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Hiring a developer as a small indie studio in 2025

ballardgames.com

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Re: Hiring a developer as a small indie studio in 2025

#81

Post by zahlman »

> If we see potential, the first step is always asking the candidate upfront for their expected salary, availability, and whether they want full-time or part-time. Since we are focused on efficiency, we need to respect people’s time as much as our own. Most candidates appreciate it; for example, it immediately filtered out a very qualified candidate whose salary ask was 4 times our budget.

I feel like the "respectful of applicants' time" thing to do would be to state a salary range in the posting.

Re: Hiring a developer as a small indie studio in 2025

#82

Post by sentrysapper »

> You must ask candidates to solve problems directly related to the role. If you’re hiring a game programmer, knowing how to detect fraud in bank transactions is irrelevant knowledge if that task never appears on the job.

I wish more companies understood this. In all my years of interviews I never got a coding interview or take home programming assignment that even remotely resembled the work they needed.

Re: Hiring a developer as a small indie studio in 2025

#83

Post by ryandrake »

joshdavham wrote: post #21
kassner wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still consider this a red flag. The company wants me to put time into the hiring process, but they can’t be bothered to do the same. If there is at least a recruiter screening first, I’ll apply and ask about “Bring Your Own Code Examples”, mostly when their daily work would use tools that I have some code published.

> I still consider this a red flag. The company wants me to put time into the hiring process, but they can’t be bothered to do the same. Exactly this. It costs a company nothing to give you a take-home, but it will cost you (the candidate) potentially many hours. On my last job search, I got burned a number of times where I'd work for hours on a take-home only to get ghosted. I don't think they even looked at my solu…

Another thing problematic about take-home projects: They don't scale for the candidate. Sure, 2 hours is nothing if you want a job, but typically the candidate is going to be applying for dozens, if not hundreds of jobs. Even 20 take-homes just like this is now 40 hours of work--just to get through a hiring gate!

It is not "respectful of the candidate's time" if everyone is doing it.

Re: Hiring a developer as a small indie studio in 2025

#84

Post by ryandrake »

lone-cloud wrote: post #44
FinnKuhn wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because they hope that someone gives them a number that is lower than the salary they had in mind.

Bingo. Discussing salary is a game and the first person to say a number loses.

It's totally unserious to ask a candidate to negotiate against himself by providing a ceiling. As the candidate, just say $1M/year and move on to the next employer. If they're not asking a serious question they should not expect a serious answer.

Re: Hiring a developer as a small indie studio in 2025

#85

Post by ryandrake »

Vegenoid wrote: post #12
testing22321 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A friend at a nearly-FAANG said not using AI tooling in the interview is now an automatic fail. “Not that you’d be able to complete the task on time without it anyway”

I interviewed at a place that proudly stated that they have a goal that x% new LOC are LLM-generated. They didn't say what x was, but implied it was high.

I don't understand why a company would have a goal like this which isn't tied to something around business success. Measure a meaningful output rather than an input. This is like having a goal that x% new LOC are typed by the programmer's left hand.

Re: Hiring a developer as a small indie studio in 2025

#86

Post by andoando »

lone-cloud wrote: post #40

This sounds like an incredibly toxic hiring process and not a company I'd ever want to work for. So you apply for a job and in response they (maybe) email you back asking for your expected salary (great way to filter out anyone worth hiring btw) and if you're cheap enough they then ask you to do work on a take home assignment. Everyone here thinks that this is okay and they want to be interviewed this way? "Since we…

Salary expectations should always be the first conversation imo

Re: Hiring a developer as a small indie studio in 2025

#88

Post by TZubiri »

FinnKuhn wrote: post #41
edent wrote: post #34

Why not list the salary up front? That reduces the number of people with wildly different remuneration expectations?

Because they hope that someone gives them a number that is lower than the salary they had in mind.

A more generous interpretation is that they want to find out what the market salary is. How are they supposed to know what the market price is if they say their salary range first?

Re: Hiring a developer as a small indie studio in 2025

#89

Post by nradov »

rockyj wrote: post #51
lone-cloud wrote: post #40

This sounds like an incredibly toxic hiring process and not a company I'd ever want to work for. So you apply for a job and in response they (maybe) email you back asking for your expected salary (great way to filter out anyone worth hiring btw) and if you're cheap enough they then ask you to do work on a take home assignment. Everyone here thinks that this is okay and they want to be interviewed this way? "Since we…

I assume you have never seen the German software recruitment process. 6+ rounds spread over 3 months (with no ghosting in the middle if you are lucky). Here is the current process - - Apply online - Initial screening with recruiter if they like your resume (book a 45 mins slot) - Take home assignment or online assessment (2 -4 hours) - First technical screening interview (1-1.5 hours) - Second technical interview (sy…

Is that part of the reason why the German software industry is generally so sclerotic and unproductive?

Re: Hiring a developer as a small indie studio in 2025

#90

Post by mono442 »

rockyj wrote: post #51
lone-cloud wrote: post #40

This sounds like an incredibly toxic hiring process and not a company I'd ever want to work for. So you apply for a job and in response they (maybe) email you back asking for your expected salary (great way to filter out anyone worth hiring btw) and if you're cheap enough they then ask you to do work on a take home assignment. Everyone here thinks that this is okay and they want to be interviewed this way? "Since we…

I assume you have never seen the German software recruitment process. 6+ rounds spread over 3 months (with no ghosting in the middle if you are lucky). Here is the current process - - Apply online - Initial screening with recruiter if they like your resume (book a 45 mins slot) - Take home assignment or online assessment (2 -4 hours) - First technical screening interview (1-1.5 hours) - Second technical interview (sy…

To be fair, it is more difficult to lay off in Germany so the company takes more risk.
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