As I am with software background, this is about software engineers. How do you hire smart software engineers? Historically, companies recruit via Campus Interviews and Online Job Postings. Some companies did it via cryptic bill board messages, but that’s not for all companies. The quest for some companies is to hire the top notch developers. But where do you find these top notch developers? Some companies do yearly competitions and that’s a means to recruit developers. But again, that’s not for all.
So, are there any other ways to hire developers interested in solving complex problems? The answer is not surprisingly yes. There are a few websites online that provide complex problems for anyone to solve. Some of these websites track the progress and provide some sort of rating or ranking. A few examples are Project Euler and Sphere Online Judge.
Some of the recruiters are scouting these type of websites, figuring out the people at the top of these lists and sending them emails asking if they are interested in joining their companies. How do I know? Because I got similar emails from recruiters from Google and Facebook. I happen to be in the top tier on Project Euler (actually completed 100% as of Problem 391) and since I appear among the top in the Country listings and the State of the Art award list (those who solved the latest 25 at some point), I was picked. Some of the others also received similar emails. For example, see this forum post on Project Euler.
These days with LinkedIn and others the way to recruit people has certainly changed. However, I think trying to recruit people based on these online programming websites is also interesting.
For startups interested in recruiting exceptional talent via this unconventional route, here are a few suggestions
1) It’s not just them, it’s you as well! I mean, don’t go to these places and start with the top most rankers. If you are a very small startup, why do you think these guys should join you? Also, you may not always need someone who is the top most for the kind of job you have in mind. For example, if you recruit someone who solved more than 150 of the 391 problems on Project Euler, you would get reasonably good programmer.
2) Try to find out a little more about the person before sending out the email with an interest to recruit. Some of the people who hang out in these places are not there to get a job but just for the fun of it. They just love the challenge, or the education process or the ability to hang out with like minded people, or the chance to see how other people with great ideas solve the problems and so on. For example, on Project Euler, the age range varies from about 15 to 80+. The younger ones are going to join college and the older ones are retired and don’t need a job. So, no point blindly sending these people an email with a job opportunity.
3) For many of these problems, there are solutions online. There are people who submit the answers directly by searching online. Frankly I don’t know what they get out of this, but this happens. One way to find out such people on Project Euler is to check if they a) provide comments in the private forums with their own insights and code b) if they happen to be among the fastest 50 solvers c) if they participate in the public forums offering help to others.
Feel free to contact me if you need further insight into this.