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How Do You Find Programming Superstars?
Joe Ganley writes "You are a programming superstar, and you are looking for work. I recognize this happens relatively rarely, which is part of my problem. But stipulating that it happens, how do I, as a company looking to hire such people, connect with them? Put another way, how do you the programming superstar go about looking for a company that seems like one you'd like to work for? The company I work for is a great place to work; we only hire really great people, we work on hard, interesting problems, and we treat our employees well. We aren't worried about retention or even about how to entice people to work here once we've found them. The problem is simply finding them. The signal-to-noise ratio of the big places like Monster and Dice is terrible. We've had much better luck with (for example) the Joel on Software job boards, but that still doesn't generate enough volume." What methods have other people used to find the truly elite?
I'm right here.
Be Google.
to their obvious sense of humility, and only ask for mere "stars".
That, or go trawling through the strip-clubs near Boston.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
(Dodges ballistic vegetable matter)
Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
You, sir - I take it - have never experienced the PopTart in it's exemplary and multitudinous glory!
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
You have found me. How much is my salary?
Wouldn't that be sort?
Well, back to rejecting software patent applications.
Real programming superstars, usually love coding so much they take precautions so that they are not accidentally promoted to have management responsibilities like tracking vacation requests and authorizing the expense accounts. So they make sure their belts don't match their shoes, their pants, if and when they wear it, are never ironed. If they are forced to wear ties, they pair it with half sleeved shirts. They are the the programming superstars. But be prepared for huge number of false positives.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
No. He's just the one who has principles.
Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.
Two solutions based on current reality models would be either "Nerd Idol" or "Big Brother Nerd edition". The idea would be to pit these guys and gals together and see what develops. Sure it probably wouldn't get the same ratings as the current versions, but something has to be said for cult value ;)
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
What agency did you say you work for?
Techsystems?
Robert Half?
Spherion?
Aquent?
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
Well, at least now you know your boss paid attention in MGMT 301.
I love stuff like "Must have 5 years of Java experience" -- 2 years after Java was released.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
But they're so much fun to ponder in a non-riddle context.
"Why does a farmer have a wolf? How can a 5lb chicken eat a 50lb bag of grain? How is he able to prevent the wolf from eating the chicken when he's present?"
be prepared for answers that make you think.
I did-like the riddle portion of an interview. Often given by people who thuink that are good at riddles.
Example you responses I have given":
"How man quarters would it take to fill this room"
4 (I had to explain this answer at the end of the interview. )
"How would you move MT. Fuji"
"Am I going to work at Microsoft?"
alternate answers:
"Hire David Copperfield"(This gets a laugh)
"Convince the boss guy who sold that project to fire his sales team"
"Spec out the task, come up with a rough number, 500 Billion, after it is about 'half way through' Use the "Managed 500 Billion dollar project" on my resume to get a higher paying job somewhere else.
Yes, I know the answer there looking for, but really who doesn't?
I just remembered one that really pissed off the person interviewing:
I can't believe I ahd forgotten theis.
You have a farmer and chiken and a fox, only two of which can cross the river, but the chicken and fox can't be together without the farms.
I picked up the phone, hit speaker, called a buddy of mine and had him put on his 9 year old son, who I repeated the question to and he answer in about 30 seconds
My friend and his wife where laughing hysterically.
After which I hung up, told them this was a great interview now I know for sure I never want to work here, and left.
The word "Livid" comes to mind when thinking of there reaction. speechless would be another.
One guy was literally sputtering....ah good times.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on