The Programmer Hiring Playbook

A Crash Course in Interviewing and Hiring for Your Real-World Needs

Learn to Assemble Web, Software, and Engineering Teams That Play Well Together

Have you been tasked with hiring programmers but don’t know where to begin? Have past hires not worked out and now you’re searching for a better plan?

This short, no-fluff playbook will get you started today!

You’ll learn a comprehensive, adaptable system for interviewing, testing, and hiring programmers that covers technical ability and team fit.

The Playbook includes:

• The surprising things that motivate programmers, and how to keep them happy long-term
• The three types of projects and programmers, and which are right for your unique needs
• The eight programmer-specific behaviors that reveal if a candidate will play well together with your team, and how to interview for those behaviors
• How to write job descriptions that attract a few great candidates instead of a lot of marginal ones
• A core set of interviews and questions, and how to combine them into hiring plans for different seniority levels
• How to create real-world-inspired tests that reveal more about candidates than algorithm tests and other generic interview exercises
• Programmer-to-programmer exercises, interviews, and questions that will get team members involved in the hiring process
• Downloadable worksheets and interview templates

Who Should Read This Book

This playbook is for anyone who participates in hiring programmers including programmers, technical team leads, and other technology managers. Recruiters, HR professionals, and non-technical business sponsors also will find it useful, but a few aspects are technical in nature and you’ll have best results if you can involve someone technical in your hiring process.

Stop wondering what to look for when interviewing programmers. Read this book and you can start executing a proven plan today.

About the author

Scott Drake is on a mission to help software professionals have happier careers, and he isn’t afraid to poke bears or rock boats to make it happen. His 20-year career includes stops at Microsoft in Redmond, Wash., at start-ups in Silicon Valley, and he is currently the Director of Technology for a medical education company in his hometown of Louisville, Ky. You'll find him speaking at conferences, hosting training sessions and meetups, and writing books about careers and leadership.