This tag is for hiring questions. There is also an "interview" tag for interview related questions.
3
votes
6answers
344 views
How should I assess answers to the programming assignment I use for hiring
After our phone screen, but before a face to face interview, I ask our candidates to complete a short programming assignment. It involves writing a small command line program in C, which should run ...
4
votes
5answers
769 views
OO Design related questions in technical interviews
I've been attending quite a few interviews recently and have been asked by companies to answer "design a [insert model]" questions more than a few times.
Is this normal in the industry nowadays? ...
9
votes
5answers
524 views
Asking potential developers to draw UML diagrams during the interview
Our interview process currently consists of several coding questions, technical questions and experiences at their current and previous jobs. Coding questions are typically a single method that does ...
15
votes
11answers
1k views
Hiring Developers - Any tips on being more efficient? [closed]
I represent a software company that is in process of building a large software development team. We are picky in who we hire and have really good retention rate (most of the devs have been here for an ...
3
votes
3answers
360 views
Where can I hire local programmers with very specific skillsets? [duplicate]
I have been browsing the site and haven't found a exact fit to this question so I'll post it but if its already answered(since I'm sure its a common problem, then let me know).
I have a business and ...
2
votes
9answers
431 views
Under which circumstances (if any) does it make sense to work for a startup, for free? [closed]
I've been bumping around the startup world for a while, and most startups I've seen seem to have (amongst other things) two things in common:
A lack of money
An inability to, reliably, hire good ...
3
votes
4answers
720 views
Best sources to find your go-to programmer [closed]
After exhausting many resources, time, interviews etc, I cannot seem to find the correct programming talent for our company. Any other resources you suggest besides Dice, Linkedin, Craigslist, ...
2
votes
4answers
295 views
Problems hiring someone on elance or similar sites [closed]
I am assigned to hire some developers/designers in these kind of sites, and I'm looking for war stories about problems with this strategy. All I found so far are tips about getting more jobs as a ...
5
votes
1answer
532 views
Testing Git competence
I hire a lot of programmers for tiny tasks. I very clearly specify that the tasks can only be completed by making a pull request on GitHub. Unfortunatelly, so many programmers do not know Git and ...
20
votes
10answers
2k views
How to add a new developer to the team
I run a small company composed of only 2 developers. We are building a very big application for one of our clients. Development on this project has gone on for 1.5 years.
Now this client has secured ...
-1
votes
4answers
199 views
Should I contract someone to help me with an existing project?
I have a paid Android app that I made by myself this past summer and I've been working on it throughout the year. The app is geared toward a professional niche market (but there are people all around ...
3
votes
2answers
121 views
Open Source sponsored feature development
I am considering to sponsor a development of some particular features in some Open Source tools. I would like the results of the work to be available publicly, and if possible, to be included in the ...
1
vote
5answers
358 views
How do I prove I'm a capable full-time hire after 3 years of a CS degree & lots of summer experience? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How can I let prospective employers know I'm a great developer?
I'm in kind of a strange predicament. There have been family ramifications that I've had to leave ...
1
vote
3answers
569 views
How to effectively find, hire and work with contractors?
I know there are some questions that are sort of similar to this one, but I don't think any of them really ask or answer my set of questions.
A bit of background:
Approximately 6 mos ago, I went ...
13
votes
10answers
826 views
What to look for in Startup employees [closed]
I am an engineer but don't have a computer science background.
I am proficient with Python, Django, use Mongo and know a bit of C++ / C#. Dabble with NGinx here and there.
My weekend project, a nifty ...
13
votes
5answers
1k views
Importance of bitwise thinking
I take interview for my company. During interview I've faced many candidates having 1 to 3 years of experience in their field. Typically, they had experience in C#, Java, J2ME, iOS and similar ...
3
votes
3answers
548 views
What do you absolutely have to know about a candidate before hiring him? [closed]
What essential questions do you have to know the answer for, about a prospective software development candidate, before hiring him/her?
