Developer Hiring Blog

You could say that Rich Leland spends most of his time with developers on his mind. Whether he's overseeing his team of developers, creating developer relations strategies, or writing content for developers, he's working to make sure SparkPost's developer community is the best it can be. We caught up with Rich to learn more about how he started coding, his experience with recruiters, and where he sees the world of technology going in 10 years.

Employers that offer remote work options understand the benefits of looking beyond their cities for the right developers. Not only does it allow recruiters to reach talent they otherwise would not have found, but it also enables them to keep their best developers when life events force them to move to another location. The common perks of remote work is well-documented, but we were curious to find out about those that recruiters don't discuss quite as frequently. To get to the bottom of why remote work options are so important to developers, we asked a few programmers who work remotely full time for their thoughts.

It’s not easy to start recruiting developers, especially if you don’t know where to begin. There’s a whole other set of standards that you need to keep in mind when trying to attract developers. Whether you’re new to tech recruiting, or new to recruiting in general, chances are you’re eager to learn how to become an expert. Here are a few books we recommend to familiarize yourself with the tech industry and get insight into what developers want from recruiters.

To effectively hire and manage the best engineers, you must have a passion for people. Toni Martinez has just that – an extensive background as a developer and technician, and multiple roles leading teams as a Project Manager or Development Manager. Currently the Engineering Director at Softonic, world’s top Multiplatform Software Guide, Martinez oversees an engineering team. Read on to learn about how he uses “hiring committees” to recruit and employ the best tech talent.

Because finding qualified developer candidates is such a difficult task in itself, it’s easy to think that you’re bound to hire someone once you’ve managed to schedule a few interviews for a role. However, the reality is that your initial sourcing activities amount to just the first step in your developer hiring process. In fact, some of the most common interview tactics actually end up driving candidates away. To help you avoid missing out on your next great developer, here are a few of those tactics.

For a growing number of companies, remote developers have proven that the right people, equipped with the right tools can be incredibly valuable members of any software development team. However, even though the benefits of offering remote working options seem obvious to some, many companies still focus their developer hiring strategies around finding the best local tech talent. As surprising as this might sound, a handful of stigmas persist about remote working options, which are ultimately keeping employers from finding the developers they need. Here are a few of the most common misconceptions about allowing developers to work from wherever they’re located.

Employee retention is hard. Retaining technical employees is even harder. Developers receive an absurd amount of emails from recruiters every week, each one tempting them with cooler benefits, a larger paycheck, or an innovative new product to work on.  Developers like challenges – and if they feel like their current role is getting stale and not allowing them to explore and grow in the way they want to, another company might snatch them up.

One incredibly useful tool that can help with developer retention is to conduct proper exit interviews. Exit interviews – when conducted effectively, of course – are a great way to evaluate your current structures (whether that be something physical like benefits or salary, or something less tangible like career growth plans) and assess what changes should be made.

My experience as a recruiter taught me that attracting and hiring talented candidates is difficult. As simple as the job might sound on paper, it takes much more than matching a list of qualifications to a pile of resumes and selecting the person who represents the closest fit. This is particularly the case when it comes to recruiting software developers, and tech recruiters are asked to go above and beyond to get the job done. While finding the right person for any role is not easy, here are a few unique recruitment challenges that tech recruiters are facing in 2016.

Recruiting technology has made it easier than ever for everyone involved in your developer hiring process to automate just about everything. It’s easy to get caught up in all the ways technology can save you time and help you hire developers faster. However, there are some touchpoints that just should never be handled by technology, no matter how convenient it seems. Here are a few stages throughout the interview process that you should always do yourself, even though software could make it more automatic.

Based on a recent Gallup report that found that 37% of U.S. workers say they have telecommuted, it would be easy to assume that allowing developers to work remotely is enough to foster a healthy remote work culture. However, as challenging as hiring remote developers can be, it’s even more challenging to keep them engaged and retain them. While remote development teams at many companies have proven that remote software development teams can work well together, their success is a result of thoughtful planning around how to put their programmers in a position to succeed. Whether you’re already offering remote work options or are about to get on board, here are a few keys to creating a successful remote work culture.