Show HN: Hacking recruiting - Coder's Coffee | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Hacking recruiting - Coder's Coffee

coderscoffee.com

180 pointshongquan100 comments

The idea seems appealing but as many "dating" apps it won't work:

People want to meet new people all the time, the more the better and preferably close to their own personality. The problem is: if you just say, 'hey guys, you should meet up, you are both coders, you should like each other' or in a real dating environment, 'hey guys, just meet, you are both singles' it won't work.

People need some guidance, some hook and reason why to meet and more important what to talk to each other, small talk without setting people into context won't work. This app is missing the hook to meet up, just grabbing a coffee together because both code in similar languages is no sufficient plug or starter.

Examples that work:

- On a typical network event you have small hooks like the presentations shown. There're great starters to get into small talk and carry on with deeper conversations later. This environment leaves the agenda open about who you talk to and what you talk about. That's good and keeps conversations and new encounters thrilling.

- On a hackerthon you have even stronger hooks because you have to work together or you just have a very good reason to talk to each other—mingling will happen automatically and excitement wil be at its max because everything is new (people, context, tech) and you face a challenge which you have to solve in a short time which makes it even more thrilling. The stronger these kind of excitements are the stronger the initial bonding will be between the participants after the event. And this bonding is everbody's goal: not just meeting random people for coffee but meeting like-minded people in order to build strong relationships with them. Or to put it another way: the context (=> the event/guide/task/excitement) is the actual cause for strong bondings and relationships and not similar personalities or preferred languages. Interactions between people are context and behavior driven and not because of similar profiles.

You have to give people a task, a mission. Just telling them to meet and talk will make them feel awkward.

Tom,

Thanks for the awesome feedback, we agree it seems like a dating app, and we'll have to work hard to overcome any awkwardness and craft the best experience possible. Our focus is on finding Coders in Silicon Valley, but our big idea is much much bigger. Hope we can solve all the problems you've brought up.

> but our big idea is much much bigger.

Tell us more!

All in good time my friend. :) We've only just begun.

You would thinking that cute intelligent alpha male buying you coffee while the two of you pleasantly chat would be enough for people.

Also, as a potential employee, you can skip the standard application process and HR interviews (maybe they will have a formal interview process later) of most companies talk with a guy who is very likely going to be your boss should you get hired. This with almost no time investment on your side and your free to say your not interested and leave. Let me know next time your at a coffee shop in Florida. And I don't even like coffee.

The app works for tea time too. :) Happy to hear people like the concept as much as we do.

For me there is a good chance that once you meet up with someone the conversation will go smoothly, as long as there's a fit, and that's what you are looking for using this app. The founder can talk about the project and see how the coder could fit. And if there's not a good fit there, is always great to know new people and know what's happening around :)

I know mobile is hot right now, but does this really have to be an iPhone app?

I made a mobile web app about six months ago, and this is what I heard over and over again from users: "Can you please please please make it a native app?"

Just to get our feet wet, my partner and I proceeded to write two simple iPhone apps. The first did 10x better than our mobile web app (with much less effort), and the second did 100x better. That was enough to convince us, and now we've shelved mobile web development in favor of iOS development.

That's just a personal anecdote, of course. I can't speak for the guys (or gals) behind Coder's Coffee. Overall, though, I think this is responsible for a lot of the interest we're seeing in iOS development.

It also helps that Apple has done a great job with XCode and the iOS SDK. Developing for iOS is really a pleasure.

We have a native app built. Just needs approval. :)

what apps?

I'd feel weird about advertising them here. :-) I'd be happy to chat over Skype or email, though. You can find my contact info in my profile.

> I made a mobile web app

You missed my point, ironically by perpetuating the obsession around mobile.

I meant why can't it just be a regular desktop webapp. E.g. not require a phone to access.

I don't really see myself sitting in a coffee shop thinking "I want to chat with a business guy right now", and pulling out my phone to see if any are sitting within 10 feet of me.

Granted, the app being mobile (and geo!) is probably 10x more likely to get VC investment right now; I'm just saying that, personally, I would be planning stuff like this more deliberately while sitting at my desktop/laptop than while killing time on the subway.

It's somewhat ironic that "Android Dev" is a selectable area of expertise, yet it is unavailable on Android.

We'll have to grab coffee with some great Android Devs then. ;)

I'm available to write the Android version. Email [redacted] if you would like to see some of my work.

Heh, I just looked on your site. The plight of having your domain as your email. :)

I've got more to show though, available by email only currently. It will be up on the site in a couple weeks.

Please do, and a website. Otherwise you're just hooking up people who happen to own an iPhone.

Sorry, but what the hell is a 'software artificer'?

If you look at how the word 'artifice' is used, it is generally negative, associated with being overly clever for the purposes of pretense, or generally false/insincere.

So if I'm not sure the job title 'software artificer' even parses. 'A person who writes unnecessarily ornate/impractical software.'

I hope I can write in whatever job title I want. It will be 'guy who may not have shaved in a couple of days, has had too much caffeine, and is grumbling incoherently at his laptop screen.'

