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Comment by rsyring | Hacker News Reader

And, given that perspective, you'd probably be a bad fit, so no time lost on either side. :)

What kind of experience do you have hiring? If you have a better process, that has been proven over time to work, please share.

I'm part of a small group of leaders/owners from other development shops. We meet monthly to collaborate and learn from each other. Hiring is a frequent topic and I assure you that our steep funnel and perspective on candidate ability is not a unique experience, despite divergent hiring processes.

It is true that our process could be filtering out candidates who might otherwise apply. In that case, it's most likely working as intended.

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>In that case, it's most likely working as intended.

You are very casual in claiming that there is such an intentional correlation between developers who are not willing to spend 90+ minutes on a non-technical prescreen with a 15% success rate and competent developers who can translate business needs into actionable steps. It's reasonable to say you are willing to accept that there are developers who are unwilling to go through this process, but to say you are filtering them out intentionally is needlessly contemptuous.

Your comments are needlessly contemptuous? :)

But, seriously, it's intentional in the sense that if someone is a fantastic developer, but can't appreciate why a process like this is valuable to them and us, then it's a good thing they aren't applying. I need our developers to be competent at development but also reasonable in their perspective on the give and take between a business and their employees.

It's deliberate that I don't want people with your perspective/attitude to apply. I don't want people who can't appreciate the others parties constraints. It's not going to be a good match in the long run. And that's true even if said person can code circles around our best developers.

The problem is, unless if you're paying candidates, I think you're selecting for a group of desperate people. Which is to say, I don't think that your process respects candidate's time. You talk about give and take, but all I see is take--"submit to our process or F off." Or enlighten me, what are you giving in the exchange?

To me it sounds like you needed some way to thin the stack of resumes, and this is the method you chose. I'm just skeptical that you're going to get a lot of quality candidates. How are you going to pull developers who are comfortable in their existing jobs with such onerous requirements? These are people worth hiring: they're competent, skilled, and don't need to find another job.

Though looking at your profile a little, I think the answer is clear: you don't try to. Rather, I think maybe what you mean when you say fit is "we filter for people who need this job so badly that they'll go through our hoops to get it."

perhaps its that a web dev shop can't afford to hire the best talent, so the that sort of a filter is useful.

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