[mrweasel]

We're currently trying to hire one or two people in Aalborg, Denmark. Getting anyone with skills beyond C# or Java for a smallish company is next to impossible. We're looking for Python and/or Javascript skills, preferably working knowledge of Unix. We've gotten may one real application, it's strikes me as a bit strange, I would have loved to have had open positions like ours when I graduated.

An open position in bookkeeping or warehousing however will get us 300+ applications. Skilled software developer ( and yes you can be newly graduated ) will get us nothing.

So yes, I would agree with: "All of them", there aren't enough people to go around currently.

[k-mcgrady]

>> "Skilled software developer ( and yes you can be newly graduated ) will get us nothing"

Maybe that's the problem. I'm a freelancer but anytime I've thought about applying for a full-time software developer position I get put off by words like 'skilled', 'senior', and a list of technologies the person needs to know that no single developer in the world knows.

I've been coding for about 8 years, professionally for 5 and I consider myself a good programmer. But I don't know if I fit your definition of skilled or someone else's definition of senior as those are both too subjective. It puts me off applying mainly because I don't want to embarrass myself.

Edit: I think a good way to hire would be a short coding test a person can take online BEFORE applying. If they pass they know they are skilled enough to apply for the position, if not they don't get laughed out of the room.

[rickr]

I had this problem when I started looking for jobs. For things like 'senior' and 'skilled' your best bet is to ignore those, just apply away. If you're resume is interesting you'll get a call. As long as you don't outright lie in the resume you shouldn't be embarrassed.

One thing that I learned later on in life was to not treat interviews as a one sided process. I'm there to make sure the company isn't awful, as much as you're there to make sure I'm not awful. If you go in with a mindset of evaluating the company to see if it's a fit with you I'm sure your fear of getting laughed out of the room will go away. Would you want to work with people like that anyway?

Of course this only applies to people who don't NEED a job.

[mrweasel]

We don't use the words "skilled", "Talented" or similar in our Python job posting, we simply ask that you know Python and preferably have used the language professional.

Our Javascript developer posting is a bit more demanding.

Previous job posting have been even more flexible, still we had to post the jobs twice to get qualified applicants.

Personally I don't believe in coding tests, and would never require it. Coding tests aren't all that common in Denmark, and I think they would scare perfectly good candidates away.

[humanrebar]

For good companies, laundry lists of skills are more like wish lists than requirements, especially with niche technologies. Use the job description to figure out what general kind of developer they're looking for (low level? database? UI? enterprise? team lead?) and apply if you're interested.

Regarding the idea in your edit, huge companies like Facebook and Google do have coding puzzles and competitions. People who excel in those surely gain confidence to apply to all sorts of job openings.

[vonmoltke]

> For good companies, laundry lists of skills are more like wish lists than requirements, especially with niche technologies.

No, for good companies requirements will be actual requirements and as such be fairly short, the rest if the list appearing as "bonus", "preferred", or other flexible adjective.

I'm a former systems engineer who used to do requirements analysis, so I am a little sensitive to misuse of the word "requirement". Job postings like you describe drive me up the wall.

[humanrebar]

I can relate to that. But I'm willing to give companies a pass on a crappy job posting if the position itself is interesting.

[redblacktree]

Especially since it was very likely written, or at least mangled, by HR staff.

[hfsktr]

I haven't got nearly that much experience (in my opinion but just realized I have ~4 yrs...). Anyway if the job said X yrs/senior and was for a company that I really wanted (not just would) work for I would apply anyways.

Worst case they would reject me like other places but they might have had an opening for something lower and given me a chance.

[Sukotto]

In case you weren't aware, one place to post python jobs is http://www.python.org/community/jobs/

If you don't live in a tech-heavy region, you should also consider hiring someone remote. https://weworkremotely.com/ is one board that seems popular (operated by the 37 signals guys iirc).

[eyko]

Try offering the position to remote workers (within a reasonable distance... in your case, somewhere in Europe where there would be no more than +/- 2 hours of timezone difference).

[mrweasel]

We're not interested in remote workers. We not a software company and the jobs require almost daily interaction with non-developer colleagues (sales team, buyers, marketing, warehouse, accounting).

[lportion]

That is interesting. What would you think if someone applied who had several years C# experience, but had only used python in their spare time on one or two small projects? Assume they have solid understanding of general software development, but they'd need to get used to writing python in your work environment?

[mrweasel]

We've done that before. Our last two hires didn't know Python when they started, they learn quickly enough. Still that doesn't help us, I assume that the local developers are content working for bigger companies but with less fun stuff.