Where are all the developers?

B

Bcm

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I've been looking for a developer to join my team at a company in Cape Town for months now.

I can't seem to find anybody suitable for the position. The CV's that are sent to me from dozens of recruiters are either under qualified or over qualified. Before anybody starts harassing me for not giving developers without experience a chance, I've set a few projects for people I've interviewed and the code I got back wasn't adequate.

Where do you get your resources?

If there is a developer reading this who is interested in an established mobile development company focusing on .NET, drop me a PM.
 
"over qualified" as in 50k project managers / BizTalk architects

Don't get me wrong, we're willing to pay a competitive salary for a motivated developer with a solid understanding of .NET/SQL

I'm getting either samurai or street sweepers.
 
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BCM - since you start of by bemoaning the people who apply, the least you could do before opening an invitation to apply on this forum, is to describe what you need.

My 2c.
 
Moederloos: I'm not bemoaning developers as a whole. Frustrated yes, bitter no.

I'm just asking for advice from fellow forumites as to where they get their resources from?

I did post a job offer in the classifieds section a while back and I'm putting together a new one.

This post wasn't an offer per se, just a question.

Leitmotif: I'll put up a ad and link it later for full description. For a brief overview, 1-3 years, enjoys a close pressured environment, C#, SQL, Compact framework....
 
I'm afraid 1-3 years isn't exactly experienced. 1 year will get you someone with very little real world development experience, especially if they got that experience in a dodgy company (think Telkom).

Rather up the ante a little and go for 3-5 years with about 2-3 companies with one being at least 2 years.
 
1 year beats no experience. He/She will at least know what try{}catch{} is supposed to do.

There is scope in my company for upskilling and having a young motivated developer, with the right technical background and thinking, that is willing to accept a challenge is what I need.

I had a guy come in zero work experience but good marks and he has flown with regards to what he can accomplish now.
 
Bcm said:
1 year beats no experience. He/She will at least know what try{}catch{} is supposed to do.

There is scope in my company for upskilling and having a young motivated developer, with the right technical background and thinking, that is willing to accept a challenge is what I need.

I had a guy come in zero work experience but good marks and he has flown with regards to what he can accomplish now.
Click to expand...
try{}catch{}? Bleugh. If you require a performance drop use that.
 
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I am very skeptical with recruitment agencies these days. The best people our company have hired [including myself] were not hired via an agency.

I know my bosses sits in the same spot, and they also use agencies to provide CVs, but they don't seem to get any applicable people. In the end they get people who either leaves a company we did business with or "someone who know someone" .

I myself used a few agencies to find a job, what a useless experience that was :(. I was doing contract work for peanuts [in the Cape] and literally would've taken any permanent job that paid more....after 6 months, agencies were of no help and i packed my stuff and moved to Gauteng after the company that contracted me said they'll take me in. So it's always amusing when i now hear of companies looking for devs in the Cape...

I dunno if the Agencies are doing it wrong by either not listening what the Applicant can and want to do AND what the company expects . I've spoken to a few agents and often i found they have no idea what i'm talking about [in terms of work i want and can do] ....but they're positive they can place me *boggle*
 
Bcm said:
Moederloos: I'm not bemoaning developers as a whole. Frustrated yes, bitter no.

I'm just asking for advice from fellow forumites as to where they get their resources from?

I did post a job offer in the classifieds section a while back and I'm putting together a new one.

This post wasn't an offer per se, just a question.

Leitmotif: I'll put up a ad and link it later for full description. For a brief overview, 1-3 years, enjoys a close pressured environment, C#, SQL, Compact framework....
Click to expand...

try bizcommunity.
 
diabolus said:
I am very skeptical with recruitment agencies these days. The best people our company have hired [including myself] were not hired via an agency.

I know my bosses sits in the same spot, and they also use agencies to provide CVs, but they don't seem to get any applicable people. In the end they get people who either leaves a company we did business with or "someone who know someone" .

I myself used a few agencies to find a job, what a useless experience that was :(. I was doing contract work for peanuts [in the Cape] and literally would've taken any permanent job that paid more....after 6 months, agencies were of no help and i packed my stuff and moved to Gauteng after the company that contracted me said they'll take me in. So it's always amusing when i now hear of companies looking for devs in the Cape...

I dunno if the Agencies are doing it wrong by either not listening what the Applicant can and want to do AND what the company expects . I've spoken to a few agents and often i found they have no idea what i'm talking about [in terms of work i want and can do] ....but they're positive they can place me *boggle*
Click to expand...

I've also found that recruitment agents are shocking, from both sides of the equation. It's depressing. I must have phoned 6 while looking for developers and only 3 returned my call.

When I was looking for a Job in CT nobody got back to me... The same companies still phone me a year later to see if I'm still looking while I'm try to use them to hire developers.

I agree, they don't have a very good understanding of the skills required to be a good developer, how to put those skills forward or even what kinds of skills compliment each other.

I have dealt with one or two really good agents, but I haven't had any luck through them this time.
 
Bcm said:
Um... justify?
Click to expand...
Sorry, was actually thinking of code size. Exceptions generate a bunch of extra code depending on how much you use them. This can't be very good for performance though.
 
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