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So I am looking to build a startup and I want to use Haskell. Here is my question how do you hire people to do Haskell. I have a few ideas but maybe there are some other ideas out there.

So here are my ideas:

1) Hang out around the CS department of a local university (Tel Aviv University) and see who likes functional programming.

2) hire good programmers who don't know haskell and give them a copy of of Learn You Haskell for a Great Good and expect there will be a ramp up time.

Any other ideas

EDIT:

Just to clarify I will be the lead programmer for this project, but like many things it will at some point have to grow from one person to many. As for why Haskell there are a number of reasons, starting with the type safety eliminating a large class of bugs.

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7  
What are your reasons for wanting to use Haskell? Why is this relevant to your business idea? Surely for a successful business you'd want to choose a technology that will have a greater pool of candidates available? – Ozz Mar 23 '11 at 8:33
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@james, I do not know what is the OPs motivation, but Haskell (or even Python) is often used as a kind of a filter, raising the entry barrier. If you want to hire above-average, passionate programmers, use an obscure language to select them. Even if you're not going to really use it in production. – SK-logic Mar 23 '11 at 10:31
Are you saying there are no experienced programmers in Haskell? – JeffO Mar 23 '11 at 10:31
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Sorry the biggest source of bugs are the programmers them self; no paradigm is going to save you from this.. – Darknight Mar 23 '11 at 12:42
@james -1 for suggesting that Haskell has no business use. Its a turing-complete language like all the other ones. – alternative Apr 29 '11 at 10:53
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11 Answers

up vote 8 down vote accepted

I would look for people who know lots of other languages. That probably means that they learn languages easily, and would enjoy learning Haskell. Then interview them for a general understanding of programming and software engineering. Ask them which languages they liked, and why. Passionate programmers will be able to give very detailed reasons why they prefer one language over another. Then decide if their preferences are compatible with your vision.

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up vote 11 down vote

Haskell.org has a page about just that: http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Jobs

Also, 2) looks worse than 1)

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up vote 8 down vote

StackOverflow also has a jobs section, maybe you should take a look at there.

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1  
Search in Israel. 0 results. – Carra Mar 23 '11 at 16:55
up vote 6 down vote

I think your premise is actually wrong. You have an idea that you would do in Haskell, but there is no guarantee it's the right tool for the job.

So I think you're going about it the wrong way. Hire a good programmer (Tel Aviv Uni as far as I know is pretty reputable), and let them tell you what a good language is for your idea.

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3  
Well I am the primary programmer on the project. But at some point it will grow past one person. As for why haskell there are good reasons why it makes sense here. – Zachary K Mar 23 '11 at 10:23
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That's a fair point :) I think your strategy about hanging around the university is a good one. You will probably hire enthusiastic although slightly inexperienced programmers. By the way, if you hire straight from university, don't be afraid to demand (very) high grades :) – Zsub Mar 23 '11 at 10:32
up vote 4 down vote

Post a job advert to Haskell-Cafe. Haskell jobs are sufficiently few that such postings are still welcome, and anyone serious about Haskell reads it.

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up vote 3 down vote

3) hire the people you will get on with and work well together, assuming they have the ability and motivation to learn

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up vote 3 down vote

If you want local students then simply make a job posting at the local university as you would any other job.

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up vote 3 down vote

You're the lead programmer who wants to use Haskell, so I'd assume you are fluent or intend on getting fluent. Just getting a quality programmer should be the goal. Requiring Haskell or at least willingness to learn it on a trial basis may be in order. You don't want to hire someone and they think you were just kidding.

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You also don't want to hire someone and have them run away screaming when they find out about monads. – Larry Coleman Apr 27 '11 at 7:24
I do not find monads more complicated than other constructs in other programming languages. The problem is that some programming languages get the reputation of being difficult while others don't (or being difficult is not considered a problem because they are main stream). – Giorgio Jan 2 '12 at 17:04
up vote 1 down vote

4) Do you need to hire the old way? I mean, do you have a real office where your staff hangs around from 9 to 5?

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up vote 0 down vote

Your ideas are valid for different scenarios: 1) is good for hiring junior developers, and 2) for senior ones.

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up vote 0 down vote

Search for "Haskell" in people's profiles on LinkedIn or Xing.

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