How Do I Find the Best Developer to Hire?

How do I find qualified developers when I post a job? How do I ensure that the developers I review have the skills I need? How do I know if a developer is a good fit for my project? These are the questions we will cover in this episode of Dev Questions.
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[@AliyProgrammer]

Hello, I am new in this field because I have been learning C# 3 months, I found you 3 months ago, You are my best teacher, Tim.

[@IAmTimCorey]

I am glad my content has been helpful.

[@Norman_Fleming]

Having an actual plan and someone to help the new person get up to speed and a primary contact is crucial to getting the most out of new people and building a team.

[@IAmTimCorey]

Thanks for sharing!

[@thedude6810]

Watching this as an interviewee who bombed the last few interviews that I had.

[@IAmTimCorey]

Hopefully you picked up a few tips to help you get better at it.

[@OBabchenko]

Great video. I wish to have such interview process.

[@IAmTimCorey]

Thanks!

[@TISINLI2]

You're right Tim. Some people can't stand sun shining on their eyes and I don't like COLD 🥶 AC blowing on my shine continuously. I'm one of the few who's always wearing a hoodie.

[@IAmTimCorey]

😆

[@jeffsherman9638]

Thanks for sharing and being straight up and honest what goes behind the scenes of the hiring process. Too many videos out there sugar coating. Can’t imagine how difficult that can be for a hiring manager at Microsoft or Meta with thousands of resumes a week.

[@IAmTimCorey]

Yep, I'm sure it is messy.

[@shawnsmith8975]

What if you have done some contracting?

[@IAmTimCorey]

What about it? Are you asking if you should tell an employer?

[@andergarcia1115]

Thanks Master for your valuable advice

[@IAmTimCorey]

You are welcome.

[@iamAliAhad]

Before 2018, having a todo app on your resume guaranteed you the job. But nowadays, it’s a mess. Entry-level jobs are practically non-existent. Even developers with 2-3 years of experience are struggling to find new jobs.

[@IAmTimCorey]

I'm not sure where you saw jobs six years ago that were practically giving them away, but that wasn't the case around here. It may be a bit harder in some ways now, but that isn't the same thing as "to a todo app, get a job" easy before. Entry-level jobs aren't non-existent any more than they were 10 years ago. Companies are asking for those 2-5 years of experience for junior level jobs because they are looking for some way to validate that you have actual skills. A LOT of people overestimate their skills, thinking that since they've watched tutorials for a year that they must be a junior-level or better developer. That's not true. It is experience that confers that ability.

[@IkethRacing]

Great video and excellent advice. However, part of this process is why I believe software quality degrades every year. Hiring managers want talented engineers that are also socialites, which is impossible.

[@IAmTimCorey]

Nah. I'm not sure where you get the idea that software quality degrades every year. That feels like a feeling rather than an objective fact. For instance, when Windows 95 came out, it was basically an open book. It barely had security in it. Basically, if you could get it connected to a network, you could talk to it. Things got somewhat better over time, but it was still so bad that by the time Windows XP was out, Microsoft paused all other work to create Service Pack 2. That was probably the most expensive service pack ever. They did that because XP was riddled with security holes and bugs that could be exploited. Fast forward to today, we don't see anywhere near the amount of exploits that we did back in the pre-SP2 XP days. We are getting better at software development. We are also expanding places where our software works. It used to be that a web page was static. Now, your website is actually a full application. That's like saying cars get worse every year. It isn't that they get worse, it is that they are doing more and so you will see more issues. My 1987 Chevy S-10 pickup had crank windows, a bench seat, and could barely hit the speed limit without shaking. My Ford Lightning has power...everything, heated and cooled captains chairs, and it can do 0-60 in 4 seconds flat. There are more things to go wrong, but that doesn't mean that vehicles are getting worse. There isn't a big push for vehicles with crank windows, manual door locks, wonky A/C, and little power anymore. As for hiring managers wanting "talented engineers that are also socialites", that's not what they are looking for. However, being able to have a conversation with another non-engineer is a valuable skill. Believe it or not, there is more to being a software developer than just writing code. Focusing only on your coding skills and purposely ignoring building up your other skills is a BIG mistake. That doesn't mean you have to be an extrovert. In fact, I am an introvert. I'm uncomfortable in situations where I am around strangers and need to talk to them. However, I have practiced that skill so that I am not hindered by it. Instead of making an excuse, I do something about it.

