Hiring Programmers For A Non-Profit?

Snowdog asks: "How can a non-profit organization compete when hiring programming talent? I work for a well-established project doing research into Internet technologies at a major university, and we've had a very tough time hiring full-time programmers. We have a great atmosphere, good benefits, and are doing some interesting work, but just can't match the high salaries being paid by companies in the private sector for programmers who know their way around the Internet. How are other non-profit groups dealing with this? Is there a way to adapt techniques used by successful Open Source projects to attract talented full-time programmers? The whole issue is further compounded because, like almost all non-profit groups, we can't go through recruiters, so it's difficult to even get the attention of software engineers, many of whom are hounded by headhunters so often they don't bother at all to scan through the Help Wanted ads." We've discussed this problem from the other direction, but is there a place online where needy organizations and programmers with free time on their hands to get together to solve problems?

Comments

Hire a grad (or undergrad) student

[Lish]

Pardon the sarcasm but: Good gravy, you're at UWMadison and you can't find cheap programmers? They're those younger people crawling all over your campus. You know, the ones with student loans and tuition bills to pay. They might not have as much experience, and you might have to hire a couple of them to work together because they can't work full-time, and there's likely to be a big learning curve (depending on the person and the project). But, these are people who are used to learning constantly, they've been doing it in class for a while.

Yeah, you'll have to lower your expectations a bit, and pay decent wages. I've seen a lot of ads on campus from various local companies trying to hire student workers for dining-hall wages with "required skills" that no college student is going to have acquired. But it's a compromise, and a way to get things done. And hey, you might even be able to hire one or more full-time when they graduate.

Make a new type of workplace.

[Snowfox]

Many programmers are so obsessed with programming that this is ALL they'd like to do. Period.

If you can set up an environment where food, shelter, taxes, doctors appointments, etc are all taken care of - all a person has to do is wake up, shower (maybe) and sit in front of the computer, you'll likely find that the money isn't too much of an issue. "Pay" could even consist of a $50 taped to the side of their monitor each work day (which is Sun-Sat for this type).

Then again, to whatever degree you feel responsible for their puffy pasty cave-dwellerness, you'll have your conscience to deal with.

Consider outsourcing

[Tony Shepps]

My company does outsourced internet development work for non-profits constantly, and they come away pleased because we aren't a bunch of stinking corporate whores with our eye on the latest insider quickie six-figure job we can weasel our way into through martini lunches, meaningless buzzword biz-speak, and blue-suit-wearing secret handkshakes. (Oh, I'm sorry, do I sound bitter? Maybe that's my five months of big-5 consulting hell coming out.)

If you can find a similarly-oriented outsourcer in your area, they may be a real find for you. What's more, in many cases you can get a reasonable estimate for jobs up front, and determine whether they're cost-effective before signing anything.

We like non-profits; they partner well, honestly care about the work and the results, pay on time, and they aren't a bunch of stinking... I'm sorry, I won't start again.
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Why Recruiters Don't Serve Your Needs

[goingware]

I'd like to suggest that you stop using recruiters. Recruiters are your worst enemy.

Besides taking an enormous amount of money for doing very little real work (do you really think recruiters read a candidate's resume before they submit them?) many of them are either dishonest or even if they try to do the right thing they do not have the technical background to be able to separate the good candidates from the bad ones.

Your time will be much better spent if you find the candidates yourself. Perhaps you could hire a non-technical work-study student to use a search engine like Google to locate resumes for you. Then screen them and call them personally.

As a software consultant I cannot emphasize enough how much more carefully I pay attention to contacts from actual clients than I do from recruiters (or from potential employers, back when I was looking for perm jobs).

For my own policy about how and why I don't deal with recruiters, please read:

Important Note to Recruiters and Contract Agencies

I have intended for a long time to put up a page addressing how employers can find technical talent. I haven't done that yet, but in the meantime you can find out how I find clients and figure out the inverse to see how you can use the web to find programmers:

Market Yourself - Tips for High-Tech Consultants

Michael D. Crawford
GoingWare Inc