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

Fri Jul 24 00:24:30 MST 2015

Am 23. Jul, 2015 schwätzte Stephen Partington so:

> For all of the weirdness in the Pearson hiring process the Hiring Manager
> writes the requirements in full for any posting. Not HR or whomever.

That's good news. It also explains a few jobs ads I saw years ago... :)

Our previous recruiter at the current job worked to get descriptions from
the hiring managers, but often couldn't squeeze it out of them :(. Some of
that was out of the hands of the hiring managers as they would get
headcount approval for one thing, but really need something else.

ciao,

der.hans

> On Thu, Jul 23, 2015 at 6:46 AM, David Schwartz <newsletters at thetoolwiz.com>
> wrote:
>
>> The current process of matching resumes with job reqs passed from managers
>> to HR to recruiters / web sites to developers and back is totally broken.
>>
>> We have hiring managers on one end who have been out of the loop for a
>> while and don’t seem to understand a lot of the tech used by the people
>> they manage.
>>
>> They write a job req and give it to HR.
>>
>> The HR people are handling job reqs for the entire company and tend to not
>> be very well-versed in tech either. They “polish up” the ads a bit then
>> post them online.
>>
>> Recruiters get hold of them and tweak them a bit.
>>
>> Then actual devs read them and cannot figure out why a job looking for a
>> “programmer” requires 3+ years working with the entire Adobe Creative Suite
>> including Photoshop and Fireworks, and why they say they’re building a CMS
>> but there’s no requirement for any database experience.
>>
>> So someone perfectly suited for the job responds and gets rejected because
>> they don’t have the requisite “design” expertise.
>>
>> Last week I saw a job req for a junior web developer that requires,
>> “extensive experience with Adobe Creative Suite, php, perl, python, MySQL
>> (including stored procs), database design and administration, Apache,
>> TomCat, and HTML5/CSS3."
>>
>> There was a position on Dice looking for “a minimum of 5 years of
>> demonstrable experience writing apps in Swift”.
>>
>> I got an email from a recruiter last week (a young woman who probably
>> recently left a phone sales job with AmEx or Vanguard) who said, “I’ve got
>> a requirement for someone with extensive C++ programming experience,
>> including OOA and OOD. I don’t see a lot of people with OOA and OOD
>> experience listed in their resume, so you probably have a really great shot
>> at this position!” [never heard back]
>>
>> Job req stated: “Java experience helpful”.  Me: “What version of Java are
>> they using?” Recruiter: “They just said Java. Does it matter what version?”
>>
>> Recruiter: “I see you have some php experience in your background. We have
>> a web developer position that I think you’d be a great fit for.” Me: “Do
>> they require any graphic arts or visual design experience?” Recruiter: “No,
>> they don’t mention that.” Job req: “Requires: 5+ years Adobe Creative
>> Suite, including Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, etc.”
>>
>> Job req: “We’re looking for a seasoned senior devleoper with 10+ years of
>> C++ expertise.” Recruiter: “They’re looking for someone with recent C++
>> experience; you haven’t worked with it in several years.” Me: “What version
>> of C++ are they using?” Recruiter: “It doesn’t say…” Next day: “I checked
>> with the manager and he said they’re using C++99.” Me: “I worked with that
>> version for quite a while.” Recruiter: “I’m sorry, they really want someone
>> with recent experience.”
>>
>> HR: “We’re looking for someone with experience in Java, specifically
>> lambdas and closures.” Me: “So you’re using Java 8?” HR: “No, this is for a
>> Java 6 role. But you have to have experience with lambdas and closures. I
>> don’t see that on your resume.” [Lambdas and closures are mostly new to
>> Java 8, and not present in Java 6.]
>>
>> My question: How in the hell does anybody get hired ANYWHERE without flat
>> out LYING about stuff on their resume?
>>
>> Everybody is hiring for experience with the latest tooks and buzzwords.
>> Nobody cares that you’ve got 10+ years of OOA/OOD/OOP expertise if you
>> cannot write code in the latest language du jour with your eyes closed.
>> They prefer college kids with no depth of experience but one semester of
>> some language over senior people with tons of experience and nothing as
>> current as the college kid has. And from what I can tell, I could spend the
>> next two years working with everything under the sun on my own, and nobody
>> will give a rip because I have no “on the job experience” with any of it.
>>
>> It’s really messed up. When I go to job fairs there are mostly foreigners
>> and older folks. And recruiters basically admitting that nobody is hiring
>> into junior roles to learn new stuff except college grads. Everybody says
>> they want to hire someone who can “hit the ground running”, which makes no
>> sense to me because I’ve never had a job where I didn’t have to spend
>> several weeks (if not months) learning their software apps first (mostly by
>> reading the code b/c they don’t like their devs wasting time writing
>> documentation).
>>
>> -David
>>
>>
>>
>>> On Jul 22, 2015, at 10:40 PM, der.hans <PLUGd at LuftHans.com> 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
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>>>
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>> der.hans---------------------------------------------------
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>
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>

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#  Science is magic explained. - der.hans