It's a perfectly respectable word.

Yeats - It knows not what it is; and gather me Into the artifice of eternity

Joyce - Old father, old artificer, stand me now and ever in good stead.

While it may be technically valid, artifice in modern usage is probably most commonly associated with deception & fakery. So, as a job title, I'd say it sounds pretentious and a bit out of touch, like someone who right clicked on the word "engineer" and espoused an adventitious synonym in order to have the earmarks of sagacity.

Artificers are not synonymous with engineers, they are much more synonymous with craftspersons.

You have to admit that it's slightly cromulent.

Sorry, but that job title probably won't fit. ;) We use whatever title you're using on LinkedIn when you login to the app.

Also, see below re: 'artificer' as a word.

grumble code grumble twitch grumble code

"An artificer is a skilled mechanic in the armed forces"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificer

A mashup that is a cross of Geeklist (for credibility), StackOverflow (for topic listing and determining expertise) and this (to negotiate the details of getting people together) would be useful in those cases where one developer would like to spend 30 minutes picking the brains of a better developer.

For example, many a time I've spent 30+ minutes helping "orient" another developer with respect to backbone.js development.

However, right now I'm in need of 30 minutes to sit down and talk with someone who's implemented OAuth from the point of view of the API provider (not API consumer), and organizing your DB to manage developer accounts and permissions assigned to each "registered app" and it's hard to find the person whose 30 minutes of orientation would save me innumerable hours of research just to figure out what is worth knowing and worth exploring further.

Being able to accumulate karma based on spending 30 minutes here and there helping others and then spending it with others would be awesome. It would basically be a "productized" version of those "Offer HN" posts.

Love this! The app should be used by Coders who just want to help other Coders too.

Thanks for this Andrew, we've got a lot of work ahead of us.

I'm also in the social meeting space working on something complementary. I'm in SF and I'd like to get coffee if you are too. Contact info in my profile.

Nice. I'm not interested in joining a startup, but meeting local fellow geeks for coffee or lunch to shoot the breeze would be awesome... kind of like a GeekGrindr :)

A ChessGrindr would also be another cool idea!

We've been saying it's Highlight for Hackers. :)

GeekGrindr sounds painful. ;)

Settlers of Catan Grindr ;D

Seems fun. I signed up. However, in Chrome on Ubuntu I couldn't fill out the email form field, and when I logged into my android phone (you'll have an app for that too right?), it wasn't mobile responsive and I had to zoom in and swipe left and right to see the page.

Just FYI.

Thanks! Those are known issues but we'll work on it! We will build an Android version for sure, but it's just one guy right now. :)

Totally understand :)

I'd say I'd like to help, but it's been 5 years since I've used any Java. My only decent languages are scripting ones - python and php as well as JavaScript (mediocre).

Python Developers are still in high-demand. Hopefully you'll get paid more than just tears. ;)

I like this idea a lot. As a sysadmin, I think you should build in more options for "what they do" :)

Thanks! We will add more roles. Sysadmins are in high demand here too.

I think this is a good idea but the more popular you get the more filtering you need. If 1000 hire-ees want to meet for coffee how will the hirer filter them?

Well I guess I like the idea from the hire-ee perspective. But isn't it a bad deal for the hirer? How does he know I'm even worth talking to? The most valuable asset we have is time and you are asking people running companies to give a lot of it away.

Agreed. We're working on a ranking and reputation algorithm that will only show the best Coders for the Startups. We don't want to waste anyone's time, on both sides.

What parameters are you using to define who the "best" coders are?

/raising hands/ Oh me me me me... let me answer that... me me me...

The key is finding the best fit, not only the "best" Coders. People try to use numbers to evaluate candidates, but at the end of the day, we're all human.

The funny thing is, this is the only reason I would want to use the app. Once they have filtering implemented, I might as well just find an alternate means of communication (friend on the inside, cocktail parties, etc).

Maybe flip the question around, how will good coders stay free of getting hounded by headhunters and abusive clients?

No Recruiters! You would only meet with Founders and bad startups will get flagged by Coder's rating them.

I think your homepage could stand to explain the fundamentals of your app a little better. It took some browsing around to figure out what the app could actually do. Might be nice to have a brief sales pitch and some bullet points.

Something like:

Coders: Recruiting for your startup? Looking for a gig? Download Coder's Coffee and we will hook you up!

[bullet points/features explained here]

Thank you for your feedback!. We'll improve the pitch.

> Help us reclaim the number one spot on Hacker News!

We look forward to you sharing the results of HN discussion. What's the back story?

I know many developers are building proximity/stalking apps but to me this is creepy. However this may well have appeal to help others find hotspots of activities or events.

Good luck.

Not much of a story, we posted it around 3pm and had the top spot for a few hours. It was exhilarating!

There are quite a few proximity apps, but we definitely don't want to be creepy. It should be used by Coders to meet up with Founders or other Coders to talk about their projects and startups. It might be useful to find activities and events, but that's up to you and how you'll use it.

I looked but didn't see it listed any where. Any android support?

Sorry, we've just got the iPhone app. Android is in our future plans.