I'm not seeking specific interview problems (e.g. sort this 3D ...
1
vote
5answers
206 views
Hire for the job/project or hire for the future? [closed]
I'm at a pivotal point in my small software company where I have reached the critical mass of too much work and need to hire someone.
Simple question: Do I hire someone who is simply qualified and ...
2
votes
3answers
427 views
Resumes: Open-Source Projects, Reinventing the Wheel?
When writing a resume, should I be concerned that certain open source projects I've created might be a hindrance to me because they would be perceived as reinventing the wheel? I've created a few ...
9
votes
5answers
366 views
Experience With Similar Technologies: Convincing HR People?
Let's say that a job posting asks for experience in technology X. You have no experience in X but you do have experience in technology Y, which you're convinced is similar enough that the learning ...
16
votes
10answers
4k views
How relevant are Brainbench scores when evaluating candidates?
I've seen many companies using certification services such as Brainbench when evaluating candidates. Most times they use it as a secondary screen prior to interview or as a validation to choose ...
25
votes
15answers
2k views
How to interview a natural scientist for a dev position?
Original Question
I already did some interviews for my company, mostly computer scientists for dev positions but also some testers and project managers. Now I have to fill a vacancy in our research ...
-1
votes
1answer
312 views
How to estimate effort required to convert a large codebase to another language/platform [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Best way to estimate cost related to porting code from language A to language B?
We have an MFC C++ program with around 200,000 lines of code in it. It's pretty much ...
1
vote
2answers
220 views
What qualifications are most important for an outsourcing manager?
I am considering hiring someone exclusively to manage outsourcing of relatively small projects on Guru.com or VWorker.com. The person should be located close to me so I can have face-to-face ...
6
votes
9answers
471 views
Which is more important career-wise: Length of time spent on a project, or personal projects?
There is quite a bit of disparity between hiring practices among companies. Some companies look for years experience, or breadth or depth of skill, and others choose other selection criteria. As well, ...
6
votes
1answer
660 views
Is it really that hard to find good developers? [closed]
There was a topic about job marker few days ago, and urban legends about this topic have been floating around as well.
So, what's your experience? Have you tried hiring programmers (it's probably a ...
40
votes
12answers
2k views
How do I convince my employer to hire an additional developer without selling myself short?
I'm the only developer at a small company. I've slowly moved into development here; until ~4 months ago 50-75% of my time was spent on operations. Now, 50-75% of my time is spent on development, with ...
6
votes
7answers
561 views
What are some good tasks to assign co-op students/interns?
My company is investigating hiring a University Computer Science co-op student (BSc year 3) for a 4- or 8-month work term. (I'm not sure how internationally-recognized the term co-op is - it's ...
8
votes
7answers
366 views
What does long-term freelancing say about a developer's experience?
I have been interviewing candidates lately for a developer position requiring 10+ years experience and have come across a couple of CVs that I am not sure how to understand: I have interviewed a few ...
0
votes
2answers
214 views
How does an interviewer get a glimpse of a candidates thought process during an interview? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How do you interview someone with more experience than you?
How can I really “wow” an employer at an interview?
I am a bit puzzled by the whole technical ...
16
votes
3answers
1k views
Is there any formal research in FizzBuzz Question Effectiveness?
After seeing this question today on variation of the FizzBuzz interview question, as well as seeing other questions related to it around, I have to ask: is there any formal research on how effective ...
11
votes
13answers
815 views
Is programming a profession not for a person with speech impairment?
My friend has 15 years of programming experience and Ph.D. in mathematics. He has also cerebral palsy with speech impairment. Because of his handicap, he chose to being a software developer after his ...
10
votes
2answers
383 views
How to pick a web application software engineer?
How should I pick a web application software engineer?
The (permanent) position is to rewrite the client of an existing desktop client server application. The pages will not be generated ...
7
votes
8answers
513 views
Train for the job or train for the skill?
