| Hi Clifton-- Thanks for the reply. Very thoughtful. I have a couple of points. "What we'd hoped to accomplish, and fell short on in the end, was a way for developers with non-traditional backgrounds find gainful employment." First: I think you'll find that a lot of developers have "non-traditional backgrounds" (where by "non-traditional" you mean "didn't graduate in CS", I'm guessing). Is a person with a MS in CS going to have an easier time finding a job in, say, Iowa? Maybe they are, maybe they aren't. If someone is having a hard time getting their foot in the door in Iowa because they don't have a degree, giving them +K isn't going to help much (and I'm guessing you found this out from the companies you contracted with). Second: "There's a huge disconnect between what developers want and what companies want. You're going to have to reach out to developers who fit." I know this is too late, but that statement should have been front and center on your site. You're hiding the true intentions of your application behind this layer of developer competition, when in reality "We can help you find a job" should have been your number one point. (In the language of your site, "Discover" should have been front and center, and "Compete" should have been 86'ed.) Last, the remote thing: I don't think that there is -- yet -- enough of a market for recruiting agencies for remote workers, especially at your typical Fortune 500 company. Office culture is ingrained in this country, and probably will be for another generation or two. If someone is in a "weird location" and they're unwilling to accept a relocation offer, that's (currently) a massive hurdle in their career growth, and as a talent agent it's up to you to tell people this. It would be like a rookie in baseball with a no-trade clause; that doesn't work. Anyways, good luck in the future and all that; I'm sure this was, if nothing else, a great learning experience. |