I’m pretty content with my day job. Certainly my quest to create my own software company is nowhere near the phase of hiring anyone – I don’t even have a viable product yet, let alone a sale.
So naturally my post today will be about hiring.
[captionpix imgsrc=http://skaveo.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/thumbsdown.jpg captiontext=”Even ancient Romans know your job sucks”]
I’ll admit it: I stalk “Help Wanted” ads. Living in a relatively high-tech corridor, there’s always plenty of fodder for my grist mill. I love to imagine I can divine great things about the company from how they present themselves.
Really long ad? Huge hiring process with HR overhead. Really short ad? Maybe you’re really green and under-funded.
Do you list a lot of “must have” specific skills? I wonder if you value smart people who can learn, because today’s RoR is tomorrow’s VB. Do you list a lot of traits, and then mention what you’re using, but emphasize ability, desire, and results over buzzwords? I think you’re on to something.
Then there are the two hallmarks that don’t make me wonder if something is wrong with you, they make me wonder the manner in which your company has totally jumped the shark. If you think either of these approaches is appealing to qualified software programmers and engineers, you should get your head examined.
First is use of any of the following terms: Rock Star, Ninja, and/or Guru.
Using these terms screams one or more of the following to prospective candidates:
• I must appear hip, cool, and edgy because the job and environment is that magical combination of toxic and mind-numbing and we will grind you to a nub. These simple words will not only obfuscate this fact from you, it will provide justification that you just weren’t “good enough” when your dried-out-husk-of-your-former-self is discarded.
• I have no idea what software people do, but they’re all weird, and this will appeal to them.
• We haven’t invested in having anyone who knows what software people do, or we don’t actually empower those people with any influence, because surely they would have told us how ridiculous this sounds.
• We have no processes or discipline in what we do; in fact, we will actively discourage you from having any either. Our approach to development is “do it” and our testing methodology is “throw it over the wall and hope for the best”. Standards are for pussies.
• We will work you to death.
This certainly isn’t a new observation on my part – many people have made similar comments. I’ve seen presumed hiring companies respond with “you just don’t understand” and “it’s a new world out there.”
Yes, I do and no it isn’t.
It is not a new world out there. There are still companies that produce software that have a vision of the “software dudes [and gals]” as a group of hot-pocket-eating-Monster-guzzling-unbathed cowboys doing things like overriding the ternary operator in C++ because they think it’s cool looking and throwing caution to the wind regarding testing because they are just that freaking smart.
There are still companies that equate “effectiveness” with “workaholic”. These companies assume because two years ago an intern threw together a prototype that got them 90% there during summer break that completing the other 10% must only be a matter of a couple of weeks.
There are companies who don’t recognize that – time and again – it has been proven that sound engineering, testing, and release practices minimize the cost of development over the lifetime of a product, but front-load a larger portion of the cost. They don’t realize that a smaller investment now means a more profitable product later.
Is this how you want to come across to the subset of engineers who are truly talented and truly passionate about writing software? If you find yourself wanting to describe a potential candidate using any of those words, check yourself against the rest of my article. You might learn something about yourself, and as they say, the first step in correcting a problem is acknowledging you have one.
Stay tuned for my next post, in which I’ll talk about the second hallmark of a shitty job posting that screams “don’t work for me”.