

Ask HN: Are tech companies becoming more unrealistic in hiring? - diminium

Yes, we know the problems of hiring the "wrong person" and the disasters they can bring to the team.  However, the loss opportunity of being understaffed to not do all the projects you want to do is also an equally difficult problem.<p>Lately, I've seen the requirements of tech hiring get higher and higher and higher.  If it get's any higher, the only people that's available to hire are sociopaths and liars because no living person on earth could ever fulfill these requirements.  If the trend keeps going this way, a guy like Dennis Ritchie would be unhireable!<p>Is it just me or are tech companies becoming more unrealistic in their hiring practices?  Is this a good thing in the long run?
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yen223
It would be acceptable if salaries rose along with requirements. I do not see
that happening where I am.

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project23
I might be wrong but salaries in the bay (and I suspect other tech hubs) are
ridiculous compare to other areas of the US.

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eshvk
Well, taxes, living expenses (Housing, food, transportation) are equally
ridiculous compared to other areas of the US too.

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project23
While true, and more so in recent years than a few years ago, I think the cost
of salary is way more ridiculous than it needs to be because of the bidding
wars. Some are getting above market rate (or what market rate should have
been) and stock out the door. That isn't typical for any other place. And
college grads from Stanford are getting a premium for entry level salary
according to a few TC articles I read that aren't typical for others.

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eshvk
As a person who graduated 10 months back, I am not disagreeing with you that
the raw numbers look crazy. However, when you normalize those taking into
account environmental factors that I mentioned (housing, food and other
expenses), I am not convinced you save remarkably more than you would in a
different part of the country. Again, this is anecdotal evidence based on me
living in SF and Austin, and knowing what salaries look like in both places.

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project23
Sure. I'm basing mine on Portland, Seattle, and SF (areas I've lived in). I'm
sure the housing price jump definitely adds to it more now than ever.

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khyryk
I don't think it's just you. Hopefully enough people get sick of the
"Required: 5 years of experience in every programming language created in the
last 20 years" bullshit sooner rather than later.

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ewams
Or 5 years of experience with something that has only been out for 2 years.

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rkjbnz
They are unrealistic and its been this way for a while. A lot of companies
over rate themselves, they want the best and brightest but if the candidate is
too good they won't stay at an inferior company anyway so depending on the
position someone with less education or experience but is a good learner would
probably be just as good if not better.

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wladimir
Not only tech companies. At least here in the Netherlands the requirements for
any job have been going through the roof, and border on the unrealistic. I
think this is a result of there being a surplus of people competing for jobs
so they feel they can make more demands.

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devlablt
Well, nowadays you can see additional C/C++ and Java requirements for Web
Developer position. The problem is, that some CEO's (or other persons,
responsible for hiring) don't have any idea how to hire a programmer, and what
he/she should know.

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smartwater
So much time is wasted by non programmers interviewing programmers.

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dsawler
I don't know if I agree with this. I think it's important for different
members of the (small) team to interview someone they potentially, and most
likely, will be working with. I'm a designer, but I would want to talk to
someone interviewing as a PM, analyst or dev, since that makes up my team on
any given client project.

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grumps
I fully agree with this. In team environments it's extremely important for the
team to review potential new members. It's also important for a the group to
come to a decision.

