
Would you hire this developer? - pius
http://www.fromdelhi.com/2008/09/30/would-you-hire-this-ruby-on-rails-developer/
======
huhtenberg
Both sides have a problem with an attitude and are worthy of each other.

> _Contributing to open source projects matters more than your marks in school
> to us and to a lot of other companies around._

Maybe it matters more to _them_ and perhaps it's specific to India, but in
Canada participation of a candidate in open source projects is of just a
cursory interest. Besides quoted exchange states that they simply wanted to
look at guy's code. If so, then just ask for it. Getting into "thou shalt
contribute to the open source" tirade is pretty much pointless given the
context.

~~~
danielharan
What part of Canada are you in?

In Montreal, many companies routinely ask if a developer has open source
projects, or code samples.

If a company doesn't do this they are hiring based on resume and interview
only, rather than seeing actual code.

~~~
huhtenberg
> _or code samples_

That's exactly my point. No one here (at least in my experience) focuses on
open source contributions per se. The end goal generally is to look at _some_
code that a candidate have written, not necessarily the open source one.

Of course there are exceptions. For certain positions you will get a big bonus
for any contributions to a _specific_ high-profile open source project. But
this has less to do with a code you wrote and more with domain knowledge you
picked up along the way.

~~~
neilc
I valued open source contributions highly when I was interviewing candidates:
it demonstrates that you're someone who is passionate about programming and
enjoys building things in your free time. That's exactly the sort of candidate
that I think a lot of startups ought to be looking to hire.

But I think the question of open source contribution is completely different
from "show us some code." The latter is intended to get a look at some of the
actual work you've produced; the former is just another part of your work
experience, formal or informal.

------
run4yourlives
Maybe something's lost in translation there, but I can't believe the attitude
of some people applying for jobs these days.

I mean, you need to convince the person that is reviewing your application
that you are somehow extra special. I find it hard to understand how you'll do
that by being arrogant and rude.

~~~
bigthboy
I've noticed this in not only my current project but previous projects that
I've worked on. When we're looking for someone to help do some specific
programming tasks we tend to have a problem with people not really being
polite in their applications. They treat it as though they did it as more of
an afterthought. I don't seem to see this problem in artistic positions...

------
ashleyw
There are tons of developers in India, check this out:

<http://www.google.com/trends?q=programming>

The problem is for many, its a job, just like working at McDonalds — they
aren't like us, they don't go home and work on open source projects and the
like.

Also, with the mass of people doing it, especially those with little passion
for the industry, they sometimes don't take care when it comes to security,
etc..

Now thats not to say all developers from India are bad programmers, I've
worked with quite a few code ninjas...you've just got to be careful!

~~~
bigbang
The languages section from Google trends for the query "programming" 1\.
Tagalog 2\. English 3\. Russian

------
bigthboy
Under most circumstances I would not and have not hired any programmer who
could not provide some sort of demonstration program with a clean source and
stable compile (depending on the language).

------
aasarava
No -- but not because the developer didn't contribute to an open source
project.

Communication skills are important in development, especially when you're
working on a team and for someone else. The cover letter / intro email is the
first test in the hiring process. Even if English is not your first language,
you should be able to effectively introduce yourself, your skill set, your
experience, and your interest in the position -- plus answer any other
questions in the job posting.

This candidate failed the very first test. The "delete" key -- or, if the
hiring manager is super nice, the "no thanks, good luck" reply -- should have
been used immediately.

------
Tichy
"We only work with devlopers who are willing to donate 20000$ to charity"????

~~~
danielharan
$20k? charity?

I have projects with 20-100 LOC up on github, for my own convenience. It costs
me nothing to make these public if I can't sell them - that's not charity.

~~~
zain
Your time costs something.

~~~
sown
Not when I'm at home. :)

I'm not some piece of machinery that can work 24/7 so there are certain
externalities that don't quite match up to accounting. Goodwill perhaps?

I get paid a certain salary whether I show up for 30 or 60 hours. It doesn't
matter so long as the work gets done. If you're a contractor, do you take your
time while your asleep and deduct it as a business cost?

~~~
Tichy
If you contribute to Open Source Software, you probably do it in a state in
which you would have been able to work instead.

Even if you are at home, your time costs money. Opportunity costs.

------
SwellJoe
Historically, I've only ever hired developers I've found through their
contributions to Open Source software...but I've always built Open Source
software, predominantly, so I wouldn't know how to select developers
otherwise. But, it pretty much rules out the process of weeding through dozens
of pointless applications like this, since I usually approach the developers I
want to hire.

------
jjburka
honestly I wouldn't hire anyone that can't take the time to spell out "you"

~~~
huhtenberg
> _honestly I wouldn't hire anyone that can't take the time to spell out
> "you"_

How about people who don't capitalize first letter in the sentence and don't
put a dot at the end ? :)

~~~
scribblewiki
One person is applying for a job, the other is writing on a social news site.
Yeah those are the same.

~~~
huhtenberg
Of course they are not. That's why there's a :) at the end.

------
vaksel
I would have ignored the application when I saw the first email. 1 year
experience + no English is a bad combination.

\+ lack of open source and 1 year, tells me that this is someone who just
picked up a book and hasn't really done anything yet

------
nose
> _attitude of Indian developers towards contributing to open source projects_

Huh? I know plenty of Indian open source developers (myself included)

------
tptacek
No.