[@IkethRacing]

Your examples are a completely different topic. You're debating about the state of compiled knowledge. Of course I agree with every bit of that. Only someone insane would disagree with any of it. I'm talking specifically about skill, the ability to solve problems. The percentage of software released full of bugs is outrageous today. Look at modern software by major companies, from Skype all the way up to the F-22. Skype turned into a joke after MS acquired it and only recently (last several months) is it somewhat resembling polished. Why does the windows Netflix app crash constantly and has been for years? The gaming industry is riddled with incompetent programmers. Games used to never release to the public in unplayable states. Look at The Day Before. That company was outright lied to by their lead programmers. They faked all of it. Cities Skylines 2 is a perfect example. They hired a team that made management believe they knew what they were doing and now they're stuck with an unusable framework that has to be completely rewritten. That game will use the max 64 threads that windows allots (another engineering embarrassment) and still run at 20fps. This is a result of hiring people that are charming instead of focusing solely on a portfolio that was made solely by them. This is not just my opinion. This is a known problem. Perhaps talent is getting spread thin. KZbin videos about horror stories with engineers that insist on allotting 2 months to a task that should take 45 minutes. They get away with this because they're talented at talking because the job application requested "amazing communication skills" and the hiring managers focused too much on that (and HR before them.) The side effect is you get people that are also amazing at manipulating/charming/bullshitting you. Open-source software has amazing quality and there's a very clear reason for this. Open-source authors are passionate about programming, while the majority of other programmers became one because they think it is prestigious and good money, but don't have an ounce of passion for it. They're good at writing convincing resumes and charming hiring managers. Despite how well you think your hiring practices are, you are influenced on a subconscious level with the type of talks you mention in this video which can make you like a candidate for the wrong reasons. Talking too much will cloud your decision. The awkward candidates with proven portfolios that don't articulate very well at the start (they will once they're comfortable), are the best talent. Of course I'm talking mostly about lead positions. I could care less how juniors are hired, but please back them up with well-paid talent.

[@IAmTimCorey]

I think you are missing the point, though. The code from 20 years ago had 3 buttons and a switch compared to trying to launch the space shuttle in today's code. You brought up gaming, so let's discuss it. I just went to GDC two weeks ago. I sat in two talks that I think are relevant to this discussion. First, I sat in on a talk where one of the level designers for the game Tie Fighter was talking about how they built the game. Essentially just two guys built all of the levels for that game over the course of a year. They faked a LOT of things, since their code could do so little. For instance, when you were attacked by enemy ships in the game, they would send those attacks in waves. The reason why was because they had a very limited number of moving objects that they could support (I believe the number was 12 and that went down if you had a capital ship). By coming in waves, they could simulate a larger dogfight. The second relevant talk I went to was by a project manager at Larian on the building of Baldur's Gate 3. In that game, they have more written words than three times that of the entire Lord of the Rings book series and they have twice as many cinematic minutes as the entire Game of Thrones TV series. They had studios literally around the globe so that they could "chase the sun" and have active work being done on the project 22 hours per day (at a normal pace). Now, compare those two games. Is the difference between the quality of the two the fact that the Tie Fighter crew was just better at development? As of right now, BG3 has had 23 hot fixes and Tie Fighter had to ship a complete game that worked the first time. Is that a fair comparison? Of course not. The complexity of games today such as BG3 are so far beyond what was done even ten years ago that there cannot be a comparison between the two. I'm not saying that there aren't bad developers out there. What I am saying is that this has always been the case. I'm not sure how long you have been in the industry or how many businesses you have seen, but I can say from experience that what we are seeing today is very similar to what I saw as a consultant 25 years ago. Big companies hire poorly. Sometimes they get great teams, but often they have teams that struggle. The wrong people get promoted (the Peter Principle among other reasons), and it makes a mess. That has nothing to do with a degradation in peoples' level of skill or ability to solve problems.

[@phillismable6303]

When you are answering questions like this you know you are in trouble.

[@IAmTimCorey]

How so?

[@user-dg5qy3cq8m]

For me these job positions sounds horrible. Cherry pick process and project fixed time limit ... Development is not so predictable to stamp a fixed time limit on every project. Never I would spend unpaid free time for a company that can kick you out if they don't need you anymore

[@IAmTimCorey]

I'm sorry, I really don't understand what you are trying to say. I mostly agree with your last sentence, though. There can be times when working without pay provides you with enough value to be worth it, but that is rare. That's why I pay my interviewees when I ask them to do take-home work.