Hiring for Your Stack is All Wrong

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Hiring for your stack is all wrong Jeﬀ Casimir / @j3 / turing.io

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Building Teams

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What makes a developer   the right ﬁt?

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Years of experience?  Mastery of a stack?

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What about you?

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Let’s hire people for   who they’ll become,  not what they’ve done.

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The MVT

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“I’ve never seen   a technical project fail   for technical reasons.”

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Product < People

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Each team has a set of   skill and cultural needs

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Conﬁdence Humility Collaboration Growth Empathy Grit Sales Design / UI UX / Product Backend Ops Service

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Rob  The Product Person Collaboration Empathy Sales Design / UI UX / Product Service

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Jamie  Data Cruncher Humility Collaboration Growth Backend Ops

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+ =

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Conﬁdence Humility Collaboration Growth Empathy Grit Sales Design / UI UX / Product Backend Ops Service

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Instead of “ﬁt”,  ﬁnd a complement

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Stability & MVT

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Right people at the  right time

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Teams stabilize like   the electrons of an atom

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4 12 32 128

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Conﬁdence Humility Collaboration Growth Empathy Grit Sales Design / UI UX / Product Backend Ops Service 4 12 32 128

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Level A: 4

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• Extreme risk tolerance • Mission deﬁners • Hacker mindset Level A (4): Overview

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• Passion for the problem • Safety net • Culture trendsetters • Wants responsibilities Level A (4): Proﬁle

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• Tech over mission • Seeks silos • Accustomed to instruction Level A (4): Dangers

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Level B: 12

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• High risk tolerance • Mission challengers • Multiple strengths and interests Level B (12): Overview

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• Ampliﬁer • People-people • Comfort with ambiguity • Building not starting Level B (12): Proﬁle

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• The new shiny • Timid about ownership • Over-engineering Level B (12): Dangers

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Level C: 32

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• Moderate risk tolerance • Mission believers • Specialist skills Level C (32): Overview

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• The deep diver • Replacing systems • Research, reproduction • Other people’s code Level C (32): Proﬁle

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• Seeking excitement • Proﬁt outcomes • Politicians Level C (32): Dangers

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Level D: 128

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• Low risk tolerance • Mission followers • Redundancy and growth Level D (128): Overview

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• Lower pressure • Long-term engagement • Comfortable not-knowing • Echoing culture Level D (128): Proﬁle

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• Entitlement • Things “just work” • Boredom Level D (128): Dangers

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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

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Processes

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Knowledge < Processes

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Processes allow for  iterative learning

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Not following a script, writing the script

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• Sketch out a plan • Relish uncertainty • Listen to the work • Correct course • Iterate the process

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Finding process people

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• Writers • Chemists • Musicians • Social Workers • Teachers • Bartenders

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• Plan • Experiment • Listen • Correct

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Potential beyond experience

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Aptitudes

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Can we try to   isolate aptitudes?

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Aptitudes: Empathy

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The ability to understand the needs, feelings, frustrations, and passions of others

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• Proﬁle ﬁve customers • What are their needs, desires, skills, fears? • What will make them quit? Empathy: Measure It

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• Compassion & sensitivity • Excitement for solutions • Understanding scope Empathy: What to Look For

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• Indiﬀerence • Biases and -isms • Contempt Empathy: Watch Out For

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Aptitudes: Iteration

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The ability to integrate   new information into a process

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• Collaborate on a puzzle (LSAT, tangrams, sudoku) • Teach along the way • Can they re-apply? Iterate? Improvement: Measure It

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• Rational process • Patience & conﬁdence • Changing course • Listening & application Improvement: What to Look For

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• Plowing ahead • Desperation & leaps • Inability to explain Improvement: Watch Out For

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In Action

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“If you can do the job,  then you should get the job.”

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TechHire

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Hire for who they’ll become,  not what they’ve done. Jeﬀ Casimir / @j3 / turing.io