Hiring The Best Knowledge Workers, Techies & Nerds: The Secrets & Science Of Hiring Technical People [Paperback]

Johanna Rothman (Author), Gerald M. Weinberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 2004

Good technical people are the foundation on which successful high technology organizations are built. Establishing a good process for hiring such workers is essential. Unfortunately, the generic methods so often used for hiring skill-based staff, who can apply standardized methods to almost any situation, are of little use to those charged with the task of hiring technical people.

Unlike skill-based workers, technical people typically do not have access to cookie-cutter solutions to their problems. They need to adapt to any situation that arises, using their knowledge in new and creative ways to solve the problem at hand. As a result, one developer, tester, or technical manager is not interchangeable with another. This makes hiring technical people one of the most critical and difficult processes a technical manager can undertake.

Hiring the Best Knowledge Workers, Techies & Nerds: The Secrets & Science of Hiring Technical People takes the guesswork out of hiring and diminishes the risk of costly hiring mistakes. With the aid of step-by-step descriptions and detailed examples, you’ll learn how to

* write a concise, targeted job description
* source candidates
* develop ads for mixed media
* review résumés quickly to determine Yes, No, or Maybe candidates
* develop intelligent, nondiscriminatory, interview techniques
* create fool-proof phone-screens
* check references with a view to reading between the lines
* extend an offer that will attract a win-win acceptance or tender a gentle-but-decisive rejection
* and more

You, your team, and your organization will live with the long-term consequences of your hiring decision. Investing time in developing a hiring strategy will shorten your decision time and the ramp-up time needed for each new hire.

Editorial Reviews

Review

". . . practical, pragmatic advice on finding and hiring the right person." -- Esther Derby, President, Esther Derby Associates, Inc.

"This clear and comprehensive book joins Peopleware and The Mythical Man Month as must-reads for technical managers." -- Joel Spolsky, Founder, Fog Creek Software

"a humane, yet tough-minded approach to hiring. Any technical manager who wants to hire well will be thankful for it." -- James Bach, CEO, Satisfice, Inc.

About the Author

Johanna Rothman is a highly regarded speaker, author, and consultant; she is known for her pragmatic approach to the problems of managing high technology product development and workers. During the past twenty years, she has been influential in the hiring of hundreds of technical people, including developers, testers, technical editors, technical support staff, and their managers. Based in Arlington, Massachusetts, she is the president of Rothman Consulting Group.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Dorset House; 1St Edition edition (September 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0932633595
• ISBN-13: 978-0932633590
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #566,373 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Here's my formal bio:

Johanna Rothman consults, speaks, and writes on managing high-technology product development. During her consulting career, she has assisted managers, teams, and organizations become more effective by applying her pragmatic approaches to the issues of project management, risk management, and people management. She's helped Engineering organizations, IT organizations, and startups hire technical people, manage projects, and release successful products faster. Her action-based assessment reports have helped managers and teams improve their projects, products, and financial results. She is a sought-after speaker and teacher in the areas of project management, people management, and problem-solving.

Johanna has written over 100 articles and papers, maintains two blogs, and is a frequent contributor for Fast Company's online career center, Software Development, Computerworld.com, and StickyMinds.com. Johanna is a coauthor (with Esther Derby) of Behind Closed Doors, Secrets of Great Management. She is the author of the highly acclaimed Hiring the Best Knowledge Workers, Techies & Nerds, and is a coauthor(with Denise Robitaille) of Corrective Action for the Software Industry. Johanna is also a host and session leader at the Amplifying Your Effectiveness (AYE) conference.

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I care about projects that work, teams that work, and organizations that work.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hiring techies? Your competition is reading this book ..., November 15, 2004

By 

Earl A. Everett "jrandomnerd" (Windsor, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hiring The Best Knowledge Workers, Techies & Nerds: The Secrets & Science Of Hiring Technical People (Paperback)

If you are involved in any way with hiring techies, you need this book -- not just as a one-time read, but as one you will refer to repeatedly.

(If you're a techie looking to get hired, it has considerable value, as well.)

Some other recent books, such as <u>How Would You Move Mt. Fuji?</u> deal with the *entire* hiring process only lightly, if at all. This book covers everything, from coming up with the critical/optional requirements of the position (an especially favorite section), through finding and sourcing candidates, résumé review (é is alt-0233 on the numeric keypad, BTW), phone-screen techniques, and truly useful interviewing guidance (another outstanding section). It also covers the crucial decision-making process, reference checking, and making the job offer. It discerns the differences between hiring contributors and managers quite well indeed.

Those of us who have lived painfully through a bad hiring decision know the tremendous cost in money, disruption, and angst. Risk is inherent in every hiring situation, but reading and applying this book will help you go a *long* way toward mitigating that risk.

I bought this book for myself. I'll be buying it for my peer managers, my directors, and my team. It's *good*, and it's *useful*.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive, timely manual for technology sector, November 29, 2004

By 

Henry Berry "Henry Berry" (Southport, CT) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hiring The Best Knowledge Workers, Techies & Nerds: The Secrets & Science Of Hiring Technical People (Paperback)

In this comprehensive, detailed handbook, Rothman recognizes what employers have to do to be able to attract the best technical workers. It's not enough simply to advertise for job openings, but the technical work has to be properly described to attract the right kind of prospective employees. Otherwise, the hiring process will be inefficient, murky, and errant. Reviewing resumes, screening potential candidates for interviews and preparing for these, and conducting an interview are other topics. A consultant to technical firms, Rothman also goes into a personal touch with individuals looking for employment which gives them a favorable impression of the company. This is desirable because a company might want to hire an applicant at a future time; and it creates a favorable image of the company among technical workers. This specialized hiring manual is timely considering the present pick-up in activity in the technology sector of the economy. Many technology companies have to start now preparing to hire new technical workers to be able to capitalize on the opportunities shaping up.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the book I wish I'd had when I was a hiring manager., August 11, 2006

By 

Esther Derby (MInneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hiring The Best Knowledge Workers, Techies & Nerds: The Secrets & Science Of Hiring Technical People (Paperback)

If you want to increase your ability to attract and hire people who will help build the company while avoiding costly hiring mistakes, Johanna Rothman's book, Hiring the Best Knowledge Workers, Techies & Nerds, can help.

The book is full of detailed guidance on each step of the hiring process, from creating a hiring strategy to making the new hire's first day a great one. The book provides templates and examples to help determine the required and desirable skills for a job, identify elimination factors, and articulate interpersonal and cultural fit qualities necessary for success.

Assessing skills in an interview isn't sufficient; it's how people apply those skills and adapt to situations that determine success. So Johanna details how to use behavioral questions and auditions to gain a clear picture of how a person is likely to perform in your context.

Hiring the Best will help you fine-tune your hiring process, make the best use of your time, and increase your hiring success.