How to Hire Great Senior Technical Talent

One of the most challenging aspects of running any business is being able to hire good talent. This becomes even more critical in early-stage startups and businesses with limited financial resources. A bad hire could potentially cripple the ability for a business to keep operating.

Location can also play a role. Finding great technical talent in Miami is difficult. There is plenty of talent in Miami, but the great talent pool is limited.

During 2014 to 2016 we looked over hundreds of resumes for talent. In 2016 we went through 130+ resumes. Out of those 130+ resumes, we interviewed about 20, out of the 20 we flew in 3, out of the 3, we hired one.

What we found was that some of them were already part of great teams. The others, were not a good fit or not qualified technically to join our team. How did those businesses get to the great ones before us ?

“Hire people better than you.”

I understand that quantifying a great hire is subjective and largely coupled with the gap you are trying to fit in the organization. For the purposes of this post, we will be focusing on senior to higher level positions.

So what’s the secret sauce ?

There is none =) There is no guarantee that your hire will ever work out. A new hire may be the most talented engineer on the planet, and an inability to fit culturally will make it impossible for him or your team to succeed. Like this scenario, there are many more.

When an individual cannot perform, he doesn’t contribute to your team. When your team doesn’t perform, your business doesn’t grow.

So what do we look for in a potential new technical hire ?

If you don’t come from a technical background, you might need to rely on a technical lead for certain aspects (but not too much !).

5 Things To Consider When Interviewing a Candidate For Higher Level Positions

1. Hire people better than you. This should be a no brainer. It is the most important piece and it extends beyond technology. People with more experience, more talent, and more hunger are excellent pieces to your organization. They will elevate the quality of work and efficiency in more ways than just development. Go out and hire weird, hire different !
2. Ability to problem solve. This separates ok from great. Avoid technical implementations, and think big. How many basketballs fit in the empire state building ? How would you survive in a tropical island if you were a penguin ? If you woke up and had 2,000 unread emails and could only answer 300 of them, how would you choose which ones to answer?
3. Don’t get sidetracked by frameworks and languages. Focus on their understanding as a whole. Languages and frameworks are tools you can learn and implement. Proficiency comes with experience, but it’s not deterministic of their ability to add value.
4. Experience is great, but what did you actually do. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen names of reputable businesses (local and national) in a resume that in the end proved to be nothing more than a name. Due diligence, and ask about how they were involved and what they contributed to the project / initiative / business. If they can’t tell you about the intricacies and issues they encountered, they most likely were not as involved as you’d like them to have been.
5. Ability to code. Outside of a Dev Manager position, this is in the Top 5. Some may prioritize it higher. Regardless, someone at this level needs to have good practices and be able to implement good quality code that is maintainable (how you define maintainable is a whole different topic). They should be aware of best practices and understand when to avoid them.

One thing I believe is absolutely critical is a pairing session with a new engineer. Give them a problem, and let them walk you through it and attempt to solve it. Listen to what they say, if they walk you through gaps or scenarios where their code can trip, they are thinking at a higher level. Once they have solved it, introduce a wrench into the problem, and see how they tackle it.

In the end there is no golden rule, and there is no guarantee. These are only a few tools that can help you differentiate good from great. Use them and follow your instinct.