
Ask HN: How do you assess Junior Developers before hiring them? - vladimirsvsv77
Which extraordinary or new methods do you use for assessing Jr candidates? I&#x27;ve heard about trial hiring, what do you think about it? Perhaps, just tests or only interviewing are enough?
======
muzani
Juniors you filter for potential. If you wanted a low risk, higher skilled
person you'd take a senior. Juniors are more of a gamble and I think most of
thr ageism in the industry comes from the fact that seniors are clear where
they land, but with juniors you can hire a girl who can contribute $100k/month
of work at a salary of $10k/month.

Most interviewing techniques filter the top and bottom of the talent pool.
Large organizations are fine with this. It's less risk, more control, and if
they wanted a genius, they'd just acquire.

So you don't want to follow thr FAANG style of recruiting. The best ones that
do well with that filter have already been snapped up anyway.

One of my favorite tricks is just to ask them to build something. Minesweeper
or a roguelike, even if they're a web dev. The idea is not to have them finish
it in 4 hours but see their approach.

Do they write specs? Do they write tests? How much do they design for? You
probably don't want to hire someone who designs for a week when the target is
2 hours.

What's the balance between planning and development? Usually the bad ones have
none of either. It also tests how they deal with huge problems, something that
happens all the time in this field.

Test for whatever you're hiring for. If you don't optimize much don't test too
much there. If it's a front end job, get them to do some animations. The best
ones have some prior experience before the job, see if they'll surprise you.

------
trcollinson
When I hire junior developers the only evaluation I'm looking for is how they
fit with me and my team. I don't worry too much about anything beyond basic
skills. I then realize that I will have a large amount of training I will have
to do with them. Which is absolutely fine. I like that part of hiring junior
developers.

The thing you have to remember when hiring junior is the burden of making them
effective is on you.

~~~
vladimirsvsv77
Yes, sure. We understand that we have to invest a lot of time in training.
Have you ever considered a trial hiring for evaluation of fit with your team?
We're thinking of trying it.

~~~
trcollinson
I absolutely have. I actually enjoy a contract to hire sort of scenario for a
lot of my hiring. I think it works out well.

~~~
vladimirsvsv77
Thanks, I think we will try it too.

------
hackermailman
The work-sample tests method or internship (paid hopefully)
[https://sockpuppet.org/blog/2015/03/06/the-hiring-
post/#work...](https://sockpuppet.org/blog/2015/03/06/the-hiring-
post/#worksample) is almost exactly what we do where I work now to judge new
hires

~~~
redhale
I like this idea, but this specific aspect seems somewhat troubling:

> "We let candidates do this work on their own time, from their own home,
> whenever they wanted to"

I'm curious -- how do you control for someone who successfully accomplishes
the coding talk, but needed 40 hours to do the work which you expected to take
4 hours?

~~~
nootScadoot
I think this system is built on equal parts reliability and time management.

It becomes less of "Get this thing done by today" and more of "Get these 5
things done by the end of the week".

One developer might just leave it to the last minute or perhaps fail to
deliver if they underestimate the scope of work, failing to deliver makes him
more unreliable and shows he has a poor grasp on time management and needs day
to day focus.

Another Developer may be more conservative with how much time they have
available, but may still be working on a different wavelength in terms of day
to day expectations, however at the end of the week, they deliver on time.
This makes him more reliable and show that he has a good grasp on time
management so far, so it shows that less day to day focus is needed on him.

------
sloaken
By junior I assume you mean NO experience working in the field.

The best I have seen has been where the company hires them while they are
student for a co-op / intern program. You must pay them a decent wage. You
must give them real work.

Then you have to establish criteria for hiring. Note if you do not pay them a
good wage as an intern, they will look elsewhere for a job.

For criteria I recommend:

1) do they fit / can they get along 2) honesty - this one is tougher than it
sounds. When they screw up do they tell you or hide it? When they do not know
an answer do they make something up 3) can the learn - listening is different
than learning 4) are they inquisitive, do the ask question, do they challenge
you "why do we do it this way?" "have you thought of doing it another way" 5)
raw talent (notice this is last on the list)

Of course most of this criteria applies to regular job interview.

<begin bitch-fest> When I hear of people having tests or coding projects on an
interview it makes me sad. The person doing the interview should be able to
read your resume and determine if the interviewee has the skills / talent.
They should be able, with a set of well formed questions be able to determine
the parts that are not mentioned in the resume and validate your resume.

Myself I have a set of questions I use for all candidates, and a set that I
make up for each candidate based on their resume. It takes time, but when you
consider the cost / value result, it is time well spent.

Sadly most interviewers do not know what they are doing.

Of course this is where HR should be doing the training, but I have met very
few HR people who I thought were capable of their jobs.

Remember hiring someone is not like buying a computer or a car, which are
easily disposed of. It is closer to a house or getting married, separation
will be painful, and you will spend a lot of emotion with this person.

------
Spooky23
Look for smart and gets things done. Evidence of grit, hard work or musical
ability.

The best junior tech people I have ever hired was a intern who was a wedding
planner, a veteran who was a pharmacy tech, an early Apple genius, and a
professional musician. All are in senior tech or dev roles and two had BAs.

------
kpsychwave
Hire for adaptability. How soon after being hired do they provide value? Wrote
an article about it here:
[https://link.medium.com/AifgIE7AvV](https://link.medium.com/AifgIE7AvV)

