By Gabriel Buck

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www.ClickPointSoftware.com

The other day I was on a flight coming back home from Virginia to California and like every trip I purchase three magazines for the flight.  The top three magazines I find have the best articles are Inc., Success, and Business 2.0.  I can usually get 1-5 good articles that relate to the way we do business or advances in technology.  The latest article that grabbed me was contributed by CEO Joel Spolsky of Fog Creek software.  It was a great article about recruiting the best talent specifically for the software industry.  I have to say that I thought I had thought of everything but this article was great.  Check out Inc. Magazine May 2007 pg. 81.  Fog Creek pays top dollar to find the best schools in the country that produce the best computer science graduates.  They then woo these top candidates with a paid internship that gives them time to evaluate these top candidates and pick only the best.  In software getting the best talent is something that can make or break you.  First, you have to start with your CTO and build a culture of recruitment not “trolling Monster for resumes or expecting to post a job and get the best”.  If you want the best you have to go get it.  I started ClickPoint with this philosophy.  I never expected to find top notch programmers by posting jobs on Craigslist. 

Having the best programmers has paid off big for us not only because our software is better, but because top notch programmers are not one dimensional and they help the company as a whole.  They aren’t just good at one thing.  Top notch programmers are in a league of their own often reading new code, staying up to date on the latest innovations, and being able to address multiple projects at one time.  A top notch programmer is so much different than a mediocre programmer that once you have one working with you there will be an immediate moment where you realize the differences.  It all starts with recruitment and the company philosophy.  If you want to compete and play to win you must absolutely adopt the philosophy of starting with recruitment.          

 

 

 

Joel Spolsky

www.joelonsoftware.com/