How Do You Find Programming Superstars?

Joe Ganley writes "You are a programming superstar, and you are looking for work. I recognize this happens relatively rarely, which is part of my problem. But stipulating that it happens, how do I, as a company looking to hire such people, connect with them? Put another way, how do you the programming superstar go about looking for a company that seems like one you'd like to work for? The company I work for is a great place to work; we only hire really great people, we work on hard, interesting problems, and we treat our employees well. We aren't worried about retention or even about how to entice people to work here once we've found them. The problem is simply finding them. The signal-to-noise ratio of the big places like Monster and Dice is terrible. We've had much better luck with (for example) the Joel on Software job boards, but that still doesn't generate enough volume." What methods have other people used to find the truly elite?

Uh

I'm right here.

Appeal

to their obvious sense of humility, and only ask for mere "stars".

That, or go trawling through the strip-clubs near Boston.

Re:Appeal

Great programmers work for who they want, on what they want. They take getting their personal needs met for granted, but they have grand ideas about things they want to see realized and not enough money of their own to do it.

So you advertise on the basis of the interesting work that you're doing, and aim for the ears of someone who has been itching to build such things rather than talking about the creature comfort and monetary perks.

Great people want strong leadership that will help them achieve beyond what they can do alone.

Simple answer...

Be Google.

Re:Simple answer...

I have to say that I've had some people hired away from me to go to Google, and they have been hiring the people who can quote chapter and verse of some coding standards doc. But they haven't been my superstars. They have been "A" players. But not "superstars". I'll qualify that in one second.

The superstar is more than just somewhat hard to come by.

First, they are only going to be 1 out of every 100 programmers you work with. And that is only if you are lucky, and if you are good at hiring. If you hit job boards, you aren't good at hiring. (with apologies to the job board advertisement that is almost definitely above this post :)

Second, they can almost never identify themselves. Lots of people THINK they are the superstar. But then they get very little actually accomplished. These are the people I've lost to Google. But the superstar does much more than just know the tech details. They actually get stuff done. And their code really really works. And it is highly reusable. And they change others around them. The always make sure the best tools are in place, and they get others to use those tools, not just themselves. In this sense, they are also quite good leaders, although most do not want to manage large teams (and you'd be wise not to have them do so).

I've probably worked with 1000-2000 programmers in my lifetime, and I think I would give only about 10 of them the "superstar" status.

The superstars produce 2x to 10x what a very good programmers can produce in the same amount of time.

As far as finding and hiring them, the biggest problem is that they are very rarely on the market. So job boards are a bad place to start.

Just about all (maybe even 100%, actually) of the superprogrammers I've hired have come from friend referrals.

Go to your current employees, and give them very big checks if they can attract other programmers to your firm. Make sure this is worth their while (ie: $10,000 or more for bringing in someone). This will almost always be your best bet to find these guys.

Change the others around them: Bingo!

And they change others around them.

In my experience as a rank-and-file programmer, I'll vouch for this one.

I've met very few superstars and this more than anything else set them apart as someone I would want on my payroll.

You want people who can lead by example, without even trying.

One opinion

The first thing to do is remove arbitrary barriers. IE, "must" have X years of experience, X degree, held X previous positions, must move to our area. That's the sum of major mistakes most operations make. The best programmers in the world don't typically get that way by being just another college / job drone (though some do... just don't slam the door based on mundane requirements - you want the problem solved, not a title you can be proud of.)

Secondly, market the job — make sure people can find out about it. That's perhaps obvious, but I know a lot of companies that try to stick to the back alleys of old boy's clubs, and it's no wonder they can't find anyone. Put an ad, a BIG one, somewhere programmers go a lot. Like slashdot. :-)

Third, salary, salary, salary, and benefits (particularly insurance and family coverage). Move 'em if you have to. We've even bought houses outright for our programming team members. You can't expect to hire a superstar by treating them like a drone.

The problem is almost always that really good programmers don't have to go looking, and if they do, they can - and will - turn their noses up at being treated like a commodity. Yet that's just what most companies do. Plus they throw up arbitrary and unrelated barriers to entry. Unfathomable, really.

Re:One opinion

True. One of the smarter people that I know never finished his degree. He got bored and left school to start a successful company. However, its unlikely that his resume would ever go through an HR dept filter. The CTO or Principle Engineer would call him personally and make an offer.

Re:One opinion

Overall a good post...I would add one more thing though...

Attitude, attitude, attitude!

I won't take a job where the person interviewing treats me as if they are doing me a favor in offering the job. They are after me, not the other way around. Even if I need the job, I'll never portray it like that. It is they who need me even then. Call it arrogance if you will but I'm not into indentured servitude.

quality vs quantity

You can't have both quality and quantity. Searching for the best of the best is bound to return a small number of people.

Re:quality vs quantity

You, sir - I take it - have never experienced the PopTart in it's exemplary and multitudinous glory!

It takes a good software guy to know one

Unfortunately, software development is one of those things where you can only judge talent if you have talent.

Assuming you already have a couple good guys on staff (but how do you know they are good? :-), do you use any open source projects? Interview those guys. Open source is a great way to get to know someone -- you can review their code and documentation, and you also know that programming is something they love. People who are involved in open source typically love programming (otherwise, why do it?).

Re:It takes a good software guy to know one

A boss of mine once said this:

Class A people hire class A people

Class B people hire class C people

I think that is spot on.

Linkedin

(Clears throat, adopts heroic stage pose) "People... people who know people..."

(Dodges ballistic vegetable matter)

Not a programmer here but...

