"The right" selection of programmers

Start

At the very beginning it is necessary to determine the level of candidate for the vacancy. Here I will not use the terms Junior, Senior, Lead, etc., because different companies have different meanings for these concepts. I will use the notions of “candidate without experience” (“beginners”) and “candidate with experience” (“experienced”). The answer to this question will determine the strategy for the hiring process. I will try to pay attention to the differences that need to be taken into account when selecting. And common mistakes to be avoided.

First meeting

Usually, it all starts with posting a job on one of the specialized resources, at the same time, word of mouth may be running and a crowd of hunters will pounce on the resume catalog. From the vacancy should be clear who exactly you need.

Usually, programmers with no experience respond to vacancies themselves; in opposition to this, HRs usually find experienced programmers. Depending on the level of the candidate and the one who initiated the acquaintance, it is necessary to build a strategy.
')
If the acquaintance was initiated by a candidate, then you can offer him to complete the task and, later, in person, ask the question: “Why did you choose our company?”.

If the acquaintance is initiated by your hunter, then neither the test task, nor this question is simply relevant, since in this case the recruitment specialist is interested in closing the vacancy.

Recently, I received a letter in the mail, with a description of a vacancy and a test task, for which I would have spent at least 2-3 full working days. At the same time, HR did not even deign to call. I naturally did not even respond to the letter.

When you first meet try to clarify the whole process of hiring in your company: what stages and in what time it is necessary to pass the candidate to join you. Tell us what bonuses and bonuses your company provides (“white salary” and “clearance by TK” is not a plus, it is your duty). For example, you are helping to move nonresident candidates this is a very big plus.

Also try to clarify the issue of pay. Be extremely honest and open with the candidate, because dishonesty in the future can ruin the reputation of your company. Needless to say, the payment is “above the market”, “high” or “decent”, it should be said that you are ready to offer from so many to so many depending on the result of the hiring process. You should not ask a candidate without experience the question: “What kind of salary do you want?”, He most likely does not have an answer.

Test

If you decided to offer the candidate a test task, then it all depends on the level of the vacancy. To close a job for programmers with no experience, I recommend giving a simple test task, for example, to write a console calculator . For experienced programmers, you can leave this task, but change the evaluation criteria and the format of execution. If it’s better to give a test for greens as homework, then it’s better to get a test for a computer right away.

Also for experienced programmers you can do the task in the form of a separate small subproject (1-2 working days), but then this task must be paid for. It is necessary to discuss in advance the timing, technology and the amount of payment. It is desirable that this project was not a project “in the trash”: so you can immediately show the seriousness of your intentions and interest the experienced candidate more.

Home test assignments for beginners usually need to be given before the interview, and for experienced ones - after.

Interview

If you are looking for an experienced programmer, look for information on the network before the interview, for example, with the help of people.yandex.ru, read his blog, look at public projects, speaking at conferences, comments and questions on profile blogs / forums such as stackoverflow .com , etc. If you have not found any public activity of the candidate, then it is worth asking this question directly and, perhaps, a person who does not have public activity does not suit you. Acquaintance with such activity will allow to answer many standard interview questions, and the candidate will be pleased.

It is possible that a person, simply, will not go to work for a company that does not know anything about him except his resume posted on one of the HR sites, especially if the resume has links to public activity.

Recently, they called me from one company and immediately said that they read my blog, watched the recordings of my speech. I was very pleased and they asked much less questions.

At the interview, try to find out how the programmer matches your job. You should not take an experienced microcontroller to the position of a “beginner programmer. NET”, even if it promises to retrain quickly (in my experience: this will not happen).

At the interview ask questions directly related to the vacancy, technologies and tools that need to be applied in the work. It is not necessary to set the puzzle-tasks from “How to move Mount Fuji” and complex mathematical and algorithmic tasks for a web programmer. On the other hand, if you are looking for a system programmer for complex algorithms, you should not ask him about closures in javascript.

The most optimal option is to give the candidate to fill out a questionnaire, where he can indicate the level of knowledge of the technologies and tools you are interested in, and during the interview you can already verify this information using questions.

Result

Try to give the result to the candidate as early as possible and within the stipulated time frame.

If the candidate did not fit you, then give him a detailed and constructive review - why the candidate does not suit you, and what he needs to do so that he can successfully complete your hiring process the next time.