Personnel crisis or how we looked for a programmer

Background

I work in a web studio located in the South of our vast Motherland. In parallel with the work of the studio, we launched 2 start-ups and, accordingly, there were not enough hands. We decided to take 2 programmers so that the guys (or girls) worked in pairs.
The work is interesting, the team is good. The office is warm, comfortable. For being late no one scolds anyone. We just work as a team, do really good services and enjoy working. Well, the salary for our city is far above average - 40-50 thousand rubles in hand.

As searched

Yes, very simple. We placed a vacancy on all possible recruiting sites, including, of course, hh.ru and hantim.ru. The announcement was written in detail, they painted the working conditions, what needs to be done and what salary we are willing to pay for it. They asked for a resume to attach a portfolio of works.

And then it began ...

The first response came with the hantim. Below is a quote of the text of the letter verbatim:

How much do you offer?

All. Neither "Hello" nor "My name is Vasily Petrov." I'm not talking about the fact that we would like to look at examples of work performed, to find out the age of the person where he worked or works. And in the end, this guy or girl.
“But still people are different,” I thought, maybe a person just can’t communicate. Therefore, he answered the letter, asked to send a resume and links to work. We corresponded for 4 days, I still could not find out the age of the young man, but at least I knew that he was a guy and saw several of his works. In order not to spend more time on correspondence, I invited the candidate for an interview, for which he unfortunately did not appear ...

Subsequent responses were also not pleasing. I know that IT professionals are very nervous and angry when unknowing people call all IT employees the common word "programmer" or, worse, "computer man." Well, everyone knows the situation:

Son, my iron is broken here, you are a computer technician, you understand all these things. Can you fix it? ..

I exaggerate, of course, but still ...

So, we ourselves are to blame for this. For the vacancy “Web-programmer” we received about 10 responses from system administrators, service engineers, technicians and even web designers ...
I always think that people should be given a chance. Maybe a person works as a system administrator, and at night he learns PHP. No, the response to the request to send examples of completed work was approximately the same for everyone:

“I do not have completed projects yet, but I want to change my specialization and am ready to study.”

Well, for 40,000 rubles a month, why not learn something? And even if only one said that he was ready to work for less money, until he reached the necessary qualifications. No, the salary and conditions suit everyone. And the fact that you need to give something in return, somehow in the head of such "programmers" has not yet fit.

Try to put yourself in the place of the employer. Why should I pay a full salary for the fact that the specialist does not bring any profit, but studies? And after training, he will leave to work for freelance, but what about me, to teach the next at his own expense? And who will work and develop the project?

I myself once started and understand that if you are at the start of a career and so far you are nothing, you need to think not about salary, but about experience. In this case, the price (salary) is set by the employer. And when there is enough practice, you can already independently determine the value of your labor.

There were also such candidates who stated with full confidence: “I am a web-programmer”, but in reality ... eh ...
Here is one of the most striking examples. A person is calling to find out more about the vacancy, after several questions, he declares: “Ah, so you are not working on Bitrix. I only work with Bitrix and am not going to learn anything else. ” And does this person call himself a “programmer"?

Well, lastly, another candidate who hit me to the core. Young man 17years. He indicated that he was ready to work, but with one condition:

I can work only in the afternoon or remotely.

The expected salary level is 40,000 rubles. Well, I think maybe I came across a young genius . A man wants to work, well, in the afternoon, so in the afternoon. The main thing is that the tasks are carried out. I asked him to send a portfolio of works to evaluate the qualifications. The answer was this:

So far, I have not implemented any tasks, but I can perform a test task.

How? How can a person claim to know jquery or php and not have any implementation examples? It’s the same as if an illustrator came to me, claiming that he can make beautiful illustrations, but hasn’t drawn anything yet. How can you be able to do something in absentia if you have never tried something? Moreover, at the same time ask for a good salary and a flexible schedule.

Job interview

Meanwhile, we continued to search. Among the other responses were 6, which really deserved attention and we scheduled an interview.
The turnout for the interview was high: 5 out of 6. After talking with the candidates, it turned out that only one meets our expectations and has the appropriate qualifications. It was decided to take one programmer so far and continue the search.

Cooperation

On Monday, a new specialist went to work. We have dedicated it especially to work, employed, provided a workplace, brought up to date. At the end of the working day they asked if everyone liked it, maybe there were some questions / problems.
Well, you understand what I'm leading to ... yes, on Wednesday afternoon, the programmer said that it’s just super cool here. That the team is good and the work is interesting. But ... He was offered a vacancy at the previous place of his work, where he paid more and he would work remotely.
I was struck by one phrase that he dropped:

If you are ready to raise my salary, I will stay.

I'm ready. And I regularly raise the salary of employees every six months. But in order for me to raise my salary, I have to make sure that you are worth it. And how can I raise my salary to a person who has worked for 2.5 days? What will the rest of the company’s employees say, who have been waiting for their first increase for six months? This is at least dishonest.

Conclusion

I do not lose hope, but I am becoming more and more convinced that there is practically no chance of finding a good specialist. The market trend is such that programmers are increasingly moving to freelance. And this greatly affects the quality of products. And even more this affects the qualifications of specialists . Because most often a person who has gone into freelance has to take the same type of orders. Because, this is what he can do. This is what he can do quickly and get his money. If you take on something new, you will have to study, and therefore spend more time , and therefore earn less money . You can of course ask b aboutthe best fee, however, freelancing is a price dumping and most often preference is given in favor of low cost. Even worse, no one can appreciate your work. To say that here it was possible to make it simpler and more elegant, but here it is worth using a different method, as this will increase productivity.

Work in the company is not only salary and communication with people, it is an opportunity for professional growth. It is professional, because you do not solve the problems that you choose, but those that you have to solve. There is also a partner or mentor with whom you can discuss the problem and find the best solution.

What's next?

The crisis. Not only staffing, but also professional. I really hope that someone recognizes himself in this article and understands that work is not for the sake of money. Work is professional growth. Work - it used for most of our lives. Work needs to be enjoyed, proud, boast. You need to poke your finger at the monitor and say: “See! I did it, see how it works! ”