June 9, 2008

Six Tips for Hiring Good Programmers

1864823746_d6bb92c305.jpg There has been a useful discussion on Twitter (of all places!) among some of the THATCamp participants about how to write a good help wanted ad for programmers for digital humanities projects. Here are a few of the suggestions, mostly from the programmers in the bunch:

  • “All depends on what you’re looking for: a real programmer or just a code secretary? Good coders show up for fun real problems … code secretary = comes to meetings, takes orders, transcribes them into code without creative insight.”
  • “Regardless of the title, make clear if people will have the authority to use their own creativity and do things in new ways.”
  • “One suggestion is to get tied in to local user-group communities—especially ones that attract freelancers and learners.”
  • “But good programmers also get paid a bit better, and thrive on a community of other programmers (which means other area employers).”
  • “Another thing to tout is the ability to choose the technical stack, & freedom to explore new languages/frameworks, if true.”
  • “Also, is there any chance you could offer a referral bonus to univ employees? No better applicants than that.”

Good tips. Good use of Twitter.

[Thanks to Karin Dalziel, Adam Solove, and Ben Brumfield for allowing me to republish this conversation! Image credit: Matt Wetzler.]

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