Smart and Gets Things Done: Joel Spolsky's Concise Guide to Finding the Best Technical Talent

Smart and Gets Things Done: Joel Spolsky's Concise Guide to Finding the Best Technical Talent

by
Released June 2007
Publisher(s): Apress
ISBN: 9781590598382

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Book description

A guide to attracting, recruiting, interviewing, and hiring the best technical talent.

  • A comprehensive system for hiring top-notch technical employees

  • Packed with useful information and specific advice written in a breezy, humorous style

  • Learn how to find great people—and get them to work for you—in an afternoon!

The top software developers are ten times more productive than average developers. Ten times. You can't afford not to hire them. But if you haven't been reading Joel Spolsky's books or blog, you probably don't know how to find them and make them want to work for you.

In this brief book, Joel reveals all his secrets—from his years at Microsoft, and as the co-founder of Fog Creek Software—for recruiting the best developers in the world.

If you've ever wondered what you should be looking for in a resume, if you've ever struggled to decide whether to hire someone at the end of an interview, or if you're wondering why you can't find great programmers, stop everything and read this book.

Table of contents

  1. Title Page
  2. Dedication
  3. CONTENTS
  4. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  5. INTRODUCTION
    1. The Story Behind This Book
  6. Chapter 1: HITTING THE HIGH NOTES
    1. But Wait, There's More!
    2. But Wait, There's Even More!
  7. Chapter 2: FINDING GREAT DEVELOPERS
    1. Where Are All Those Great Developers?
    2. Can I Get Them Anyway?
    3. To the Mountain, Jeeves!
    4. Internships
    5. Build the Community (*Hard)
    6. Employee Referrals: May Be Slippery When Wet
  8. Chapter 3: A FIELD GUIDE TO DEVELOPERS
    1. Private Offices
    2. The Physical Workspace
    3. Toys
    4. The Social Life of Developers
    5. What Am I Working On?
    6. Can I Identify with the Company?
    7. One Thing That Programmers Don't Care About
  9. Chapter 4: SORTING RESUMES
    1. Criteria for Sorting Resumes
    2. If Resumes Are So Weak, Can't We Add Some Other Hoops?
    3. Don't Look for Experience with Particular Technologies
  10. Chapter 5: THE PHONE SCREEN
  11. Chapter 6: THE GUERRILLA GUIDE TO INTERVIEWING
    1. Bad Questions
    2. Closing the Deal
    3. Solve Problems
    4. Treat Them Like Samurai
    5. The Obstacle Course, Revisited
  12. Chapter 7: FIXING SUBOPTIMAL TEAMS
    1. The Wrong Way to Do It: Measurement and Incentives
    2. Different Types of Contributors
    3. True, Some Developers Just Don't Pull Their Weight
    4. Firing Underperformers Doesn't Always Hurt Morale
    5. The Rubber Room
    6. Improving Performance
    7. Management Methods
    8. The Command and Control Management Method
    9. The Econ 101 Management Method
    10. The Identity Management Method
  13. Appendix: THE JOEL TEST
    1. 1. Do You Use Source Control?
    2. 2. Can You Make a Build in One Step?
    3. 3. Do You Make Daily Builds?
    4. 4. Do You Have a Bug Database?
    5. 5. Do You Fix Bugs Before Writing New Code?
    6. 6. Do You Have an Up-to-Date Schedule?
    7. 7. Do You Have a Spec?
    8. 8. Do Programmers Have Quiet Working Conditions?
    9. 9. Do You Use the Best Tools Money Can Buy?
    10. 10. Do You Have Testers?
    11. 11. Do New Candidates Write Code During Their Interview?
    12. 12. Do You Do Hallway Usability Testing?
  14. INDEX

Product information

  • Title: Smart and Gets Things Done: Joel Spolsky's Concise Guide to Finding the Best Technical Talent
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: June 2007
  • Publisher(s): Apress
  • ISBN: 9781590598382