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Hiring for Your Stack is All Wrong
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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
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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