. Most people won't, even though they should.

[0] http://www.donnfelker.com/how-to-hire-programmers/

Re: How To Hire Outsourced Developers

#25

Post by buzaga41 »

+1 for no ~foreign people are dumb~ undertones I've seen in other posts. I'm brasilian and I'm sure my skills could punch the skills of some developers elsewhere in the face, even if I make less. If you don't respect people who you work with, what are you? That's why, also, I'm at my last remote job, after this one goes, I'm getting back to local and corporate stuff.. Current one is great, but I've had enough bad experiences

Re: How To Hire Outsourced Developers

#26

Post by j_s »

A couple of transcribed episodes from 'Startups for the Rest of Us':

How to Hire and Manage Virtual Assistants

http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/episodes/episode-68-ho...

How to Hire Like a Bootstrapper with Special Guest Laura Roeder

http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/episodes/episode-143-h...

Re: How To Hire Outsourced Developers

#27

Post by donnfelker »

aeon10 wrote: post #23

In the android app the line "Create a ListView that groups the recent commits by author in a custom view." is confusing to me. What I get from that is something of this form: author1: commit1 commit2 ... author2: ... however the example jpg doesnt look like it.

I can see how this could be confusing. However, this is an opportunity for the candidate to communicate with me. In the real world, features are not always 100% fleshed out and sometimes you need clarification. This could be used as one such example. But, I agree, this could probably be improved a bit. Thanks for reading. :)

Re: How To Hire Outsourced Developers

#30

Post by donnfelker »

j_s wrote: post #26

A couple of transcribed episodes from 'Startups for the Rest of Us': How to Hire and Manage Virtual Assistants http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/episodes/episode-68-ho... How to Hire Like a Bootstrapper with Special Guest Laura Roeder http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/episodes/episode-143-h...

Rob also has a great course on Udemy which shares a lot of the same philosophies that I do. View that here: https://www.udemy.com/startups-guide-hiring-virtual-assistan... I highly recommend it.
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