How to Hire the Linux Talent You Need | Hacker News Reader

How to Hire the Linux Talent You Need

pcworld.com

25 pointsg-garron12 comments

There's one option they didn't cover: Pay more.

If a resource your business requires (a human resource) is getting harder to get, then if you pay more, you should be able to attract more resources.

all right bitches I'm here to teach you econ 101. THe article starts with the words "Hiring good help is never easy, but the difficulty is compounded considerably when demand for the skills you're seeking exceeds supply." Economically, the expression "demand exceeds supply" is meaningless: you must say, demand at a given price exceeds supply at that price. Now there are a few different supply curves, some of which are more "responsive" to price than others. Take something scarcle, like $2 bills. Would you say "demand exceeds supply"? Again, depends on the price. I guaran-damn-T you that Demand for $2 bills at a price of $1.90 far exceeds supply. After all, if I didn't have to do it in one batch, my PERSONAL demand for $2 bills at a price of $1.98 exceeds the entire world supply of $2 bills. That's because I can immediately use the $2 bill to get $2 of currency.

Developers are similar. It's not that the supply of developers doesn't respond to people who want to pay $500,000 or $1,000,000 for one (as is the case with Rembrandts or Picassos). Instead, someone wants to USE a developer to create a $500,000 or $1,000,000 company, while maintaining majority ownership. So, in this sense, the supply of developers falls short of demand in the same way that the supply of $2 bill falls short of the demand for it -- at $1.50. It does not fall short at even $3.

But there is a supply of $2 bills for which supply EXCEEDS demand at $1.50: novelty bills created by me and having no value. I will sell you my personal design of a non-legal-tender $2 joke "bill"... for $1 each. How many do you want? My personal supply at that price is in the range of about 100,000 pieces immediately, which is what I can produce off-hand in a hurry. How much is the global demand for my "bills" at that price? 0.

Developers are the same. What is the global supply of developers (anyone who can code at all) at $100,000, $80,000, $50,000 or even $17,000? HUGE. The problem is that these are not the same developers who will make you a $500,000 or $1,000,000 company.

I was about to upvote you despite your overly aggressive presentation. However, I then saw that you are a new account with the name "econlessonbitch", which gave me pause. There are certainly some times when a throwaway account is valuable on HN, but I don't think this is one of them. Also, there's currently no concept of a "novelty account" here, a trend I think is worth continuing.

That being said, there were parts of your post that are spot on. I'd appreciate it if you stuck around, but I would give a second look to your persona.

okay but... I don't HAVE an account. I'll create something more...participatory. Sorry. :/

I'm not sure I understand your argument correctly.

Are you saying that you can increase the salary you're willing to offer, but it won't drive up the quality of the developers applying for the job?

I think you're correct that it will attract the attention of incompetent developers. But I also think it'll attract the attention of competent ones. Why wouldn't it?

Once you have the attention of developers, it's your job to select the ones who will fit best.

In which case, increasing the salary offered, while doing your job as an interviewer, does have the net effect of attracting the talent you're looking for.

As dragonflee commented on the article, it reads like an ad for dice.com (whatever that is).

Guess the good news is the demand for linux people is growing (if that's true and not just some number bending to get an "article")

Hill recommended. “Same with looking for a single version like Mint. Get that in your job header and make sure it is searchable by keyword.”

That is about the worst advice for hiring that I could imagine.

Heck no. The worst advice would be far worse. [Insert evil Catbert-HR scenario here.] This is just not particularly useful advice.

More useful advice would be on the order of: Make sure you mention the specific software you are using, but don't rule out candidates with good experience in different software. A sysadmin with Debian and Red Hat under her belt can easily take on your CentOS and Mint servers. A developer with years of C++ and Perl experience will pick up Ruby fairly quickly. It's generally more important to find someone smart, clever and reliable than to find someone who already knows exactly what you're using.

Is Dice still relevant? What are the best job forums for finding Linux talent (that is, besides HN :)

I've never worked at a place involved in the Linux community.

That'd probably be nice. :)

If they have a LUG and a Perl Mongers meeting listed somewhere in their resume, i'd say they're a lot more interested in Linux and Perl than the average schmo that just wants a paycheck.

Finding quality personnel is easy, the job boards are full of them.

Finding a quality company is the challenge.

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