| Here we go. There’s just no real barometer – it’s not like being a Doctor or a Lawyer where you can check the applicant’s college, GPA, and Bar Score (is that a thing?) and know the person is proficient. If you're hiring technical staff and you clearly understand what you need these people to do on a daily basis and why you need them to do it then there is absolutely no excuse for not having even a basic set of minimum technical criteria. If you don't clearly understand what you need them to do on a day to day basis then I think you may need to re-assess why you need them, or it's possible that someone else in the business should be handling the first stage of this hiring process. Now to your 6 key points 1. Don't send a resume - That's a huge statement and your supporting points are severely lacking in elaboration. listing all the different languages you know is really only interesting to you and your peers Refer to my first point above. 2. Keep an updated blog - Sure. I can see this. What about the fantastic developers who don't have sufficient time to blog? Some of the best developers I know have a blog, most of the best developers I know don't. 3. Link to your previous work - Comfortably the best piece of advice in the entire article and I can't support this advice enough. I was recently looking for an iOS developer and the amount of CV's I received from people claiming to have amazing apps published in the app store yet no links to said app was just baffling. 4. If you’re not from the US (or the country you are applying for a job in), let me know what that means - Sorry but if you're my employer, the onus is upon you to be familiar with international hiring policies. 5. Show you’re interested in the product, and the process - if you could show that you’re interested in the business and aren’t going to leave when the next startup comes calling, that’s great That's one of the many reasons to interview someone. It's an opportunity to find out how much they truly know about you and your company. If you think you can derive this from an initial application, then again, I feel you are misguided. 6. Have a good answer for why you’re leaving your current job - This won’t be in the initial email, but is important, so I had to include it This should be in the initial email. This is always one of the first questions I ask prior to interviewing someone. If they tell me the reason they want out is because they are bored, then the obvious next question is 'why do you find it boring'. This article should be titled How to make life easier for a non-technical hiring manager as I can almost guarantee your approach will contradict the thought process of most decision makers within the tech start-up community as opposed to getting a job offer from 'every company they apply to'. Sorry to be so scathing as there are some useful pieces of info in your article however the title angered me. |
The "startup ninja hacker" world is in need of a reality check
The "tradicional hiring" methods has some glaring defects, but people don't realize it's got a lot of things right as well!
I want your resume, yes. You don't need one if your name really rings a bell like Gosling, Stroustroup, Torvalds. Not "built JQuery UI plugins" famous, sorry.
Also, it's great if you can link to a previous work, but if you can't it's ok. Projects go offline (happened to me), are sold as part of a product (yes), or are part of a really expensive product (yep).
"Sorry but if you're my employer, the onus is upon you to be familiar with international hiring policies." I lost count of how many "recruiters" contacted me offering a job in the US (residents only). But you know, in the same place you got my email there was a disclaimer "need sponsorship to work in the US". So if you ignore this, I'm gonna assume it's a poor job offer (and it usually is)