Startup’s Substack
In this article we will explore the current state of how many companies hire developers, what’s a good representation of a developer’s skills and we will move on to discussing generalists — developers that don’t necessarily fall under a single tech stack.
At the end, I’ll lay out a few ideas about improving hiring processes to more closely reflect what constitutes a good developer. These tips will highlight the misalignment between what skills we look for when we hire, versus the skills that we really want from new team members. I’ll make a case for being more liberal towards missing particular skills, and being more rigorous about taking a holistic approach and looking for deep understanding of technology and potential.
Based on what I’ve seen in the last (at least) 5 years, many companies align on what a good hiring process for developers looks like. You have your typical initial screenings, hands-on development part, technical discussion part and one or few soft skill interviews (cultural fit, meet the team, meet the managers etc.). All these combined tend to give a good idea if a candidate is good and if they fit in a particular team. And I’d go as far as saying that I wouldn’t really skip any of these. For me, the devil is in the details.
It’s not the nicest thing to say, but the reality is that this step is a lot about checking for initial fit before investing too much time on the candidate. It’s important to establish personal contact with them and look at inter-personal traits. Sometimes there’s a language or communication gap that’s too big, for instance. Plus, standard things such as different salary expectations or misalignment between what the different parties understand the position would be can be reasons to part ways. It’s also a very good opportunity to present the company in a good way.
