The perfect job for a programmer

I decided to leave the  forest and find the team of my dreams. I dusted off my resume and ... found nothing new - a hundred monotonous vacancies with abstract requirements: "excellent knowledge of PHP  and MySQL."

I had to load the mail server and walk around for interviews. In general, I would prefer to send a resume only once and only to one company, but this time it did not work.

Below is how to write a vacancy text for a programmer.


For me, the ideal job text is one that allows me to answer all my questions:

1. What kind of company and what does it do?
   
   This is the first step in the quest to unravel what you have to do. It’s good if the company’s website is indicated or it can be pulled out of the email. It happens that there are vacancies from the "Large Holding" with soap on mail.ru. Usually they do not differ in originality and do not receive attention.
   It is very good if the company is public, and you can already form some kind of  opinion.
   
   
2. Why do you need a programmer?
   
   Here it is more specific - what tasks need to be addressed. What projects is the company working on.
   Yes, I want to know what I will do before I go through the interview. And I do not want to waste my time. I know very well what I want and what I don’t want, and I don’t care what I will do the next year or two . The question is, why should I send a resume if “support of existing and development of new Internet projects ” means pulling templates onto CMS?
   My favorite:
   

   Responsibilities: Development of programs that provide the ability to perform tasks by means of computer technology. ”

   
   
3. Requirements. What kind of person do you need?
   
   With enviable constancy, from a small online store to a serious IT company , everyone needs “excellent knowledge of PHP and MySQL”. But everyone has a different meaning in this. It is enough for someone to write a simple function and combine the tables in the query, while  someone checks the knowledge of certain subtleties.
   I especially like “knowledge of OOP”. For some reason , I always mean design patterns and principles of object-oriented design, and, for the company, I add TDD. And at the interview I learn that it is enough to know the difference between an abstract class and an interface.
   Of course, I understand that everything should be clarified at the interview. But, one wonders, why waste time again? I’d better write in the summary what I can and what can’t, and then see how much I am suitable for you and whether we need to meet. I don’t have to lie.
   
   
4. Which team? What technologies are used in the process?
   
   Yes, I do not care who I will work with and how. I still find out at the interview. So maybe not bring it to him?
   
   
5. Working conditions.
   
   There is nothing special here. Usually they try to describe this item in sufficient detail.
   
   

Also, they have at least some “non-standard” vacancy texts. You understand that people are looking for a person, not a function.

A few words about the interview:

• I am very grateful when, after the interview, they can directly tell me that I am not suitable. If the vacancy didn’t work, then at least do not make me wait.
  
  
• Of course, I understand that I am not the first and not the last. And that your head is already spinning from constant meetings. But it will take 3 minutes to print a resume, if you have not done so already, and quickly go over your eyes. No one is rushing you. Honestly, it’s not pleasant for me to retell facts from my resume. Then I generally cease to understand why I came.

In the end

If you think about it, you will see that the perfect ad will attract one person, and the one who needs it. ...

“An acrobat is required, which can pass through the wire at a height of 200 m above a raging flame. You will have to go twice a day, on Saturdays - three times. The fee is 25 pounds per week. There will be no pension, no compensation for injury. "Appear in person at the Wild Cat Circus from 9 to 10."

It may be that the syllable is not very good, but the goal is clear: you need to balance the financial gain in such a way that no more than one applicant appears. You won’t have to ask about trifles here. Those who are not very deftly walking on the wire, the ad will not attract. There is no need to indicate that the applicant must be healthy, non-drinker and not subject to dizziness. They will understand this without words. Needless to say, people with high fear do not suit. They won’t come anyway. The art here is to ensure that the board meets the danger. 1000 pounds per week can attract ten people, 15 pounds will not lure anyone. Somewhere in the middle - the right amount, which will attract the one who is suitable. If two come, it means that we overestimated the figure.

Cyril Parkinson. "Laws of Parkinson"