Best sources on hiring issues in tech

November 4, 2014 6:54 PM

After attending the first-ever Staffup Weekend in San Francisco, I've got a 3000-word assignment to write the best piece ever about whether the tech hiring system is broken and if Staffup Weekend is any kind of solution. Who should I interview?

I know about Peter Cappelli, who wrote "Why Good People Can't Get Jobs: The Skills Gap and What Companies Can Do About It" and several other books about the myth of the skills gap. Naturally I'll interview unemployed folks who attended the weekend, the consulting company that put it on, and the sponsor of the event. Also, recruiters. Who else should I talk to? Any experts and/or categories of folks I'm missing?

posted by Bella Donna to Work & Money (6 answers total)

Well, maybe the people who are actually doing the hiring? If they're doing it all wrong, maybe you should try to figure out why.
posted by mr vino at 7:26 PM on November 4, 2014

Best answer: I've never used them personally but you might want to talk to someone at Gild.
posted by radioamy at 7:28 PM on November 4, 2014

I'm currently hiring software engineers, I'd be happy to discuss my experiences memail if you'd like.
posted by askmehow at 7:33 PM on November 4, 2014

Best answer: Semi-somewhat-famous developer Carlos Bueno wrote an article called "Inside the Mirrortocracy" (and followup "Refactoring the Mirrortocracy") that I thought was really insightful and that seems relevant here. Maybe he'd field some questions via email?
posted by Mr. Professional at 7:45 PM on November 4, 2014 [3 favorites]

Best answer: I'm sure someone at hired.com would have something to say about this. There might be similar outfits as well.
posted by the agents of KAOS at 10:46 PM on November 4, 2014

Best answer: I really liked this article about a guy who set up a recruiter honeypot, in order to find good recruiters. As a bonus, it lightly touches on gender issues, like need to recruit short term contracts to fill pregnancy related / FMLA leave. The hackernews discussion on the article was pretty vigorous as well.

There are countless more recruiter stories on hackernews / reddit. It's a goldmine in the waiting.
posted by pwnguin at 8:28 PM on November 5, 2014