4 ms·

How to hire engineering talent in LA?

• paf31 12y ago
  My approach is to try to attract strong developers by using the best languages and tools. What technology stack do you use?
  • paf31 12y ago
    Also why not consider remote employees?
    • elikami 12y ago
      We currently employe a remote developer. Good talent, its a bit hard to manage when you're not in the same room. We're strong believers in remote workstations. My #1 priority is getting the work done. I don't care where or how you do it, as long as it gets completed in a timely and efficient manner.
  • qodeninja 12y ago
    Stack and tools dont attract strong developers. Salary and work-life balance does.
    • paf31 12y ago
      You couldn't pay me enough to work on some stacks. Also, certain technologies do a good job of convincing potential employees that you know what you're doing and committed to using the best tools available IMO.
      • qodeninja 12y ago
        I agree completely. It's hard to generalize though, you can find engineers for just about any stack with the right price points.
• aespinoza 12y ago
  Have you ventured into Orange County ? Not everybody that works or is willing to work in LA lives in LA. Try looking a little more south, specially Irvine. From what I have seen there are a LOT of .Net developers in LA and Orange County, if your stack is .Net you should not have a problem finding good people. Ruby and Python developers are a pain to find. A lot of the "Good" developers are not even proficient in the language/tools. There are good java developers here, but not as much as .Net developers. Tips: * Use LinkedIn to find people in LA, Orange County and even San Diego. * Target user groups. There are a lot of good developers in the UG and they usually have friends that are developers as well. * Always get recommendations from people that know the developer you are interested. I have even seen some startups that only hire people that have been recommended from someone they know.
  • elikami 12y ago
    I've scowered linkedin and it's not as easy as you say. Any suggestions on how to utilize the tool in a more efficient way? I haven't tried to search by groups, so we'll see what I come up with.
  • rubiquity 12y ago
    > Ruby and Python developers are a pain to find. A lot of the "Good" developers are not even proficient in the language/tools. Care to elaborate on this? I used to live in San Diego and didn't experience this. Is it that much different in OC/LA?
• lscore720 12y ago
  Good question - LA is indeed a challenging town for recruiting engineers. A few thoughts: 1. Meetups; i.e. if it's a Ruby shop, you could sponsor, participate, or simply attend Ruby meetups. Creating awareness of your company and meeting people/making a positive impression could only help spread the word. 2. Industry events; i.e., a founder of an EdTech start-up could meet some helpful contacts or even directly connect with engineers passionate about your specific field of work/product/mission. 3. Your existing network: mentors, accelerator partners, CS professors, old colleagues on LinkedIn, etc. It never hurts to ask :) 3. Unique perks; first one that comes to mind is potential for remote work. Given the adventure (read: nightmare) that is LA traffic, this could draw lots of attention. I understand it's difficult as a small start-up, as cohesiveness and face time is important, but even one to two days/week (or the potential for more once the employee's established) could set you apart. FWIW: I run a tech recruiting agency with a distributed team around the country - LA is one of our cities. Feel free to shoot me a message if you have any Q's or if you're curious about using a recruiter: [redacted]. Good luck!
  • elikami 12y ago
    great insights, much appreciated. We're happy to talk to your recruitment team. My email is eli(at)arbibo.com
• cbames89 12y ago
  You should talk to the guys at Originate. They know how to grab talent. Also, they're pretty open to talking to people and are at quite a few events throughout the nation. Full disclosure: I used to work at Originate.
• deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
• qodeninja 12y ago
  Pay them a Silicon Valley salary, or you can hire someone from SF that loves LA, like me. I wish there were better paying tech jobs in LA. I'd go in a heartbeat. The biggest problem with wanna-be LA tech companies is that they havent figured out that the engineers are the rock stars and try to undercut them on salaries and perks. Good luck with that. Maybe I'm generalizing. Anyway, as a startup your challenge is immensely larger, not to say its impossible, but consider that all the talent is concentrated in the Bay for a reason -- then refactor your expectations. I would suggest you develop your own prototype, pitch to investors and then move your office to San Jose, it'll at least be cheaper and youll have better access to engineers. Excellent well-established engineers cost money, inexperienced and undiscovered ones can be lured if you are in the right location.
  • elikami 12y ago
    Definitely take your point to heart. We've bootstrapped this thing so far, but have recently started seed rounds to find money to pay the talent. What's the going SV rate? including some equity/title included?
    • Phlarp 12y ago
      For co-founder caliber talent? $100/hr or equivalent. Minimum.
      • notduncansmith 12y ago
        Bare minimum. That's less than my consulting rate in Alabama, and it's not exactly Silicon Valley out here.
        • Phlarp 12y ago
          I feel like an hour of consulting work at that rate is slightly different. I personally wouldn't expect to bill for 2000 hours of work in a single year as a contractor. As a technical co-founder, I would expect the full 200k/yr as salary, plus equity and a cash bonus if goals are met.