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by greghinch 5113 days ago
I've often thought the same thing since becoming a full time freelancer, the talent agency model. The problem to overcome is that, much like most recruiters I've dealt with, it's hard to find someone who isn't a technical developer to understand how to fill a technical developer role. There's a lot more complexity to understanding the work from the outside than there is understanding the work of say an actor. I no more want someone representing me who's saying "ok I have a guy here who has HTML, PHP, Javascript, and CSS, and I see you have all of those on your job requirements, this is a match right?" than I like hearing the opposite from a recruiter. Essentially you're going to need to find developers who want to do sales, a tough find if I've ever heard one.
2 comments

This is what we're doing at 10x Management (http://10xmanagement.com). I'm a YC alum and experienced web dev freelancer. I also play a lot of music so, through serendipitous connections in that world, met some music managers, and realized what they do for their music clients would be really useful for me as a freelance programmer.

So we started with them representing me -- taking care of the business end of my freelancing -- and it worked out so well that we've partnered to create 10x Management, to expand the model. I bring the tech experience, and they bring the talent agency experience.

Non-developer recruiters who really want to understand technology can learn it. My girlfriend is one, I've got her this book - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004V9HC48/, which her boss since made mandatory for all recruiters in their company.

Of course, that's not enough by itself, and it's a long process, but there are recruiters who do go through all the trouble of learning technology.