5 Tips *not* to use to hire Top Software Engineers in Nashville

This morning while chatting on the local Nashville Developer Slack channel, someone posted this article:

5 Tips to Hiring Top Software Engineers in Nashville -  http://www.grantblevins.com/blog/5-tips-to-hiring-top-software-engineers-in-nashville-tn

I am positive that Mr. Blevins had well intentions of sharing his experiences from a business perspective on hiring quality talent in Nashville. However, with all due respect, he missed the boat entirely. In general, the article reads as "how do I hire someone who can program". Look, I get it. You have the next great idea, but you can't program. If only you had someone you could exchange cash for services, you could then realize this idea.

This is only a small part of the problem. Sure, you get them in the door, but how do you keep them. This is the real challenge. Not a single developer I know wants to sit behind a keyboard and just type against a project scope document, constantly grinding in this sprint or that project plan phase. They want to be actively engaged in the problem, helping come up with solutions. Developers are creative people, and too many companies in town treat teams like robots. This includes:

• Poor project planning - Not engaging developers in actual, you know, development. 
• Death Sprints as a de-facto. I don't even think the "sometimes it's ok" argument is acceptable. It's irresponsible.
• Abysmal salaries and benefits in the area. As one commenter noted, in order to grow in salary, a developer more or less must jump ship every 18-24 months. This is because typical salary increases (if they happen), are in the 2-3% range, and maybe as high as 6% if you sacrifice life and family. I understand this is difficult, but maybe you should consider paying quality developers more than trying to hire more developers in quantity. More does not always equal better.
• Bad career growth - Because of all of the above, companies are stuck in an endless cycle of delivery, and not investing in employees. Want to learn something new? Well, either work after hours or get a new job.

You want to hire good people, you have to think about how you're going to attract and keep them there. This means:

• Tell Developers what problem you want to solve, and why. The thing that I keep hearing is: what interesting problem do they get to solve? Furthermore, I've seen people take huge paycuts to go and solve problems that are more interesting to them, assuming that they can still pay the bills and whatnot. Emphasize neat problems.
• Meet people where they are. Traffic sucks here. We're in the 21st century. Surely, it's possible to provide flexibility and not require employees to be in a seat at an office. After all, they're off coding somewhere.
• Reasonable Work/Life balance. I'm tired of hearing this, because it's all talk. Unlimited vacations mean nothing if you bombard employees with too much work. I want to know that I can get enough rest, spent time with my family and friends, and still have a job in the AM. This means thinking smarter, not harder.

Frankly, I'm tired of developers looked at as a resource. They're partners. Unless you can code yourself, you should start thinking of them that way. Don't ask questions like "can I get along with this person", but... can you collaborate with this person.

In one part, Mr. Blevins hit the nail on the head. There is no holy grail for hiring developers. The trick though is to think about the long game, even if you can't see yourself doing it right this second.

Because maybe, if you can't properly support a developer, you shouldn't hire them.