I'm in charge of hiring for a small java shop. We have a very limited hiring budget so we tend to pickup fresh grads cheap and spend time training them. I have found colleges and universities do quite ...
1
vote
8answers
526 views
Two applicants, two different responses, what one would be correct? [closed]
During an interview for a C++ programmer position at ACME, two candidates are asked to create a program that takes asks the user to type in two integers, and then prints out their sum.
The first ...
8
votes
9answers
862 views
Should I expect recent grads to be familiar with basic programming concepts?
It seems there's a HUGE discrepancy between what I expect someone who's studied programming for a few years at university, and what one actually knows.
I don't feel like I'm asking overcomplicated ...
9
votes
5answers
541 views
Interviewing a developer who's skilled in a language you don't know
Background:
I'm an experienced developer and technical architect (C#, Delphi, Java, Clojure, Assembler, Perl, various esoteric functional programming languages)
We need to hire some Ruby developers ...
16
votes
7answers
1k views
How to hire a good C# developer if I don't know C#?
I'm a C++ developer. I know how Windows works on the native level, but I'm not a big expert in C# and .NET. Now I need a C# developer in my team (all my developers are C++). How can I hire a great C# ...
3
votes
3answers
140 views
How to hire a contract/outsourced architect for
The company I work for has a legacy application that we are looking at rewriting and enhancing using more modern technology. We are a very small company (5 people) and do not have the resources to ...
6
votes
5answers
446 views
Are niche job boards effective?
There are number of job openings each day and also there are number of job seekers actively looking for job everyday. Still it is challenging to find right candidate for a job. It gets even more ...
4
votes
2answers
837 views
Contract-to-hire - determining rate? [closed]
I'm in discussion with a company for a full-time web development position. Since the position would require telecommuting or a relocation of my family, we've agreed on doing 2-4 weeks of contract work ...
8
votes
7answers
739 views
Is a request for a code sample after a job offer common?
I was verbally offered a job and the manager insisted that I start the day after the following day from the interview; so two days after the interview. I left the interview unsure of the offer the ...
6
votes
1answer
271 views
Remote Working & Relocation [closed]
Sorry if this question is a duplicate, I did some extensive searching and found nothing on quite the same topic (though a couple on partially-overlapping topics).
Recently, whilst on holiday in ...
2
votes
2answers
497 views
Places to find free software projects who need developers/project managers?
While I have plenty of project management "booksmarts" and a handful of PM experience, I don't seem to have enough experience to get the sort of job I want.
Since "I read another PM book/blog ...
3
votes
3answers
202 views
How do you successfully hire out a few programmers to make it cost effective?
Many of us know this situation well: we're a one-man (woman) development team, we need some extra help to keep up with all the tasks, the budget is small and we decide to get some help. But hiring ...
22
votes
13answers
1k views
What's the deal with programming languages as strict job requirements?
I went to a "job fair" recently and I was surprised to see how much emphasis workplaces seem to put on the programming languages candidates are familiar with.
From my (admittedly limited) experience, ...
23
votes
4answers
3k views
How would you assess a programmer's Github profile?
Lots of people in the open source community say they strongly consider a candidate's Github profile when hiring.
I'm active on Github, with a few projects of my own and some contributions to others. ...
14
votes
8answers
865 views
How can you filter out irritable programmers in interviews? [closed]
So I've had a few situations now where programmers have passed the interview teams with flying colors, only to find when they arrive on scene, they demonstrate an extreme touchiness any time any ...
17
votes
11answers
2k views
What responses disqualify a candidate from hiring during the interview?
You are in the process of looking for candidates for a software development position, all the resumes are reviewed, and you made a couple of interview invites. Now, the folks show up in the conference ...
13
votes
10answers
1k views
How important is a good coding style for the decision to hire a programmer?
Even as a student I am asked to review the code of programmers who have (not) passed a test (create a list of Fibonacci numbers on android).
While I am very strict on coding style I just read about ...
