Help me hire a programmer

March 23, 2006 6:18 AM

Where should I advertise to hire a programmer in Stamford, CT.

We are a mid-sized fianancial services firm located in Stamford, CT looking to hire a programmer. We are looking for a real gear head, who can produce good code on several different projects and who can work independently. We have postings on Bloomberg and CraigsList but have had uninspireing responses. Aside from recruiters, where else should I be looking?

posted by shothotbot to work & money (9 comments total)

(Sorry about the misspellings above. I have spell checked my ads)
posted by shothotbot at 6:19 AM on March 23, 2006

You could try contacting some colleges that have good computer science programs, and letting the CS departments and the career services know that you are looking. This doesn't have to be limited to your geographic area, since alumni sometimes check in with their career services depatments when looking for a job, and the professors in the CS department might pass on the info to graduates who they keep in touch with.

Brown University would be a great place to start - I recall several on-campus techie career fairs from my time there that you could look into getting involved in, and it's close enough that a campus visit could be a day-trip.
posted by Sprout the Vulgarian at 7:14 AM on March 23, 2006

I'm not sure which city you've posted to on Craigslist, but have you tried advertising in New York City in general? Stamford would be an easy reverse-commute for someone who lives in the city, especially if you'd be willing to work out a once-a-week work-from-home deal. Maybe also try the NYTimes web classifieds.
posted by CiaoMela at 7:19 AM on March 23, 2006

Does your programmer need to work from the office, or can they work from home?

Given the job description, the latter seems feasible but some people are funny about such things.
posted by I Love Tacos at 7:53 AM on March 23, 2006

There's a jobs board on JoelOnSoftware (he's based in NYC). He might be too well known now, but there certainly used to be a fairly high quality of discussion about software development on his site.
posted by crocomancer at 7:54 AM on March 23, 2006

I always see and hear fairfieldcountyjobs.com, fairfieldcountyhelpwanted.com, and monster.com advertised in those areas. If you haven't posted ads there yet, you should think about it; I think most people in the area are familiar with those sites and would check them for job postings.

You may also want to check at area colleges, as was suggested above -- but you don't need to go as far as Brown, I don't think. You could try places like UHart, which has a decent reputation and is much closer.
posted by booksandlibretti at 8:58 AM on March 23, 2006

Well, I grew up in Fairfield County and the New York Times was always where people looked for professional jobs. Times have changed, however, what with these newfangled corporate parks and so forth, so why not try the Stamford Advocate? You might find a candidate who lives in Stamford and is tired of commuting to NYC.
posted by scratch at 10:48 AM on March 23, 2006

If you hang out in the parking garage at UBS, you'll grab a couple of financial programmers. That place is driven like a NYC programming house, but without the good Chinese food. From the few times I've been in there, I had the sense that the HR person's forehead had the word "attrition" branded on it.

Additionally, all the programming lunks that work up on the New Cannaan line stand around and look at nothing but train schedules all morning. A simple sign in something like the Springdale train "we'd really like to call it a station but it isn't" station might do you wonders for those disaffected workers.
posted by thanotopsis at 1:17 PM on March 23, 2006

The suggestions so far have been great, so all I can add is that generally you'll probably want to get away from craigslist and other free sites. If you are serious about your search for a serious full-time programmer - and paying him the serious money he will demand - it'd be best to demonstrate that by spending some money on the search. For instance: on Tuesdays (I think) the Wall Street Journal has help-wanteded adds. Being the WSJ, this is where companies looking for CEOs advertise, so its where real professionals looking for a job look.

Also, you could try contacting the career center at UCONN's Stamford campus. Its unlikely, but you may find someone through them.
posted by ChasFile at 6:26 PM on March 23, 2006