
Ask HN: Results of hiring senior engineers from StackOverFlow ads? - joshdance
We are considering putting an ad on SO hiring a Senior Engineer.<p>Anyone have stories about how effective it is?
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mlthoughts2018
It really depends on the skill area you are looking to focus on. If you're
looking for senior web developers or general backend system developers, it can
be a good place.

If you're looking for a special technical skill set like security,
cryptography, specific database systems, machine learning, other mathematics
focuses, etc., it can be a lot harder.

In my experience talking with candidates from SO the main issues are:

\- it is perceived as being overrun with start-up job ads looking for cheap,
"full-stack" engineers, with job ads that have a distinctly "disposable
engineer" vibe to them.

\- among more legitimate-sounding ads, the perception is that it's all web
development, not really worth the effort to search if you're in a technical
specialty area.

\- Stack Overflow itself does not really enforce employers to be any nicer
than they have to be on any other site. Employers still give little or no
feedback, waste candidate time, and 'ghost' them by dropping out of
communication inexplicably in parts of the interview process.

\- I've also heard from candidates, and experienced myself, almost outright
_antagonism_ for having a high reputation score on the site, or having a
curated list of well-written answers highlighting skills.

The last point goes into much bigger issues with tech hiring, like the whole
whiteboard hazing phenomenon, and the arms race to have more and more
outrageously complex interview practices or inappropriate hiring standards
(like rapidly answering esoteric trivia through some online coding test
portal).

It seems like when a candidate can give you something, like a link to their
GitHub page, a link to a live-running personal project, a link to their Stack
Overflow answers -- then other developers in the interview process almost act
_more antagonistic_ and _more skeptical_ of someone's software skills --
almost like they need to prove that the candidate is not as skilled as they
are, and that these outward credentials don't matter.

It's an attitude like, _" only the credentials that I have matter, so I need
to poke holes in this other person's profile, to validate myself as being
better."_

I've definitely reached out to passive candidates on Stack Overflow and
learned feedback like this, that they don't pay much attention to job activity
there because if they put effort into their Q&A activity, it's as likely to be
held against them as it is to help get them a job.

These are just my experiences ... your mileage may vary.

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tzahola
Your last point makes me very sad.

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imhoguy
Sure sad, but sometimes better to uncover company culture issues quickly and
leave before engaging. Would you like to work with such selfish perfectionist
everyday?

~~~
tzahola
True. The company I worked for the shortest time in my life had a similar
culture. There was basically no interaction between employees other than
trying to one-up each other with tricky math puzzles and obscure details of
the C++ specification. And not in a friendly banter way. I quit after 4
months.

~~~
acou_nPlusOne_t
Even more vicious behaviour if the employees add these math puzzles,
unnecessarily to code and setup traps for those who interact with the
component.

