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Ask HN: Hiring managers, what tech skills will you be hiring for in 2017?

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Re: Ask HN: Hiring managers, what tech skills will you be hiring for in 2017?

#211

Post by thinkmassive »

asher wrote: post #37

I'm at shopkick. We're a mobile app. We hire server, Android and iPhone engineers, but many will move across these platforms. We look for smart generalists. So, although we use Python on our servers, we don't expect server candidates to know Python. Advice for senior engineers: brush up your practical programming. If you've been in an architect/leadership role, you may be rusty. Make sure you're comfortable on both w…

Everything you said jives with me, with the exception of emacs. I know it's a religious topic to some, but I have to ask... do you regularly see servers without vi, but with emacs installed?

Re: Ask HN: Hiring managers, what tech skills will you be hiring for in 2017?

#212

Post by [deleted] »

vorg wrote: post #204
reitanqild wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has saved my life a few times. Compared to mvn or ant or something else or compared to not using a build system? Honest question. I'm trying to figure out if I have missed something when I dismissed Gradle last time.

> I'm trying to figure out if I have missed something when I dismissed Gradle last time Which version of Gradle were you using last time? Gradle 3.0, released 3 months ago, offers Kotlin as the preferred language for scripting builds and writing plugins, instead of the ageing Apache Groovy which is still available for those who still need it.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Hiring managers, what tech skills will you be hiring for in 2017?

#213

Post by reitanqild »

vorg wrote: post #204
reitanqild wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has saved my life a few times. Compared to mvn or ant or something else or compared to not using a build system? Honest question. I'm trying to figure out if I have missed something when I dismissed Gradle last time.

> I'm trying to figure out if I have missed something when I dismissed Gradle last time Which version of Gradle were you using last time? Gradle 3.0, released 3 months ago, offers Kotlin as the preferred language for scripting builds and writing plugins, instead of the ageing Apache Groovy which is still available for those who still need it.

Thanks! Thats good to know. Another thing: how is the speed compared to Maven 3?

Re: Ask HN: Hiring managers, what tech skills will you be hiring for in 2017?

#214

Post by happywolf »

thinkmassive wrote: post #211
asher wrote: post #37

I'm at shopkick. We're a mobile app. We hire server, Android and iPhone engineers, but many will move across these platforms. We look for smart generalists. So, although we use Python on our servers, we don't expect server candidates to know Python. Advice for senior engineers: brush up your practical programming. If you've been in an architect/leadership role, you may be rusty. Make sure you're comfortable on both w…

Everything you said jives with me, with the exception of emacs. I know it's a religious topic to some, but I have to ask... do you regularly see servers without vi, but with emacs installed?

I guess this asks mainly is to weed out those who are not truly 'Nix-ish' people...

Re: Ask HN: Hiring managers, what tech skills will you be hiring for in 2017?

#215

Post by happywolf »

throwaway95837 wrote: post #18

I am 100% owner of an internet company making 7 figure profits annually. I am extremely secretive of my business, almost to the point that some would consider a pathology. However, I will divulge my hiring strategy, because even if everyone uses my method, there will still be many employees for me to choose from. I look to hire people who just need a job. People who are qualified, but not overly qualified. People I k…

I kind of agree this strategy, but do note I am not looking at being cheap. My people are paid well above market rate, the point is I need execution and work done, there is a limit on how out-of-box and creative an employee should be. One can question the technical solution or even the business model, but after a decision is made by the business owner, execution must be done instead of incessant arguing over the merits and demerits of such decision.

As such, I tend to hire those who don't take oneself too seriously. The OP's redflags I feel are corollary to this observation.

Be humble and get shit done.

Re: Ask HN: Hiring managers, what tech skills will you be hiring for in 2017?

#216

Post by yellowapple »

ClassyJacket wrote: post #114
yellowapple wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once upon a time (and probably still now, though it sounds like they've generalized their idea a bit), SoundHound was a Shazam competitor with a nifty feature where you could sing or hum the song and SoundHound would actually manage to figure out what song you're singing. I definitely preferred it over Shazam by a long shot, but its song database was a bit lacking (or maybe the recognition piece was working too hard)…

Is there any reason not to simply download the APK if it's a free app anyway and signed correctly?

There is none, but I generally prefer to have my apps managed through at least some system of notifying me of potential updates.

Re: Ask HN: Hiring managers, what tech skills will you be hiring for in 2017?

#217

Post by mullsork »

ryandrake wrote: post #153
mullsork wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Though I don't do recruiting myself I have a few friends in tech HR here in Berlin. It is not the total number of developers available that makes the problem, it's the high percentage of incompetence.

I don't know--It looks to me that people have a very, very narrow view of "competence" then. When you define a role so narrowly, with so many requirements and conditions, don't be surprised when you reject 399 out of 400 resumes, and don't call it a shortage of talent.

I won't bite on the "talent" part as that's obviously hard as hell to spot. Someone can seem entirely incompetent yet sitting on talent that hasn't been nurtured yet.

What I do see and hear about are people that simply do not know how to program. FizzBuzz generally cuts out 50% or something out of the pool right? So that's 200 of those 400 resumes out the window already.

If you can't pass FizzBuzz then I think it's safe to call you incompetent, right? From the POV of paying you to code, obviously.

At least in Berlin there's a lot of competition for "talent" (perhaps we should call them skilled developers rather) and if one can already cut the number of applicants in half before even defining the job description... well then it's not hard to see how there might be a shortage.

However I think if you're looking for entry level developers there are way more options.

Re: Ask HN: Hiring managers, what tech skills will you be hiring for in 2017?

#218

Post by troxwalt »

troygoode wrote: post #3

We're an Enterprise B2B SaaS company headquartered in San Francisco. Our stack is node.js/React/Postgres so knowing any/all of those is a bonus, but we don't specifically target those skills – we instead look for a diverse, intelligent set of engineers who have a strong technical background or a newer technical background but heavy experience in a non-programming field (mathematics, economics, architecture, teaching,…

Really digging the first name. Another troy here.

Re: Ask HN: Hiring managers, what tech skills will you be hiring for in 2017?

#220

Post by stratigos »

throwaway95837 wrote: post #18

I am 100% owner of an internet company making 7 figure profits annually. I am extremely secretive of my business, almost to the point that some would consider a pathology. However, I will divulge my hiring strategy, because even if everyone uses my method, there will still be many employees for me to choose from. I look to hire people who just need a job. People who are qualified, but not overly qualified. People I k…

This is really freaking hilarious when you look past how cruel and exploitative it is :).

Your hiring strategy is not "your" hiring strategy: its every mindless, exploitative, and compassionless corporation in the universe. In otherwords, youre overwhelmingly average! Youre contributing to the very problem youre having: no one wants to work for an entity that operates like this.

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