Your Tech Interviews are Scaring Away Brilliant People - People Friday with Bill Kennedy

Bill Kennedy is a managing partner at Ardan Studio in Miami, Florida, a mobile, web, and systems development company. He is also a co-author of the book Go in Action, the author of the blog GoingGo.Net, and a founding member of GoBridge which is working to increase Go adoption through diversity.

Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/william-kennedy-people/

• Go is a systems programming language that makes programming fun and makes developers more productive
• Go allows developers to write performant code easily
• Go runtime is built into the binary, nothing else to install
• Some very bright people are not applying for high profile Silicon Valley engineering positions because they are concerned about the tech interview process
  • They've asked "Why do I want to go through that much pain just to get rejected?"
• It's not about what you know, its about learning and solving problems
• Bill will give anyone a chance when they show him they take it seriously
• Is the person you're interviewing a vampire?
  • They suck all the happiness out of a room
  • It doesn't matter how technically astute they are, vampires are no good
  • They always push back and complain versus looking for opportunities to grow
• When you are forced to hire from a local pool, you have more limited options and it is more likely not to work out
• Hire quickly and fire quickly, and let the candidate know you are giving them one chance
• When you give someone the chance to learn and grow, they will put more effort into the relationship
• Look for negative patterns in work history - are they looking from a place of growth or are they complaining?
• Go into an interview being honest but show humble confidence
  • "No, I've never worked on that before but I know I can do it"
  • If you are under qualified for a senior job but you're honest and genuine, they may open a junior position just to get you
• Find someone on the inside of an organization and study up on the organization's tech before applying
• If the company is that tough on their interviewees, how do they treat their employees and do you really want to be there?
• If you're in charge of hiring, re-evaluate what you're looking for
  • Build a family instead of a work force

• Go in Action by William Kennedy
• Going Go Programming
• Ardan Labs
• minio.io
• Go Bridge

• BookMoreNights.com

Hello Tech Pros is the daily podcast that interviews business professionals who work with technology and discuss Motivation, Productivity, Leadership, Technology, People, Entrepreneurship and Being Unplugged.