[Rails] Advice on recruiting rails developers

[drewB]

Other than working with a recruiter or posting jobs on craigslist,
dice, or this group, do people have any suggestions for good resources
for finding developers in the bay area or philadelphia?

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[Philip Hallstrom]

> Other than working with a recruiter or posting jobs on craigslist,
> dice, or this group, do people have any suggestions for good resources
> for finding developers in the bay area or philadelphia?

- jobs.rubynow.com seems to get a lot of eyeballs.

- make it clear if it's on-site or if telecommute is okay.

- tell us the name of the company. no way i'm responding to "dbat...@gmail.com
" without knowing at least something about the company.

- avoid the terms: ninja, pirate, jedi, rockstar, "eat and breathe
____", etc.

This of course is only true for myself of course...

Good luck!

-philip

[Bill Walton]

Hi,

On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 10:21 PM, drewB <dbat...@gmail.com> wrote:

Other than working with a recruiter or posting jobs on craigslist,
dice, or this group, do people have any suggestions for good resources
for finding developers in the bay area or philadelphia?
--

I would echo all of Philip's recommendations and to them add ...

Sign your emails.  It's not only good manners, it signals honest, open communication.

Be more specific:  '... for finding developers' ?  Just any developers?  Or are you looking for RoR developers, for example.

Assuming your post here implies you're looking for RoR developers, 'make friends' with your local Ruby Brigade(s).  They're easy to find, hold regular meetings, and typically welcome the bearer of free pizza ;-)  In all seriousness, they're a very good place to build relationships with some of the most enthusiastic RoR developers in an area.

Best regards and wishes for your success,
Bill

[Marnen Laibow-Koser]

Philip Hallstrom wrote:
>> Other than working with a recruiter or posting jobs on craigslist,
>> dice, or this group, do people have any suggestions for good resources
>> for finding developers in the bay area or philadelphia?
>

I disagree with most of Philip's recommendations:

> - jobs.rubynow.com seems to get a lot of eyeballs.
>

Well, maybe. I didn't care for that site last time I looked (admittedly
a while ago); workingwithrails may be another good choice. Or perhaps
the 37signals board...

> - make it clear if it's on-site or if telecommute is okay.

Yes, yes, yes! (But for God's sakes, don't say "no remote work" unless
you really mean it.)

>
> - tell us the name of the company. no way i'm responding to
> "dbat...@gmail.com
> " without knowing at least something about the company.

Totally disagree. Recruiters usually can't divulge the names of their
clients. Besides, why shouldn't you respond to a good job posting no
matter where it comes from?

However, I'd add one: sanity-check the job posting. Nothing turns off
developers faster than a posting written by a recruiter who doesn't
understand what skills he or she needs to find for the job. And make
sure spelling and grammar are correct. Should be elementary, I know,
but I've seen far too many postings fail in these respects.

>
> - avoid the terms: ninja, pirate, jedi, rockstar, "eat and breathe
> ____", etc.

I'm OK with one of those. Once. If you *really* mean it.

>
> This of course is only true for myself of course...
>
> Good luck!
>
> -philip

Best,
--
Marnen Laibow-Koser
http://www.marnen.org
mar...@marnen.org
--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

[Rob Biedenharn]

On May 5, 2010, at 10:42 AM, Marnen Laibow-Koser wrote:

> Philip Hallstrom wrote:
>>> Other than working with a recruiter or posting jobs on craigslist,
>>> dice, or this group, do people have any suggestions for good
>>> resources
>>> for finding developers in the bay area or philadelphia?
>>
>
> I disagree with most of Philip's recommendations:
>
>> - jobs.rubynow.com seems to get a lot of eyeballs.
>>
>
> Well, maybe. I didn't care for that site last time I looked
> (admittedly
> a while ago); workingwithrails may be another good choice. Or perhaps
> the 37signals board...
>
>> - make it clear if it's on-site or if telecommute is okay.
>
> Yes, yes, yes! (But for God's sakes, don't say "no remote work"
> unless
> you really mean it.)

Be VERY clear whether you really *need* a developer in a particular
location. You are going to artificially limit the pool of potential
developers. Since you already seem to have two locations and I bet
they have to cooperate remotely, you can almost as easily have a fully
remote tele-developer.

You also need to decide if you want to find developers or help them
find you. You might have tons of responses to wade through with a
post to a job listing, but my best clients have come from them
contacting me directly rather than my responding to a listing. You're
probably going to check out the links anyway, you might as well start
from your own set first. If you aren't finding anyone available, at
least ask for referrals from the developers that you contact from your
own efforts.

>
>>
>> - tell us the name of the company. no way i'm responding to
>> "dbat...@gmail.com
>> " without knowing at least something about the company.
>
> Totally disagree. Recruiters usually can't divulge the names of their
> clients. Besides, why shouldn't you respond to a good job posting no
> matter where it comes from?
>
> However, I'd add one: sanity-check the job posting. Nothing turns off
> developers faster than a posting written by a recruiter who doesn't
> understand what skills he or she needs to find for the job. And make
> sure spelling and grammar are correct. Should be elementary, I know,
> but I've seen far too many postings fail in these respects.

Since the OP specifically excepted recruiters or craigslist, I really
have to agree with Philip here. Let me know who you are, what the
company is, and how to learn more (a link to a company web site is
perfect).

>
>>
>> - avoid the terms: ninja, pirate, jedi, rockstar, "eat and breathe
>> ____", etc.
>
> I'm OK with one of those. Once. If you *really* mean it.

Nope, those terms are not OK. (Unless the job is for a dojo, ship, or
band, of course.)

>
>>
>> This of course is only true for myself of course...
>>
>> Good luck!
>>
>> -philip
>
> Best,
> --
> Marnen Laibow-Koser
> http://www.marnen.org
> mar...@marnen.org
> --

Rob Biedenharn
http://agileconsultingllc.com
R...@AgileConsultingLLC.com
http://gaslightsoftware.com
r...@GaslightSoftware.com
Skype: rob.biedenharn

[Michael Pavling]

On 5 May 2010 15:42, Marnen Laibow-Koser <li...@ruby-forum.com> wrote:
>> - tell us the name of the company.  no way i'm responding to
>> "dbat...@gmail.com
>> " without knowing at least something about the company.
>
> Totally disagree.  Recruiters usually can't divulge the names of their
> clients.  Besides, why shouldn't you respond to a good job posting no
> matter where it comes from?

Maybe you work there at the moment, and don't want your boss to know
that you're looking for jobs...
Maybe you've worked there before, and don't want to contact them again.
Maybe you don't want to work there for ethical (or similar personal) reasons.

There's generally nothing stopping recruiters divulging clients'
names. They usually don't *want* to tell you too soon to prevent you
from contacting directly and the recruiter missing out on their 20%.

But since the OP isn't a recruiter but is the end client looking to
cut out the middle man (I assume, because he talks about using
recruiters, and it would be strange for recruiters to outsource to
competitors :-), it would be entirely reasonable and probably
extremely sensible to put the company name in any advertisement.