

CEO writes tech hiring blog post, everyone winces… - steffanaquarone
https://blog.dropletpay.com/ceo-writes-tech-hiring-blog-post-everyone-winces/

======
softbuilder
"The more we’ve let our engineers be involved in the fundamental business
model, strategy and direction of our business, the more successful we’ve
been."

I wish more non-technical leaders understood this. It's not that engineers
have all of the answers, it's just that we specialize in thinking critically
and solving problems. That's useful everywhere, not just with technical
matters.

~~~
bowlofpetunias
Also, the details.

The more engineers get involved in the business side, the more they see both
problems and opportunities that remain hidden if you just give them specs, no
matter how good those specs are.

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jwise0
This post is certainly bizarre in many ways; I would agree with the 'wince',
to be sure. The litany of mechanical errors throughout the post substantially
detract from it.

The thing that boggles me the most, though, is when the author goes out to
say: "What about something you believe in [...? ...] surely few things could
motivate you quite like teaching code to disadvantaged kids or working for a
non-commercial organisation to transform something for the greater good using
technology." This makes sense: his point is that people want to work on things
that matter, and that's why people will choose interesting, fulfilling, and
validating projects over employers that pay a huge amount (i.e., quants), or
over employers that have colossal benefits (i.e., Google).

This actually makes lots of sense, and resonates with me. The thing that
boggles, though, is that he proceeds to drop that line of reasoning on the
floor completely; he talks briefly about "contributing to our company", but
says absolutely nothing about why the work that he has to offer is at all
fulfilling...

~~~
steffanaquarone
Thanks for your comment.

What I'm suggesting is that for some people being an active part of shaping
the strategic direction of a business as well as its products is an attractive
thing.

Not sure what the mechanical errors are but grateful if you can help point
them out!

~~~
jwise0
Aha, that makes more sense! You might want to clarify that some when you
initially introduce the message; I think that point is kind of 'hiding' behind
some of the other ideas in your post.

It looks like you fixed one of the more glaring things since I last reloaded
(the 'laser quest' duplicate); I'd suggest doing a pass for punctuation, too
(a bunch of sentences would scan quite a lot better with commas throughout --
"Plus, if ... fund, then ..." is one of the examples of that class that might
go a long way towards setting the stage better to make your point).

~~~
steffanaquarone
Thanks - noted / done

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joslin01
You appear to be looking to hire engineers, and have chosen a cute self-
deprecating title. I didn't figure this out until the last paragraph, but
maybe I'm just slow. I thought you were going to make some meta analysis on
CEOs writing blog posts for engineers.

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neoveller
I winced, because it seemed like the kind of pep-talk speech you might have to
hear over and over again when you get called into a very high-level meeting
without any discussion about execution, in the middle of a workday where you
have code to build and ship instead. There's little here that appeals to my
actual intelligence or abilities that screams "challenge". We can say we're in
it for the social impact and "meaning", but if there's no succinctly-stated
technical challenge to face and succeed over, there's no food on that fishing
hook.

~~~
therobot24
totally, at first the post mentions all the benefits that come from high
paying top flight places like google, and those same benefits are actually
designed to keep you working. Though instead of saying what they offer, they
transition to the fundamentals of their business (structured communication and
involvement with business practices)... so what sets this place apart from
others?

------
euank
I've got a possibly naive question about DropletPay.

I was under the impression that Apple essentially took 30% of all money that
flows through an app. Is there an exception for payment / ecommerce apps? Is
there a special agreement in place? Is this app a "timebomb" that just hasn't
been noticed by apple yet?

It's possible that the "30% of all money" is a bit of misinformation; I can't
find where Apple's app policies are enumerated.

I'd be interested in knowing and I have no doubt someone here has a good idea.

~~~
steffanaquarone
The 30% commission applies to in-app purchases made using the Store Kit
framework. Generally, only digital items are sold this way.

See

[https://www.quora.com/In-App-Purchase-IAP/Do-companies-
like-...](https://www.quora.com/In-App-Purchase-IAP/Do-companies-like-Groupon-
have-to-pay-30-to-Apple-on-all-their-in-app-purchases)

or

[https://developer.apple.com/in-app-purchase/In-App-
Purchase-...](https://developer.apple.com/in-app-purchase/In-App-Purchase-
Guidelines.pdf)

Hope this helps

------
benaston
I think Michael O'Church would have a field day with this one. Particularly
the "frustratingly smart" line.

~~~
steffanaquarone
Good point. Noted and amended.

