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Ask HN: Having trouble getting senior applicants, wondering what to do about it

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Re: Ask HN: Having trouble getting senior applicants, wondering what to do about it

#671

Post by toomanybeersies »

yieldcrv wrote: post #376
ubercore wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently did a 6 hour take-home, but was given an expectation of around 2 weeks to accomplish it, with flexibility for more if I needed it. I thought it was pretty fair compared to a never-ending round of tech interviews.

My experience with that is: 0) time doing the project is tracked, sometimes via the expectation that you commit to the git repository from start to finish. dinging you for "points" for going over the time allotment and that the other candidates are: 1) doing way extra things that took way more than 6 hours 2) are not doing those extra things from scratch because they've been playing this game for a while and that 3)…

> sometimes via the expectation that you commit to the git repository from start to finish

Just rewrite your git history and fudge the commit timestamps. It's not even dishonest, it's just demonstrating your experience with Git.

Of course, that doesn't work if they expect you to push to Github/lab as you go.

Re: Ask HN: Having trouble getting senior applicants, wondering what to do about it

#672

Post by jann »

wizofaus wrote: post #305
anon291 wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing with 4hr technical assignments is that you're saying no to anyone with kids, which I'm going to venture applies to more senior people than juniors. I used to do these assignment. Now I simply don't sorry. My schedule is 6:30 AM wake up with youngest daughter, to let wife sleep in (she takes care of her all night) 9:00 AM hand off youngest daughter to wife, who takes both girls the rest of the day. I go to m…

"The thing with 4hr technical assignments is that you're saying no to anyone with kids" Is 4 hours the amount of time the candidate is being given to complete it, or roughly how long the employer expects it will take? In the past I've generally come up with tests I know can be done in an hour or so (2 tops), but allowed 24 hours, exactly because not everyone is going to be in a position they can dedicate those 2 hour…

Instead of allowing 24 hours, I prefer to agree on a start time with the candidate, schedule the email to go out at that time and expect to receive the reply two hours later. That way everyone has the same amount of time.

Re: Ask HN: Having trouble getting senior applicants, wondering what to do about it

#673

Post by dkersten »

dominotw wrote: post #334
scruple wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They're on the market 2 weeks, tops. My last search lasted 9 days from when I put out the signal to having interviewed (for 3 companies) and negotiated an offer and submitted my resignation and 2 weeks notice.

> My last search lasted 9 days i think you did disservice to yourself by optimizing for minimizing downtime between jobs. You should've played the field longer and gone for the highest bidder. I am 100% sure you are not getting paid your worth because no FAANG type company finishes the process in 1 week.

Some off ids don’t want to work for FAANG.

Re: Ask HN: Having trouble getting senior applicants, wondering what to do about it

#674

Post by boruto »

caseyf7 wrote: post #480
skeeter2020 wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, then they can focus on hiring those who*: 1. want to work from home to take their new bearded dragon to the vet. 2. have their moms contact me about work load. 3. pre-emptively book a sick day for Monday because they "plan to get really messed up this weekend". People with kids are the worst employees! * These have all happened to me in the past year.

I’ve had moms show up and want their kid to give them a tour of the office, but inquiring about their child’s workload is next level helicopter parenting.

Wait, Is this bad? I usually take my parents on one weekend to show where I work if the office is nice.

Re: Ask HN: Having trouble getting senior applicants, wondering what to do about it

#675

Post by ricardobayes »

corrral wrote: post #21

> Take-home technical assignment (~4h) or similar at candidate's choosing If I can get a similarly-paying job at a place that doesn't do this, I'll skip you. Many seniors ( actual seniors, not 3-years-of-experience seniors) have a network and can say "hey I'm looking" and instantly have multiple options that won't have them do more than talk to the team and manager for an hour or two. If that.

A place I interviewed at wanted me to code a functional date picker using React - without any design frameworks and with a very specific CSS. I still think they just needed a date picker.

Re: Ask HN: Having trouble getting senior applicants, wondering what to do about it

#676

Post by pinum »

hackyhacky wrote: post #617
ls15 wrote: post #614

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shouldn't a CS degree from a reputable university then just replace all the screening that is made for people without relevant degrees?

As someone who teaches CS at a reputable university, I can state with certainty that we graduate a lot of students who have no clue how to code. As someone who used to do hiring for a small company, I can state that a lot of people who have degrees have no clue how to code. Until our field gets the equivalent of a bar exam or NBME, each employer has to evaluate candidates on their own.

>a lot of people who have degrees have no clue how to code

I don't understand how this is possible. I know CS != coding, but every CS degree syllabus I've looked at does involve plenty of programming classes, practical programming projects, etc. How is it possible to graduate from that without being reasonably comfortable writing non-trivial stuff in a couple of major languages?

Re: Ask HN: Having trouble getting senior applicants, wondering what to do about it

#677

Post by throwawaythrow1 »

List your salary/renumeration/offer, or at least the range.

I have issues with some of the steps listed but by far my biggest issue is that companies don't list their offer. Which for potential candidates makes them wonder if it's even worth attempting to apply.

Re: Ask HN: Having trouble getting senior applicants, wondering what to do about it

#678

Post by jgaa »

cycomanic wrote: post #627
jgaa wrote: post #613

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Offering someone you don't know a senior position without some kind of insight into their level of competence is just a lottery. I've screened a number of very senior developers with impressive CV's applying for senior C++ positions. When I look at their code, usually it just sucks. More often than not it's just plain old C code with C++ dressing. For example, using pthreads in stead of C++11 std::thread, and mostly…

> Offering someone you don't know a senior position without some kind of insight into their level of competence is just a lottery. So what do you think the rest of the world does? Mechanical, civil, electrical engineering, lawyers, doctors, HR, managers? What makes software so special?

> So what do you think the rest of the world does? Mechanical, civil, electrical engineering, lawyers, doctors, HR, managers?

I think they end up hiring the wrong person most of the time.

> What makes software so special?

It's not. We also end up hiring the wrong person most of the time ;)

Finding the best possible person for any position is hard.

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