

On not hiring (2011) - pushkargaikwad
http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/blog/2011/01/on-not-hiring.html

======
bambax
> _I 'm not the world's best designer by any means, nor am I "classically
> trained" in design as they say, but I like my results_

Don't we all. There should be a rule that says "any non-designer can draw
something that he himself can't improve upon".

I'm certainly not arguing in favor of hiring for the sake of hiring, and
freelance-everything is how I see the future.

But saying anyone can do anything if they just think about it hard enough is a
bit of a stretch. "Jack of all trades, master of none" is real. An actual
designer will save you lots of time.

Additionally, there is value in dialogue; having someone to talk to about
specific problems helps immensely. And who's going to take time to talk with
you about minute details of your product if they're not somehow compensated
for it?

(Service idea: a Q/A site where people could ask questions about their
products as they're building them. Does this exist already? Some subreddit
maybe?)

~~~
rjzzleep
Programming, drawing, they're all just tools of the trade. It's like a hammer
in the hand of a sculptor. Depending on talent and time (not either alone) you
might get different results coming out.

People like to think in absolutes. You're either a designer, or you're
engineer. You're either a scientist, or you're a philosopher. This attitude is
not only wrong, but also completely contrary to what our "hero's" have taught
us.

I myself went to art school when I was a kid, I didn't even realize until I
thought about it a while back. Does that make me a designer? Not really. Could
I pick it up if I put enough effort and time into it? Almost certainly, but
will I?

The other thing is environment. The creativity part comes from the environment
you're in. Good scientists have scientists around them that help them
brainstorm even without brainstorming(not in the business sense of hey let's
sit down and brainstorm, and more in the sense of discussing random thoughts
at lunch or w/e). It's no different from Github, dribbble, conferences or a
lot of other things that can be considered "environment". Part of why people
want to work at google is because of the environment.

I attached a blog post of a pretty good designer that made the transition from
being an engineer. [1]

[1] [http://somerandomdude.com/2012/01/10/transition-from-
develop...](http://somerandomdude.com/2012/01/10/transition-from-development-
to-design/)

~~~
bambax
Totally agree with most of what you are saying, except that there are trades;
you can certainly be an engineer and a designer at the same time if you have
given each occupation enough work and attention; but mastering anything takes
time and just because you got yourself a chisel doesn't make you Phidias.

(Case in point: the new Yahoo! logo, that was drawn according to the principle
that if you can start Illustrator, you're Jony Ive
[http://marissamayr.tumblr.com/post/60336044815/geeking-
out-o...](http://marissamayr.tumblr.com/post/60336044815/geeking-out-on-the-
logo))

------
pauleastlund
I enjoyed clicking through the "more about me" link at the bottom of the
article and seeing a big picture of Gabriel next to the text: "We're always
hiring!"

A couple people have started picking at the blanket statements in the article,
and, granted, none of them are universally true. The point about DIY design
irked me a bit, too. With that said, I think the kernel of this article is
absolutely right: too many startups are far too intent on raising a bunch of
money to hire a ton of people because they think that's what growth is about.
(And because running a big organization, even one that doesn't have a customer
base to speak of, is a fantastic ego trip.)

------
Peroni
>The wrong person can negatively impact your startup.

Of course this is true however the opposite is not only true, it's more
common. Otherwise, companies would fire more people than they hire.

>People also tend to underestimate the time it will require post-hiring and
post-ramp-up to manage your hire(s).

Categorically true. Hiring is a massive time sink. Recruitment companies are
an exceptionally inefficient attempt at a solution which is why more and more
early stage startups are recognising the value of hiring an inhouse recruiter.

>And finally, hiring takes money. It increases your burn rate significantly.

Whilst true, just like the first point, the opposite is also true. Hiring the
right people can have an immediate, positive impact on cash flow.

I do tend to agree with the overall premise that more staff != success and I
think that's certainly true of early stage companies.

~~~
cperciva
_Otherwise, companies would fire more people than they hire._

I don't think that's possible in the long run...

------
morgante
> I'm now three years into DuckDuckGo, and still haven't hired.

What? According to the company webpage, they have 20 employees. [1] This post
seems purposefully disingenuous, just to make a point.

1: [https://duck.co/help/company/hiring](https://duck.co/help/company/hiring)

~~~
cperciva
This blog post was from January 2011. The first employee (Caine Tighe) was
hired in September 2011.

------
oskarth
This is the key sentence:

 _" We need to build x, y and z, ASAP." Before you've figured out
distribution? What evidence do you have that x, y and z, once built, will make
customer acquisition any easier?_

Find the right path, then scale it up. Which yegg (Gabriel Weinberg) did,
later that year [1].

One could disagree with him and say that hiring people allows you to find the
right path quicker, which may or may not be true.

1: [https://duckduckgo.com/traffic.html](https://duckduckgo.com/traffic.html)

------
mathattack
Can anyone talk to how well this has held up over time for them? A quick
search on LinkedIn suggests only 2 employees.
([https://www.linkedin.com/vsearch/p?f_CC=1476706](https://www.linkedin.com/vsearch/p?f_CC=1476706))
Is this really the case?

~~~
cainetighe
A lot of our employees don't use LinkedIn. A leadership / core team page is on
the horizon, but we've been working on cooler / product stuff :). As others
have said, we're ~20 people; ~75% remote. I think our unique approach to
hiring (inbound / sparingly) has helped us form an excellent team where, once
a core team member is added, trust is just built-in. I can't stress enough how
important that is to delivering on our mission with a small team.

~~~
mathattack
Thanks for sharing. It's amazing what a small group of talented and engaged
employees can accomplish.

