Abstract
We’ve so far looked in plenty of detail at software development, both the technical process and the way in which it can be integrated into a business.
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Notes
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That, of course, is a very broad generalization, and we’ll dig into it more in the next section, but as a rule of thumb, expect the hiring process to be difficult unless you’ve direct evidence that your particular needs are easy to recruit for.
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This sounds more attractive than it is. Imagine the situation is reversed, and you make a piece of software that a prospective customer wants some customization for. Suppose you reckon it’s worth your while to spend time making the customization to secure the contract with the new customer. Now you’ve got two pieces of software to look after—the original, that most of your clients use, and the custom one. Now suppose a bug is found in the original software, and that annoys say 50% of your customers. Next, suppose a bug is found in the custom version of the software, and that bug annoys just the customer who has the custom version. To maximize customer retention, which bug do you prioritize? Clearly it’s the one in the original software. In general, support for custom versions of software is terrible, and new features only trickle down slowly to custom versions, because software makers are financially incentivized to focus on the version that most customers use.
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A webhook is a system whereby a piece of software will automatically send some information via the web when a particular event occurs. The destination of the information is customizable; the content and format normally less so. If you’re working with software that offers integration via webhooks, you’ll need to set up a server to listen for incoming webhooks at a particular address and process the information it receives appropriately.
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I know this because at the start of my career that junior developer was me. Even though my billable hours were reduced in proportion to my inexperience, I wrote some very questionable code when I was first starting out, which made it into projects delivered to major clients who would, I am sure, have preferred if people like me weren’t involved.
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Literally. Platforms like hired.com are like reverse job boards for software developers, where candidates put up profiles, and then employers come to them with “offers,” and candidates can choose which of a current batch of offers seems most attractive before even agreeing to an initial phone interview. These platforms are used for junior hires as much as senior roles. The power balance here is the complete reverse of what you get in most job functions, and it’s all because of this talent scarcity.
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And if you discover a better gauge of a recruiter’s quality… tell me what it is!
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No joke: I once applied for a job that asked me the sandwich question. I couldn’t think of a witty response then, just as I can’t think of a witty one now. I didn’t get the job.
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By the way, as we’ll discuss in the next chapter, coders spend a lot of time researching problems and techniques online. Google is one of the most powerful tools at our disposal. It’s therefore only fair, if you want to get a sense of how a candidate actually works, to give them access to that tool when you set them an in-person coding challenge. And to avoid any awkwardness, make it very explicit at the outset that it’s ok for them to search online whenever they want.
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I was once set a take-home challenge where the requirement was to build a complete stock management system for an imaginary coffee shop, complete with auto-adjustment so that every time a cup of coffee was rung up on the register, the amount of beans estimated to remain in the inventory decreased slightly. I completed the challenge out of pride, but then turned down the job on principle.
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I once interviewed someone who answered this question, in all seriousness, with, “Eh, I’m pretty lazy, and I struggle to stay motivated.”
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Also, if your office has reception staff who greet candidates on arrival, always, always get feedback from the reception team on candidates. 90% of the time they will have nothing out-of-the-ordinary to report, but occasionally a candidate will behave entirely differently around people like receptionists whom they don’t think they need to impress, and can occasionally reveal some serious personality issues.
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By the way, they aren’t.
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It’s not that you’re trying to mislead candidates about what the team is like; you’re simply encouraging your team to present their best sides, even if those sides only make very occasional appearances in day-to-day office life.
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I’m not being hyperbolic: I have worked in a horrible mouse-infested dingy basement in the past, and it made it much harder to recruit additional team members.
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As well as promising such opportunities you’ll also need to follow through on the promises. See Chapter 9 for more.
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© 2017 Patrick Gleeson
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Gleeson, P. (2017). So You Need to Hire a Coder. In: Working with Coders. Apress, Berkeley, CA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-2701-5_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-2701-5_7
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