Upgrade to Pro
— share decks privately, control downloads, hide ads and more …
Speaker Deck
Features
Speaker Deck
PRO
Sign in
Sign up for free
Search
Search
Hiring for Your Stack is All Wrong
Search
j3
May 19, 2015
Technology
2
500
Hiring for Your Stack is All Wrong
This presentation was delivered at the Ronin Labs CTO Summit in NYC and SF in May of 2015.
j3
May 19, 2015
Tweet
Share
More Decks by j3
See All by j3
Hiring the Best Talent
j3
0
210
Great Technical Interviews
j3
1
490
Opportunity@Work / TechHire
j3
0
74
Building an Innovation Community
j3
0
73
Just Be Fucking Awesome
j3
1
300
Pragmatic TDD
j3
1
230
Don't Use Spree
j3
0
140
Just Be Fucking Awesome
j3
3
430
Internationalization & Localization
j3
8
1k
Other Decks in Technology
See All in Technology
サイト信頼性エンジニアリングとAmazon Web Services / SRE and AWS
ymotongpoo
7
1.5k
脳波を用いた嗜好マッチングシステム
hokkey621
0
280
(機械学習システムでも) SLO から始める信頼性構築 - ゆる SRE#9 2025/02/21
daigo0927
0
260
内製化を加速させるlaC活用術
nrinetcom
PRO
2
140
依存パッケージの更新はコツコツが勝つコツ! / phpcon_nagoya2025
blue_goheimochi
3
210
OSS構成管理ツールCMDBuildを使ったAWSリソース管理の自動化
satorufunai
0
640
LINE NEWSにおけるバックエンド開発
lycorptech_jp
PRO
0
230
4th place solution Eedi - Mining Misconceptions in Mathematics
rist
0
140
スキルだけでは満たせない、 “組織全体に”なじむオンボーディング/Onboarding that fits “throughout the organization” and cannot be satisfied by skills alone
bitkey
0
170
データベースの負荷を紐解く/untangle-the-database-load
emiki
2
500
いまからでも遅くない!コンテナでWebアプリを動かしてみよう!コンテナハンズオン編
nomu
0
150
クラウドサービス事業者におけるOSS
tagomoris
4
1k
Featured
See All Featured
A better future with KSS
kneath
238
17k
Cheating the UX When There Is Nothing More to Optimize - PixelPioneers
stephaniewalter
280
13k
Code Reviewing Like a Champion
maltzj
521
39k
Embracing the Ebb and Flow
colly
84
4.6k
Done Done
chrislema
182
16k
It's Worth the Effort
3n
184
28k
Visualization
eitanlees
146
15k
Evolution of real-time – Irina Nazarova, EuRuKo, 2024
irinanazarova
6
570
Responsive Adventures: Dirty Tricks From The Dark Corners of Front-End
smashingmag
251
21k
実際に使うSQLの書き方 徹底解説 / pgcon21j-tutorial
soudai
175
52k
Sharpening the Axe: The Primacy of Toolmaking
bcantrill
40
2k
How STYLIGHT went responsive
nonsquared
98
5.4k
Transcript
Hiring for your stack is all wrong Jeff Casimir /
@j3 / turing.io
Building Teams
What makes a developer the right fit?
Years of experience? Mastery of a stack?
What about you?
Let’s hire people for who they’ll become, not what
they’ve done.
The MVT
“I’ve never seen a technical project fail for
technical reasons.”
None
Product < People
Each team has a set of skill and cultural
needs
Confidence Humility Collaboration Growth Empathy Grit Sales Design / UI
UX / Product Backend Ops Service
Rob The Product Person Collaboration Empathy Sales Design / UI
UX / Product Service
Jamie Data Cruncher Humility Collaboration Growth Backend Ops
+ =
Confidence Humility Collaboration Growth Empathy Grit Sales Design / UI
UX / Product Backend Ops Service
None
Instead of “fit”, find a complement
Stability & MVT
Right people at the right time
Teams stabilize like the electrons of an atom
None
4 12 32 128
Confidence Humility Collaboration Growth Empathy Grit Sales Design / UI
UX / Product Backend Ops Service 4 12 32 128
Level A: 4
• Extreme risk tolerance • Mission definers • Hacker mindset
Level A (4): Overview
• Passion for the problem • Safety net • Culture
trendsetters • Wants responsibilities Level A (4): Profile
• Tech over mission • Seeks silos • Accustomed to
instruction Level A (4): Dangers
Level B: 12
• High risk tolerance • Mission challengers • Multiple strengths
and interests Level B (12): Overview
• Amplifier • People-people • Comfort with ambiguity • Building
not starting Level B (12): Profile
• The new shiny • Timid about ownership • Over-engineering
Level B (12): Dangers
Level C: 32
• Moderate risk tolerance • Mission believers • Specialist skills
Level C (32): Overview
• The deep diver • Replacing systems • Research, reproduction
• Other people’s code Level C (32): Profile
• Seeking excitement • Profit outcomes • Politicians Level C
(32): Dangers
Level D: 128
• Low risk tolerance • Mission followers • Redundancy and
growth Level D (128): Overview
• Lower pressure • Long-term engagement • Comfortable not-knowing •
Echoing culture Level D (128): Profile
• Entitlement • Things “just work” • Boredom Level D
(128): Dangers
Stability Levels Risk Mission Skills Level A (4) Extreme Definers
Hackers Level B (12) High Challengers Multiple Level C (32) Moderate Believers Specialists Level D (128) Low Followers Redundancy
Processes
None
Knowledge < Processes
Processes allow for iterative learning
Not following a script, writing the script
• Sketch out a plan • Relish uncertainty • Listen
to the work • Correct course • Iterate the process
Finding process people
• Writers • Chemists • Musicians • Social Workers •
Teachers • Bartenders
• Plan • Experiment • Listen • Correct
Potential beyond experience
Aptitudes
Can we try to isolate aptitudes?
Aptitudes: Empathy
The ability to understand the needs, feelings, frustrations, and passions
of others
• Profile five customers • What are their needs, desires,
skills, fears? • What will make them quit? Empathy: Measure It
• Compassion & sensitivity • Excitement for solutions • Understanding
scope Empathy: What to Look For
• Indifference • Biases and -isms • Contempt Empathy: Watch
Out For
None
Aptitudes: Iteration
The ability to integrate new information into a process
• Collaborate on a puzzle (LSAT, tangrams, sudoku) • Teach
along the way • Can they re-apply? Iterate? Improvement: Measure It
• Rational process • Patience & confidence • Changing course
• Listening & application Improvement: What to Look For
• Plowing ahead • Desperation & leaps • Inability to
explain Improvement: Watch Out For
In Action
None
None
“If you can do the job, then you should get
the job.”
TechHire
Hire for who they’ll become, not what they’ve done. Jeff
Casimir / @j3 / turing.io