

Ask HN: Why no SV startup searches for non-developers/innovators? - Cardeck1

I am rather curious why most of the hiring revolves around developers and no one actually searches for non-developers&#x2F;innovators&#x2F;good-hearted people that you can teach (as Elon Musk put it and almost no one follows his example).<p>While I am aware of our value as developers today, I don&#x27;t understand the low demand for non-devs in US. I can&#x27;t help but wonder what would happen if a new Steve Jobs would be born, would he have a chance in today&#x27;s world? We all know he was an innovator but not even close to a developer.<p>Every month there&#x27;s this &quot;who&#x27;s hiring&quot; thread where you find all kind of jobs yet all of them are made for devs. And it&#x27;s not one thread but almost all hiring discussions are completely avoiding&#x2F;ignoring the other side which leads me to believe they are somehow psychologically extinct or shifted to another industry.<p>I personally believe the world can be changed by anyone from anywhere with or without an ivy league degree or super resumes. After all, change comes from unexpected places. Yet we are only exploiting a very small portion of this world&#x27;s potential when it comes to people&#x27;s ambition and abilities.
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argonaut
1\. Developers are in short supply.

2\. Non-developers are not in short supply, broadly speaking. Every business
guy/girl and their mother wants to get into startups. Finance people, former
consultants, you name it. These are all highly-credentialed, experienced
people, too. Obviously, superstar salespeople and PMs are in high demand.

3\. Startups would rather have as little on the job teaching as possible,
because that would slow them down.

4\. At all the companies I've seen, there is a roughly one or greater than one
to one ratio of non-devs and engineers. So hiring numbers for non-devs and
engineers would seem to be the same. _However_ the supply of devs is highly
constrained, so companies have to expend more effort recruiting engineers.

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mattkrea
I think a lot of that has to do with the people that hire here already have
the idea. They are now looking for people to build it.

