O/T : Looking for an entry level LAMP developer for contract work.

Fri Jul 31 03:40:52 MST 2015

i would help anyway i can

On Fri, Jul 24, 2015 at 12:21 AM, der.hans <PLUGd at lufthans.com> wrote:

> Am 23. Jul, 2015 schwätzte Keith Smith so:
>
> moin moin Keith,
>
> der.hans, is there a solution to this and if so what is it? Great piece by
>> the way.
>>
>
> Danke.
>
> The best solution I have is personal contacts via relevant technical
> groups.
>
> Sure, there is some networking via normal social interaction or social
> media, but user groups, conferences, technical mailing lists, etc. have
> much higher signal to noise ratio for technical hiring.
>
> The most important aspect of this is to be involved in the community.
>
> For developers that means you should be working on Free Software projects
> and getting patches accepted. That's your portfolio. It's also a great way
> to find companies who are hiring people to work on the project.
>
> For everyone ( including developers ) that means participating in
> community groups and events. PLUG and SCaLE are great examples of that. As
> are relevant IRC channels and mailing lists.
>
> Community participation also helps keep you fresh and helps stoke your
> motivation.
>
> HR is important ( especially when you want to know about benefits ), but
> very few companies have HR versed in tech.
>
> Expecting technical chops in HR isn't realistic. I don't expect HR to
> be versed in all the technology I've worked on over the years, just as
> I don't expect to know how to evaluate the resume or skills of someone
> applying to be an accountant or marketer or graphic artist.
>
> I do know a few recruiters who at least understand they should be involved
> in the community. They're the ones I talk to when I have questions :).
>
> Talking to people on the team that's hiring or directly to the hiring
> manager skips HR and talks to the relevant customer ( the team that is
> hiring ). Find out what the real job and figure out if it might be a good
> fit from both perspectives.
>
> Most of my jobs have come from inside referrals or seeing someone in IRC
> mention that they're looking for someone. I've also earned quite a few
> referral bonuses in the last couple of years. I've also referred people
> into companies I don't work at.
>
> So, what can "we" do?
>
> Last year I hosted several job events at Stammtisch. We had a couple of
> hires through that. There were two types of events: job networking; resume
> assistance.
>
> The job networking event works best if we have hiring managers or
> engineers from teams that are hiring attending.
>
> The resume assistance was me and one of the recruiters I know going over
> resumes and helping people improve them. A big part of the assistance was
> helping entry-level and junior-level applicants list all of their relevant
> experience.
>
> I would like to continue with the job events, but we need more people
> helping. For instance, I had planned to have one during the last 3 months,
> but kept getting busy and not announcing it.
>
> Who is interested in helping?
>
> ciao,
>
> der.hans
>
>
> On 2015-07-22 22:40, der.hans wrote:
>>
>>> Am 22. Jul, 2015 schwätzte Nathan England so:
>>>
>>> moin moin,
>>>
>>> The company I currently work for has 3 developer position openings and
>>>> in 4 months we've had only two candidates apply. That seems to me a real
>>>> need for developers. Either that or the job description is too complicated
>>>> for them to get past.
>>>>
>>>
>>> ( None of this is pointing at any specific person or company, it just
>>> seems like the best place in the thread to mention it. )
>>>
>>> There's an open secret about tech unemployment, it's been really low for
>>> years, even when general unemployment was really high.
>>>
>>> Due to this apparently being a secret, we get job descriptions that list
>>> every technology someone can cut and paste from Internet search results.
>>>
>>> But, since tech unemployment is actually low, it's hard to find
>>> candidates.
>>>
>>> In tech we're also usually looking for specialists. Do welding companies
>>> ask for someone expert in one particular welder? Are there dozens of
>>> brands of welders to choose from such that skills ( from the viewpoint of
>>> HR ) don't transfer to another brand of welder? Sorry, you only know java
>>> welders...
>>>
>>> So, we have a lack of candidates because people have jobs and don't
>>> need to look around and also because job descriptions are searching for
>>> unrealistic lists of skills while simultaneously focusing on narrow
>>> fields.
>>>
>>> Then, when candidates do appear, many get overlooked due to the narrow
>>> field view or lack of buzzwork bingo on their resumes. The habitually
>>> unemployed or new to the field seem are really up against heavy odds,
>>> even
>>> in the low unemployment state we've been in for years.
>>>
>>> Even an expert will have a learning curve to learn how your environment
>>> does it. The example I like to give is that if you hire Larry Wall to
>>> join
>>> your Perl team ( or Guido von Rossum for Python or Rasmus Lerdorf for
>>> PHP... ), he will need time to learn how your team works. Granted, if he
>>> then makes suggestions your team should probably listen intently :).
>>>
>>> For entry and junior level positions, look for candidates that are good
>>> at
>>> technology and learning, then give them room to grow into the specific
>>> position. You need that anyway because your environment *is* different.
>>>
>>> For senior positions, find those who know the field, then see if you
>>> think
>>> they can become the expert you need. The most likely reason we're looking
>>> is to do something new :).
>>>
>>> Also, please cross-train so when someone does leave the rest of the team
>>> isn't left with huge gaps in knowledge and experience!
>>>
>>> ciao,
>>>
>>> der.hans
>>>
>>> Nathan
>>>>
>>>> On 2015-07-22 10:45, Keith Smith wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>
>>>>> I posted for an entry level LAMP developer a week or so ago figuring I
>>>>> would find a number of people wanting to break into LAMP development.
>>>>> What I received was a lackluster response.  I was offering $22/hr 1099
>>>>> with the potential to bill 40 hours a week.  I figured by the time
>>>>> that person pays for health insurance figured at $250/mo, pays he self
>>>>> employment tax, and takes some vacation time and holiday time off,
>>>>> this compensation would be about $18 an hour W2 or $36,000 a year.
>>>>>
>>>>> Here is the contract description:
>>>>>
>>>>> I am looking for an entry level LAMP developer.  Would like someone
>>>>> with entry level PHP skills and entry level Linux skills.  Stuff like
>>>>> the ability to add a user, add a sudo user, and configure vhosts on
>>>>> apache.  I will give directions with examples and they will be working
>>>>> on a development VPS so if they blow it we just spin up another.  As
>>>>> for PHP skills if this person knows how to write a MySql connection
>>>>> string and is able to insert, update, delete and list.... this person
>>>>> could be what I am looking for.  This is a maintenance job.   This
>>>>> person would need to know some HTML and CSS.  jQuery would be a plus.
>>>>>
>>>>> This contract could last as long as 2 or 3 years.  At that point we
>>>>> would need to either up the compensation or understand when this
>>>>> person takes off for other opportunities.
>>>>>
>>>>> Is the compensation fair?  Any ideas why I received such a lukewarm
>>>>> response?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Your feedback is much appreciated.
>>>>>
>>>>> Keith
>>>>>
>>>> ---------------------------------------------------
>>>> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org
>>>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>>>> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>>>>
>>>>
>>> ---------------------------------------------------
>>> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org
>>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>>> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>>>
>>
>>
>>
> --
> #  http://www.LuftHans.com/        http://www.PhxLinux.org/
> #  Free, Libre, and Open Source enthusiasts are collaborators. Maybe we're
> #  involved for slightly different reasons, but in the end, we're all
> #  essentially trying to go the same direction. -- der.hans, 2012Jan25
> ---------------------------------------------------
> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>

-- 

*Amy Nielsen*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.phxlinux.org/pipermail/plug-discuss/attachments/20150731/8659b44a/attachment.html>