Hiring

The Problem Hiring has been coming up a lot in some of my social feeds again. It’s a problem I’ve experienced, and seen often from both sides of the table. And most companies don’t get this right. Do I have all the answers? No. But I do have some thoughts. The Trigger The conversation trigger for this post was: “During the developer hiring process, has anyone found an alternative to take-home code tests and live code tests? Companies have stopped using take-home tests as they believe that it’s too easy to cheat using LLMs. About 70% of technical hiring managers that I’ve discussed this with admit that live code (and architecture) tests aren’t working, as too many skilled developers produce poor results due to the artificial time limit.” ...

🔍 I’ve said before that I’m worried about where software development is heading. But it’s not just AI that’s the problem — it’s what AI is revealing. We’ve built an industry that rewards speed, hype, and surface-level skill over depth, safety, and real user value. And it’s starting to show — in the products we use, the people we hire, and the damage being done. 📈 This started before AI. During the pandemic, bootcamps exploded. Thousands of people pivoted to software for the remote work and high salaries. The market got flooded with junior devs trained just enough to build a CRUD app — but not enough to understand why and how things should be built. ...

Trigger warning: this is a bit of a rant. Also, it contains opinions. Specifically mine. If you are allergic to other peoples opinions, or likely to experience anger or hatefulness when hearing others opinions, this post is probably not for you. Also, if you actually are an Engineer, have a cookie. Intro I spend a large amount of time on interviews. Or I did, up until mid 2020, but whatever. Sure, it’s not as much as large corporations fielding thousands of applicants, but I’d wager more than the average startup. I’ve conducted a couple hundred interviews myself, and I’ve been interviewed a couple ten times. ...