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HOW TO FIND THE RIGHT PROGRAMMERS: A BRIEF GUIDELINE FOR STARTUP FOUNDERS FOR
STARTUP FOUNDERS UNDER A PLETHORA OF CHALLENGES LIKE TIMING, INVESTORS AND
CHANGING MARKET DEMAND, IT IS EXTREMELY HARD TO HIRE PROGRAMMERS WHO CAN
DELIVER.

By Vasily Voropaev • Nov 21, 2021

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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Expanding a startup team has always been hard. Startup founders have to take
into account many factors before letting new people into their team at early
stages. This is only made worse by pressure from investors expecting fast
results.

The current situation only makes hiring even more challenging.



The pandemic and the shortage of immigrant workers in many sectors, including
IT, broke established market rules.

Now, on top of the usual startup-related difficulties, founders have to
transform their business and switch to the virtual realm — specifically, by
hiring remotely.

Here's how the classic hiring methods have changed and what the new options are.




THE MYTH OF TALENT SHORTAGE

Recently, the recruiters in my community have been saying that their market is
literally boiling over — too many new offers and not enough professionals to
respond to them. Whilst on my platform, I receive hundreds of new applications
from developers weekly.

What I see is a skills shortage. Maybe the lockdowns kept people from going to
courses, getting some practice or they just got used to the perpetual vacation.
Everyone expects to get a salary over $200k, but rarely do their experience and
skills match their expectations.

I suggest non-technical founders get an advisor who is a senior developer who
can interview the candidates. They will give the right tasks, check the
performance and figure out the candidates' real knowledge of infrastructure and
coding languages. This is necessary for two reasons: Founders will prepare the
right offer and will have appropriate expectations regarding the coders' work.

Related: The First Virtual Job Fair for Programmers Arrives in Mexico




JOB DESCRIPTION

If you don't want to get lost in this hiring melting pot, make sure your job
description really describes what you're looking for. It should not be too
general, nor combine 2-3 positions in one unless specified as a temporarily
2-in-1 role.

If you need a visionary leader, as opposed to a worker that will only follow set
tasks, distinguish the two roles.

Hire a professional recruiter to consult you on writing a comprehensive job
description. Otherwise, delegate it to outstaffing agencies that will do
end-to-end hiring for you.


LEVELS OF PROFICIENCY

Now that you know what you can offer and what you should expect from the
candidate, place the job description on various platforms. Divide them into two
segments — first the junior developers' profiles, then the more experienced
software engineers.



Junior programmers are good for startups led by full-stack developers, where the
CTO can teach, correct and navigate fresh hires until they become mature coders.
Although, experience shows that juniors often learn everything they need and
move to another company within 8-9 months.

Middle to senior developers are harder to find. Retaining them is an even
harsher game. They will bring extensive experience and can be good advisers for
your product development, but at the same time, they will bring biases and
culture from previous jobs.

You could ask for advice from recruiting agencies or serial entrepreneurs about
how to set up the company culture, especially for remote or hybrid teams with a
dozen of newly hired employees.

Related: After 17 Years, I Quit My Job as a Computer Programmer to Follow My
Passion. It Paid Off.


WHERE TO FIND THE PROGRAMMERS

Sourcing developers is a combination of art and science.

Buy recruitment software to manage the job applications. Check if it also
contains a feature that would help you coordinate job postings on all the
platforms you've chosen.



If you don't set up the optimal process for hiring at the beginning, it will
become very time-consuming. Along with that, make one wrong step and your
employer brand reputation will suffer, scaring all cool programmers away from
your startup.

You probably know the traditional job posting platforms by now. So here are a
couple of new platforms I'd like to highlight:

 * Startup job websites like f6s, angel.co, GitHub, etc.
 * Outstaffing companies: These companies cover everything from a legal and
   financial perspective. You only make interviews with shortlisted developers
   and sign an agreement with the company that controls all the deliverables.
 * Online schools offer young but very talented coders that graduated from boot
   camps.
 * Organize a meetup for developers that are free of charge and engaging.
   Conferences, hackathons and marathons will work fine. In my opinion, the top
   hiring event ever made was a Neuralink demo held in August 2020.

Look for specialists that are already used to the remote lifestyle. Digital
nomads and engineers who have worked in autonomous environments are your primary
target.


HOW TO KEEP GOOD PROGRAMMERS

Think about what they need or wish to have, things like:

 * working with interesting projects
 * a clear vision for their career growth
 * a flexible schedule
 * high-quality equipment
 * a development infrastructure in place, connected with a product manager,
   designer, customer support, sales and legal support.

Forget about team building and group retreats. Listen to the real needs of your
employees, give them choices and flexibility.

Sharing a mission, the same culture and work attitudes should be key to finding
your developers. Employee perks, flexible schedules and engaging tasks will make
them happy.



If you see that you cannot cover all these aspects at your current stage, don't
hesitate to delegate it to HR and outstaffing companies, or hire professional
recruiters.

Related: Hiring the Modern Programmer: Does That Smart New Software


Wavy Line Wavy Line
Vasily Voropaev

CEO of Smartbrain.io

As CEO and founder of Smartbrain.io, Vasily Voropaev is a serial entrepreneur,
business angel and pioneer of the Eastern Europe freelance and remote-work
market.


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