Attention, Rockstar Developers: Get a Talent Agent

ErichTheRed writes OK, we all know that there are a lot of developers and IT people in the field who shouldn't be, and finding really good people and hanging onto them is very difficult. However, I almost fell out of my chair reading this breathless article suggesting that developers hire agents. I grant the authors that recruiters are sometimes the only way to cut through the HR jungle in some companies, but outside of the hot San Francisco startup market, can you imagine a "10x rockstar developer" swaggering into a job interview with his negotiating team? I'm sure our readers can cite plenty of examples of these types who were only 10x in their own minds...

Comments

Ideas for the discussion

[hcs_$reboot]

http://developers.slashdot.org/story/14/11/18/0025237/do-good-programmers-need-agents
http://developers.slashdot.org/story/13/04/11/2216236/top-coders-tell-agents-show-me-the-money

Re:F' Em'

[91degrees]

You'll get an occasional "Guru" - that is an expert in a specific field, who is recognised for their in-depth knowledge an decades of experience, in a very specific field. People like Bruce Schneier and John Carmack.

I do agree that it's still a silly term.

Re:do you want exodus?

[SecurityGuy]

so for anyone thinking rockstars pornstars or coked up overweight perl jockeys with poor attendance and a penchant for lashing out at coworkers in a 10 am alcohol fueled rage are in need of some kind of dedicated legion of cocksuckers to treat them like a special snowflake, get bent.

Those are, by definition, not the 10x-ers. They're problems or prima donnas, and best shown the door quickly. It's the ones who are pleasant, or at least reasonable, to work with and still have productivity that are way beyond the norm. THOSE are the rock stars. Personally, I think they're like R.O.U.S.es. I don't think they exist. I've met some great coders who are probably 2x as good as the average "good" coder, and some bad ones who just really shouldn't have been doing the job, but 10x? I've never seen one.

Rockstar, meh

[Alioth]

I feel that any developer who calls themselves a "rockstar developer" is probably suffering a severe case of the Dunning-Kruger effect.

All the really competent developers I've ever known have had anything but "rockstar" like qualities. They generally don't boast, they are generally frugal, they are generally the exact opposite of a rockstar.