I like it! Glad to see that innovation is alive and well in Argentina despite the current climate.

FWIW, my dad grew up a few blocks from the pin shown on the map.

Wow! You have eagle vision. I grew up in Argentina but we are based in Silicon Valley.

Guys, I'm a brazilian eager to work for a startup. I'm still in school, but I would not care to make a six month sabbatical, to work on a startup.

What skills (tech and non-technical) and connection do you think I must have to work in a early stage startup?

The startup ecosystem in Brazil is growing nicely. I would suggest you get some practical experience, working on your own projects or joining some others. Just build stuff, learn as much as possible. Non-technical people just need to do anything/everything else to make the business work.

Hope we can help you find a great startup in the future!

Thanks for the fast response. No doubt that I will use your software to find one.

Happy to help, and good luck!

Technical: Good knowledge of a typical web stack or mobile development or both

Non-tech: Not much, you have just to show that your are ambitious and somebody who gets things done (or finishs them)

With good technical knowledge you do not need connections. Just get familiar with a technology, you like build some nice private projects and apply/go to networking events.

Regarding tech: demand for iOS devs is always high, Anroid too and for the web stack I'd recommend either Python/Django or Node.js/Express which are both easy to learn

The earlier you start the better, so go for it!

Thanks so much, Tom. Nice words coming from you. Can I send you an email?

Thanks for all the support HN! We're excited to get the app live on the App Store, just have to deal with some paperwork first.

Also, if you are getting a 405 error on signup, you can just email us at coders@coderscoffee.com to be added to the list.

This kind of thing makes me wish I lived in the valley, or in the US in general, I feel like I'm missing out. Any app that requires other people near you using it too is essentially useless to me.

Worry not!. We are cooking some exciting stuff that'll be useful for every single person in the world... Well... At least every geek.

We'll have something for you. #startupvisas

Maybe Zynga isn't the best company to show on your example page for your target audience. Other than that it looks really cool! Is this a SV thing only or will it be expanding to other areas too?

The Zynga thing is an inside joke. :) We are starting in SV, but hope to get enough interest to launch in other areas as well.

Software "Artificer"?

Artifice: "Clever or cunning devices or expedients, esp. as used to trick or deceive others: 'artifice and outright fakery'."

Not necessarily the greatest way to describe yourself...

Artificer: 1. a skilled craftsman 2. a clever or inventive designer

It's like calling "Digital Plumber" to sysadmins. Maybe etymologically incorrect but you have to admit that it sounds great.

You looked up the definition of the wrong word:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/artificer?s=t

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificer

Thank you!

Talk about a real social startup. Remembers me about the one that pairs together random groups for a bar meetup.

We really believe that making real social application is indeed possible. We also believe that the recruiting system is broken. This is our first step to jailbreak it!

Too bad the sign up fails on an iPad.

Sorry about that, we're using another startup's product for the sign-ups. Will take a look.

I don't think their product is ready at all. I came back using Chrome and failed again (Method not allowed with an UGLY error). I had to punt to Safari before I could get it to take my email address.

    405 Method Not Allowed
    
    Code: MethodNotAllowed
    Message: The specified method is not allowed against this resource.
    ResourceType: OBJECT
    Method: POST
    RequestId: 3A55FAAF9B44B42E
    HostId: FYBUd4PTAHdDYU5mnv90iACQzydwnT5ucmvqW5bAgeHmNBk2BqklC9Ni6PsCa+ki

Chrome 19.0.1084.46 m

Oh well, I guess I won't be hearing about this product launch. This certainly doesn't reflect well on your vendor, http://launchrock.com/ , given that their services seem to consist of 1. landing page creation & hosting and 2. collecting email addresses, and the second (extremely technically simple) task fails completely.

Great idea and great implementation. Focus on a real issue. Can't wait for trying it!

Me too!

This is the most amazing example of an MVP that I've ever seen. Lesson learned...

Wowzers, that's a really nice compliment! Thanks!

Is this just available in the US app market ? I don't see this in Singapore ?

We are testing in Silicon Valley only and will hopefully go worldwide. Singapore has a great startup ecosystem that's just taking off!

Good stuff, and I'm currently looking. Was hoping for more than a sign-up.

We hope to have the app out soon!

I like the idea. I just hope I can find someone in New Zealand.

I don't think Capital letters mean What you Think they mean.

I will definitely give this a try. Nice job!

Thanks Maryanne!

s/coffee/beer/

Indeed.

s/beer/soda/

(for those of us who are under the legal drinking age and dislike coffee)

Awesome!

also relevant is bizzabo http://www.bizzabo.com/

That looks cool, thanks for letting us know!

cool idea. how do interested companies sign up?

We're working with the startups directly. If you want to be featured, send us a note at startups@coderscoffee.com

looks nice!

Thanks Alan!

The design is almost identical to discovercircle.com (I have no relationship with that site).

Is this a CMS theme?

lol wtf does this do? I know talent is tight in the valley right now but surely you can find someone who can write a meaningful splash page. I don't think my iphone servers coffee.

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