[BrookeTAllen]

This is awesome; I am so thrilled you are talking about this.

I am preparing a response to Deborah’s article; working title:

A Hackathon Cannot Fix a Broken Hiring Process. But the Right Experiences Can.

You see, in 2004 my life changed when I started caring about the people I did not hire. You discussed that here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8859199

But the thing you probably don’t get, and I didn't get until much later, is that I did not create a hiring process.

And it sure wasn't a contest with a job at the end (as many of you think).

It was an experience.

For the people who engaged with the experience it was life-changing. For those who didn't it wasn't.

Certainly for the people I hired it was life changing.

Changing jobs will change your life – what would be the point otherwise?

And certainly going from unemployment to employment changes your life; how could it not?

And working for me will definitely change your life because I grok this better than almost anyone you’ll ever meet.

But I want to change everyone’s life whether they work for me or not because I never wanted to be a programmer, or an analyst, or a hedge fund manager or all those other things I have had the accidental good fortune of becoming.

All I've ever wanted to be since the sixth grade is a teacher. See this: http://internationalfamilymag.com/IFarchives/archives/sep07/...

Most of the attendees experienced a hackathon because they couldn't figure out how to experience anything else. After all, this was held in the Bay Area in 2014.

The exact same thing could have been held in London in 1842 and yet nobody could have possibly experienced a hackathon back then.

When you read her article, notice that Deborah poses a question but doesn't answer it. She talks about her experience of the other attendees but doesn't offer to introduce any of them to readers who might be hiring. She ends the article with a really good suggestion that someone should create Smartup Weekend to slap some sense into employers. She asks, “Who wants in?” But she doesn't even buy the domain name. Doesn't she know that you shouldn't mention a domain name you don’t own in a coffee shop anywhere near San Francisco because the guy next to you will buy it and then try to sell it to you for $10,000. And NEVER EVER do that in print. (Of course, as soon as I read her piece I snapped up SmartupWeekend.com and I offer to transfer it to anyone who can convince me they will actually build something rather than just talk about it. I’ll give it to you for free on condition that if you don’t do much with it then I get it back.)

In short, so far Deborah has reported on her experience, but hasn't fully ENGAGED WITH IT.

Deborah’s experience of Staffup Weekend is only beginning now. I am confident that someday she will see that weekend as a pivotal point in her life.

I’m less sure about the rest of the attendees because I have seen no evidence they have engaged with the experience as anything but a contest they have lost. After all, Deborah organized a 1-month reunion and nobody showed up.

There is still hope if these folks reflect on what happened, refer to their notes (surely they took notes), then refactor the whole thing and reflect on what they can still learn.

But even if they don’t do that, I’m sure every one of them could be excellent employees under the right circumstances because, as Woody Allen says, 80% of success is showing up and they did way more than that. You can see everyone here: http://staffupweekend.org/2014/11/22/report-on-staffup-san-f...

If you’d like to meet any of them then let me know. I’ll gladly make the introduction.

[owennoah]

I'm Noah, Brooke's partner in crime at Staffup Weekend. To me this has always been an emperor-has-no-clothes situation. People seem to think in terms of "hackathons" whereas we more simply think of things as "doing the work." Since when did resumes and brain teasing interview questions and all this nonsense become MORE obvious and sensical than DOING THE WORK. Let people DO THE WORK that needs to be done and you can save dozens of person-hours, lots of frustration and heartache AND get a better hire than the "traditional" method.

[BrookeTAllen]

I agree but I think we must make it clear that the work we ask people to do should be similar to the work the employer wants done, but not work the employer would benefit from. I believe it is important to pay for work done for my benefit. When I've been the hiring manager, once I need to determine if the candidate can do the particular work I need done I'll pay them to do it. Often one day for $150. Usually they offer to do it for minimum wage but the difference is trivial. Many offer to do it for free but again I won't let them.

On the other hand, I tell job seekers to get to work doing things for others whether for pay or not. This is perfectly legal because you are working for yourself and the only person who can pay you less than minimum wage is you.

I wrote about how to do this legally, morally, and ethically here: http://www.noshortageofwork.com/pages/2286

[owennoah]

Right. Good clarification.

[dropit_sphere]

I came across your (or Chris's?) ad on craigslist, emailed, wanted to attend, and then, uh, completely spaced it.

I think you're onto something, but I don't think it can scale. I also think that that is not necessarily a bad thing. Would you prefer Staffup Weekend to have a nationally-recognized brand and attract people who "heard it was a good way to get a job/find good candidates" without much caring about whether they helped other attendees?

Anyway. Glad someone out there is doing this.

[BrookeTAllen]

This can scale but not without a lot of people doing a lot of work that they want to do. And they need to care about the people on the other side; whether they are job candidate you don't hire or employers you don't want to work for.

You cannot care about a resume (because a resume is not a person) or a corporation (because although a corporation is person in the eyes of the law it has no soul). That is why the default way we hire is inhumane and beyond reform.

Caring about strangers is about the most soul-satisfying thing you can do; much better than going to another ball game with your kids. That is why I've taken my kids to my hiring events. (And I am glad to know that at least one job seeker at our Staffup Weekend brought a kid and everyone took turns babysitting.)

Even if you only care about the problem but not the people, once you get going on this approach you'll start caring about people because you cannot help yourself. There is something addictive about that, and addictive things tend to scale whether they are a good idea or not.

This one just happens to be a good idea.