Interviewing potential employees
Nick Poulden
Our 1.5 year old Rails development company is ready to take on our
first employee in January. Does the group have any suggestions as to
the kind of skills we should be looking for in potential candidates
and the questions we should be asking in the interview?
There aren't too many developers in our area with Rails experience so
we'd be looking to hire a junior developer and train them up to our
way of doing things. Ideally we would hire someone with experience but
we can't stretch to that kind of salary at the moment. Any advice on
this area of the Rails business world would be greatly appreciated!
Nick
Jared Haworth
I can offer some feedback on this.
The key things that made me a standout candidate to them were my open
source contributions, Ruby/Rails community involvement, and visible
live apps. What made them a standout company to me was their job
posting; instead of being a laundry list of necessary skills, they
wrote about their company culture, along with a link to their
'manifesto,' a list of 25 beliefs and practices that the company values.
The interview itself was conducted in five parts, the first four were
telephone interviews. There were two technical interviews, including
a remote pair session to show off some of my existing projects and
highlight development decisions I've made. Then there were two
additional 'general' interviews, so that I could get a sense of the
company and so they could get a sense of who I am as a person. After
the four telephone interviews, there was a fairly intense two-day in-
person interview, which was really more just to see if all our
personalities were compatible.
As their VP of Engineering said to me, hiring the wrong developer can
be a game-ending move for a startup, so they were very thorough in
their process.
Interestingly, while I was in the middle of the interview process,
Ruby Inside posted this article <http://www.rubyinside.com/11-tips-on-
hiring-a-rails-developer-662.html> which, while not widely well
received, actually followed pretty closely how the company I was
interviewing with conducted their search.
As for skills, more important than just technical proficiency, you're
going to want to look for someone with enthusiasm about programming,
and with an appetite for learning. The Rails world changes
frequently and quickly, so you're going to want someone who not only
learns where Rails is today, but where is curious about where Rails
will be tomorrow. The best interview questions I was asked weren't
brainteasers about manhole covers or blue hats, but were the ones
that showed me the company had REALLY looked into what I was doing,
and wanted to see a bit of my thought process on something I cared
about.
And, as we saw on the list a couple of weeks ago, you could always
just hire a couple of PHP coders and turn them into Rails devs. The
same logic applies; look for PHP coders who have launched apps on
their own, or have contributed to PHP or one of the many open source
projects that revolve around PHP, and look for those who have been
giving back, whether it's in the form of a blog, or forum postings,
or mailing list participation.
- Jared
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Benjamin Curtis
1. When writing your job description, be honest about your team, the
stage of the business, what you are looking for in a hire, etc. A
well-written ad that communicates exactly what you want and exactly
what you offer will go a long way towards selecting out the kinds of
people you don't want to hire. Aside from the content, the tone of
the listing (casual vs. formal) can also have a significant impact on
the types of applicants you get. Determine ahead of time who your
ideal hire would be, then write (and rewrite) the job ad that will get
that kind of person to want to come work for you.
2. Hire for the person, not the skills. Since you already know you'll
be looking at people who don't come ready-made with all the skills you
want, you have a good start in this area, but watch out for the trap
of letting skills and qualifications override your gut feelings on
whether or not a candidate would be a good hire. Remember, you'll be
spending a lot of time with this person, and this person will have a
huge impact on your company. It's much easier for someone to learn
Rails than it is for someone to learn how not to be a jerk / lazy /
neurotic / etc.
My half-tip is use Catch the Best to manage the resumes you'll be
getting -- see my sig. :)
----
Benjamin Curtis
http://catchthebest.com/ - Recruiting software
http://www.bencurtis.com/ - Personal blog
----
Benjamin Curtis
http://catchthebest.com/ - Recruiting software
http://www.bencurtis.com/ - Personal blog
BJ Clark - the science department
Don't:
- use the word "Rockstar", "Ninja", or "Monkey" ever. I know some
really really good developers that any company would be lucky to hire
that would never apply for a job that included any of those words.
- take weeks to reply. Even if it's just "Hey, got your resume, I'll
contact you if we're interested", it's common courtesy to at least
acknowledge you received their info.
- expect to get people who have launched 3 sites you've heard of, have
been using rails for 4 years, etc. unless you're willing to pay $100/hr
+.
Do:
- Ask to see code samples. And ask for something specific, not just "a
code sample".
- Expect to get 50+ resumes if you post on 37signals board. A good
majority will be totally not what you want.
My $.02 from someone that has applied to quite a few jobs.
BJ Clark
the science department
Philip Hallstrom
> first employee in January. Does the group have any suggestions as to
> the kind of skills we should be looking for in potential candidates
> and the questions we should be asking in the interview?
The one thing I've found over the years is that you want to work with
people who will admit (and quickly) that they don't know something -- but
that have a plan on how to figure it out.
Knowing what you don't know is much more important than knowing what you
do know. IMHO.
For example the candidate may never have used Capistrano. The question is
can they figure it out in a reasonable period of time?
Jason LaPier
<sci...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Not all of these may apply but. . .
>
> Don't:
> - use the word "Rockstar", "Ninja", or "Monkey" ever. I know some
> really really good developers that any company would be lucky to hire
> that would never apply for a job that included any of those words.
> - take weeks to reply. Even if it's just "Hey, got your resume, I'll
> contact you if we're interested", it's common courtesy to at least
> acknowledge you received their info.
> - expect to get people who have launched 3 sites you've heard of, have
> been using rails for 4 years, etc. unless you're willing to pay $100/hr
> +.
Amen. "Rockstar/Ninja/Monkey" makes it sound like you're in it for the
Hype(tm). And is it so much to ask for at least a rejection note? I
get the sense that the Rails environment is largely made up of small
firms and a huge (worldwide in many cases) pool of applicants, so
maybe getting back to each applicant is difficult. Sure sucks to be
left hanging, though.
- Jason L.
--
My Rails and Linux Blog: http://offtheline.net
Pratik
one ) if they clearly state the salary.
--
Cheers!
- Pratik
http://m.onkey.org
Philip Hallstrom
>>
>> Don't:
>> - use the word "Rockstar", "Ninja", or "Monkey" ever. I know some
>> really really good developers that any company would be lucky to hire
>> that would never apply for a job that included any of those words.
>
> Amen. "Rockstar/Ninja/Monkey" makes it sound like you're in it for the
> Hype(tm).
True. And we all know that we really prefer to go by "Jedi" :-)
I am the employee you want to hire. *waves hand*
:)
digitalronin
vacancies, especially for contract work, without giving at least a
ballpark figure to let me know whether or not I'm interested in taking
the time to contact them. What do they hope to achieve? Are there
people out there who are a) good enough to hire, but also b) unaware
what they're worth, so that they can be hired at a bargain basement
cost? I doubt there are many job-seekers in that position, and even if
there were, surely they would just jump ship as soon as they learned
what they ought to be earning?
</rant>
David
Joe OBrien
of which have been amazing.
My biggest advice on this is to be proactive. If you know you are
going to grow eventually, begin the process now of recruiting. I
attend as many user groups in the surrounding area as possible. I get
to know as many developers as I can through hack fests, the news
lists, etc... If you live in any area (other than say Portland,
Seattle, SF or NY) there are going to be a lot fo great developers who
are very frustrated with their current position. Begin talking to
them, and then when the time is right, you can cherry pick the best
developers you know.
-Joe
_______________
Joe O'Brien, artisan
EdgeCase
theedgecase.com
614/453-5527