Hiring Senior Software Engineer/Designer

[willie]

I guarantee you that IBM and Microsoft don't ask people to do 1 day mini-projects for free.  It's pretty common for them to keep you in contractor hell for a long time (like years) and maybe they never actually hire you on staff, but at least you get paid for your work.

 

[Hxxx]

Pure US here.

 Like I said, make sense to compensate the person if is worth it. Plus to make more sense, you don't make every applicant do the test. You do the whole interview process like any other US company, and at the end do a trial, in my case I prefer to do a little project ( is a little project WTF ), is like taking a test. Don't pass? No work.

Why paying if it's part of the interview?

I have had tests and mini projects as part of the interview. Totally make sense. Everybody can talk candy, anybody can rent or buy something decent to wear for the interview. Anybody can pass a math exam, or basic programming tests. However, not everybody can be responsible, and do proper coding under pressure, much less apply the best practices for coding. 

 

[willie]

I have had tests and mini projects as part of the interview. Totally make sense. Everybody can talk candy, anybody can rent or buy something decent to wear for the interview. Anybody can pass a math exam, or basic programming tests. However, not everybody can be responsible, and do proper coding under pressure, much less apply the best practices for coding. 

Yes, checking for that (beyond some interview questions and whiteboard exercises) is the purpose of a paid tryout.

 

[Nick_A]

Wow didn't mean to spark a debate here, but I appreciate the insight!

Plus, we are talking about RamNode, one of the most popular in the market, offering you a full position as a developer, I mean he made it clear, he wants to have a full time developer who is worth. 

If I were the applicant, I would not have any problem, specially for such rare opportunity.

Yeah, I am offering what I think is a solid salary for this position, and it would be full-time work. I have run it by a few sysadmins at various software and hosting companies, and they approved of my expectations. Now the problem for me is finding the right person (since again, I am no programmer). I think I am a good judge of personality compatibility, but obviously there is a lot more that needs to go into this position.

 

[willie]

Now the problem for me is finding the right person (since again, I am no programmer).   I think I am a good judge of personality compatibility, but obviously there is a lot more that needs to go into this position.

This sounds like you need a CTO rather than a pure programmer, depending on what you are trying to do with the company.  [Edit: fixed mis-pasted quote]

 

[Nick_A]

This sounds like you need a CTO rather than a pure programmer, depending on what you are trying to do with the company.

That is one of the "titles" I was mulling over. There's a lot this position would cover, though the focus would be on programming. CTO sounds a bit hands off to me, so it's more of like CTO + Senior Engineer. Help me manage the systems in general, but also produce code.

 

[Hxxx]

Such nice opportunity. 

 

[willie]

That is one of the "titles" I was mulling over. There's a lot this position would cover, though the focus would be on programming. CTO sounds a bit hands off to me, so it's more of like CTO + Senior Engineer. Help me manage the systems in general, but also produce code.

In a small company, the CTO writes code and puts out fires on the servers just like everyone else.  They have somewhat more managerial authority than a programmer, are involved in the business part of the company and in hiring, can make technology decisions and purchases, have a significant amount of company equity, and are expected to be part of the investor pitch when you're fundraising (unlike programmers who just sit in front of screens).  I've never been in that slot myself, but have worked with several.

 

[Abydon]

In a small company, the CTO writes code and puts out fires on the servers just like everyone else.  They have somewhat more managerial authority than a programmer, are involved in the business part of the company and in hiring, can make technology decisions and purchases, have a significant amount of company equity, and are expected to be part of the investor pitch when you're fundraising (unlike programmers who just sit in front of screens).  I've never been in that slot myself, but have worked with several.

This. We have 200+ employees and our CTO still spends at least 25% of his time writing code and taking his turn on call for weekend/etc emergencies.

 

[tmzVPS-Daniel]

Never hire a developer that you have not met personally. I am not sure if you have offices or not, but you must find someone that can come to you and you can draw what you need on a white board and discuss. 


Trust me, for a position like this you must meet face to face to discuss the ideas. 

- Daniel

 

[willie]

Also, the skill set you're looking for is called "devops" (development and operations).  They need knowledge of systems and network programming, deployment tools, troubleshooting and fixing stuff, but they don't really need a CS background.  I agree with Daniel and also would say it's best to hire someone local, who can work with you in person.  Doing too much remotely is a pain in the neck.  We had several remote staff at my old company but we flew them in for meetings every couple of months, and had live online chats the rest of the time.  This was workable but not optimal, and I think it only worked at all because management was pretty technical.

 

[Abydon]

Its also called "Full Stack Developer" as well. It depends on the company.

 

[willie]

Yeah, good point, I thought a full stack developer did client and server side programming and (some) web design, but was less involved in operations than devops (which is mostly focused on the back end).  Presumably Nick does need front end stuff too.  I wasn't thinking about that because I'm mostly a backend and security developer and I like the anachronistic Craigslist approach to the front end.

Added: maybe this is all overkill: the main duty of devops is to keep complicated services running across a sizeable server farm.  If it's just VPS's and some controls then it's a somewhat different and maybe simpler situation.

 

[Nick_A]

In a small company, the CTO writes code and puts out fires on the servers just like everyone else.  They have somewhat more managerial authority than a programmer, are involved in the business part of the company and in hiring, can make technology decisions and purchases, have a significant amount of company equity, and are expected to be part of the investor pitch when you're fundraising (unlike programmers who just sit in front of screens).  I've never been in that slot myself, but have worked with several.

Ok, great. That's basically what I'm going for.