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Comment by Leftium | Hacker News Reader

Dane Maxwell gave the best advice/method I've found for hiring (and managing) devs: https://s3.amazonaws.com/Publicpdf/Hiring_An_A_Player_Develo...

I haven't used it myself, but I consider myself a "good" dev and get to be picky about what projects I work on. This is the kind of job opportunity I would respond to.

Notice Dane's entire approach is centered on what the "good" devs value and are interested in: their fears and desires.

Also Dane approaches specific "top" devs directly (vs blasting out job postings and wading through mediocre applications.)

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This reads like satire and his email to developers is very similar to spam.

I really liked this part:

I demand the best work from you. I expect the best from you. You will be challenged. You will grow. And your skills will sharpen. If you like to settle on being average and do average work, this is not your project.

Expects the best, pays $50 per hour.

That was $50/hr over fifteen years ago (circa 2009), and didn't include equity in the project.

That dev is now the CEO of the business:

- https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajesh-dhawan-68702388/

- https://www.paperlesspipeline.com/

So it must have worked at least once.

That seems low even for 2009. Also, why is the developer the CEO and not the CTO? This is such a random example.

The dev was probably the CTO for several years. When Dane stepped down from the CEO position he asked Rajesh if he wanted to take over.

Dane used this process over ten times. Paperless Pipeline is probably the most successful example and semi-documented.

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I think if you offer an appealing opportunity, you don't have to offer the most money. There are many other things you can offer (as outlined in that PDF).

Recently I almost took a project for 40% of my normal rate. Fortunately things worked out and I negotiated 80% of my rate, even though I should probably increase my rate.

It's $150k in 2024 dollars assuming 40 hours/week, which I would consider pretty decent for a minimum - a bit above median depending on who you ask.

The document itself I agree has some parts which are a bit over-the-top but that's probably the case for all hiring advice. When you list the qualities of the perfect candidate out on paper it's guaranteed to look ridiculous.

I found another example where Dane used this hiring strategy:

https://web.archive.org/web/20131208173349/http://thefoundat...

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