As a desirable sys admin I went with a headhunter. She filters out businesses and matches them to employees. I tend to be a people centered admin so I like smaller businesses, so she calls me when a really nice job comes up and sells me on it. A larger corporate job may go to someone else as sitting in a server room all day isn't my cup o tea.

My suggestion would be to use a headhunter, sure they are expensive but you get matched up with quality people that match your business philosophy. Also to you job seekers out there I would suggest finding and hitting up Head Hunters. I have had extrordinary success with em on both sides of the table.

Get lucky, or hire young

Honestly - imo, you are incredibly fortunate to hire excellent experienced people based off interviews (our hit rate is about 25% good, 50% passable, 25% poor)

the 2 best strategies for having a high hit rate with your new hires:

1. hire young - bring people in as interns/coops and use their term as a 6 month interview - this can give you a great insight into their potential

2. poach - has anyone else in your organization worked somewhere else? find out if there are any excellent people from previous jobs looking for work

In 3 Ways...

I would say in 3 ways. One, stop calling them superstars. To a programmer, the world superstar implies massive overtime with little compensation (aka we want someone who loves programming so much that they won't worry about the fact that we under pay them and over work them). Two, do some research on job requirements. Don't list idiotic buzz words as requirements when the package is something a programmer could pick up in less that a day working with it. The best way to get people to completely glaze over your job posting is to list so many technologies that they are bound to be missing one or two. Third, treat them and pay them what they are worth. If you want a superstar programmer, be willing to pony up. I read something a few days ago here on Slashdot that said Facebook and Google were competing for new grads and offering salaries in excess of 110K to new grads. If that's the treatment those companies give them, what do you think someone with experience and "superstar" status probably thinks they deserve? If you can't give them the money, make up for it with benefits and ability to progress or become a partner in the company...Bottom line, be realistic, and they will take you seriously. A programmer can detect a job that will probably be bad from a mile away just by reading the description.

Why?

Seriously, why do you need a programming superstar, why not settle for a programmer with substantial experience in the area you need?

For example, universities do not look for supergenius professors (if not only for label "Nobel prize winner"), they are mostly looking for a person who will be able to get grants

Supergeniuses are good in the environment that does not require any results any soon. That's the way they work.

Normally people are looking for good workers with a good experience able to fit in the environment.

I am actually glad that in my line of work there is no obsession with top level performers, like it happens in showbiz. As a result a lot of people are paid quite well.

grow your own thru training!

believe me , nothing your business is doing is so god-damned special that it takes a "superstar" to accomplish. Just find some people with some programing background and give them the opportunity to learn and grow. Anyway, the person asking of this question, if _they_ were a "superstar" HR person/manager, would already know the answer. Since the company can get by with plain old average HR/management I think it can live with average normal programmers as well.

We use the old boys network

While you can market to wazoo, and you should, following the advice of others, here, you'll always only be half right, because talented people first and foremost recruit other talented people and solicit other talented people for work.

So go to the experts at your current job, the people you REALLY respect, and ask them if they know someone. If they say no, then they're probably LYING, and you just don't have enough to draw their friends. Try to find out why, and fix that. Then those same people you asked will begin suggesting people.

If you don't have experts at your company, cast your web out to all the experts you know, and offer to pay people what they're worth. You may have to pay enough to relocate someone. That can get expensive. Say you'll do it.

This is in conjunction with the advertising of the job, not in lieu of it.

Start an open source project

...and be prepared to hire telecommuters, even in other countries. All of our software guys at Slim Devices (now Logitech) found us through our open source projects, and to this day every one of the telecommutes. The stratum of talent you gain access to when you are reaching the people who are so excited about the technology that they'll work on it on their own time.... unbelievable - forget about Monster.com, this is the way to do it!

How Do You Find Programming Superstars?

What methods have other people used to find the truly elite?

Wouldn't that be sort?

Make sure their shoes don't match their belts

Just this morning Slashdot has this big article about how IT professionals aspiring to break into management should wear matched shoes and belts, wear ties and full sleeve shirts and no torn/frayed/stained clothing. Read that piece and eliminate all those who follow those tips. Obviously they are aspiring professionals gunning for your job.

Real programming superstars, usually love coding so much they take precautions so that they are not accidentally promoted to have management responsibilities like tracking vacation requests and authorizing the expense accounts. So they make sure their belts don't match their shoes, their pants, if and when they wear it, are never ironed. If they are forced to wear ties, they pair it with half sleeved shirts. They are the the programming superstars. But be prepared for huge number of false positives.

Rarity requires a different approach

You cannot HR the superstar. They are so rare, that you just cannot open a superstar position and expect it to be filled up. Instead, what people usually do is when they accidentally stumble upon one, they create a superstar position for him.

You don't find me ...

I find you....

Seriously.

I haven't had to 'look' for a job (i.e. interview with more than one company) since the early 90s. I have a network, and if I want to change jobs, I ask the people I respect the most (and who I think have respect for me) if there is anything out there. (Changed job 5 times due to corporate changes such as mergers, acquisitions and startup failures.) Usually my income went up, but I took a cut in pay for the last one because the company appears to be that much fun to work for.

People who are truly superstars are probably working at a job they like and you won't be able to budge them *unless* you have an open pocketbook or something 'Google-like' that would appeal to someone who can get a job anywhere. Or something has changed (or their patience has just run out) and in a month or two will have another one through people they already know.

My suggestion is if you want a superstar, start networking with the people YOU know and respect the most. Maybe your network and a prospective employee's network will connect somewhere. That's how I got this one. A guy I know knew about this job and let me know about it because he thought it was something I would be interested in and knew that my company was going through an acquisition and thought I might be looking.