Why are devs still contacted by recruiters?

#discuss

Almost everyone is complaining about how super hard it is to hire developers nowadays.

“There are not enough developers compared to the demand.”
“They never respond.”

Meh. Maybe there’s more to this than just demand and supply.

Bob Dylan sings:

“I ain’t saying you treated me unkind, you could have done better, but I don’t mind. You just kinda wasted my precious time, but don’t think twice it’s alright.”

And if you think about it, it’s a fitting metaphor.

Why is it that in today’s hyper fast & efficient business environment, developers are still approached by recruiters or HR people with no technical background?

It feels like they just kinda waste the devs precious time.

How is a non-technical person supposed to explain and discuss complex technological challenges? In other words how are they supposed to discuss what the developer is going to create, how he/she is going to master the challenge, and why he/she will succeed?

And while salaries always play a significant role, it’s just a nice side effect. The Tech Part of a job is what truly inspires a good developer. It’s what gets them out of bed in the morning (note: yes it’s also the alarm clock and they probably need to pee) and keeps them in the Flow State during several hours of sprint (note: yes, coffee, too).

So I ain’t saying developers are treated unkind, but employers could do better, and I do mind!

For all the above I believe it would make much more sense if developers were able to talk tech when choosing between job opportunities. I believe that people are inspired by peers who speak the same language, make the same jokes and understand each others pains, because they are (or have been) the same.

Put yourself in the shoes of a decent developer who gets hundreds of “amazing (any coding language) opportunities” every month.

They need to cut through the waste as fast as possible and the best way to do that is to know if their working preferences and technical skills align with the proposed job. To find out the latter is really hard if they need to do 5 interviews until they can finally talk to a Tech Lead who then explains that he’s sorry but the HR guy thought Java and JavaScript were the same (I know I’m exaggerating (a little😇)).

Therefore it’s time for a change, or to stick with Bob:

“And the first one now will later be last, for the times they are a-changin’.”

It would make much more sense if Tech People like CTOs or Lead Developers contacted developers first. Now you might say they don’t have time. I say today, it should be possible to match developer tech skills & working preferences with company needs & offers; and thus only present candidates to CTOs and Tech Leads that they immediately want to contact for a technical conversation.