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Technology Decisions: Part Two, Hiring

Week of Nov 26, 2018
Monday, 3:30-5:00 PM - Hawes 203
Wednesday, 3:30-5:00 PM - Chao 340 

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On Nov 19 we will cover part one of considerations for planning your product development, technology basics. In this session, we will cover part two, hiring developers based on your technology decisions and product requirements.

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Special Guest: We will have the unique opportunity to hear a brief product pivot story from SyncOnSet Co-Founder & VP of Strategy and Operations, Jeff Impy

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Required Reading

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  1. A Primer on Hiring for Startups - Julia Austin

  2. How to Find a Good Freelance Developer - Mark Liu (elance is now Upwork)

  3. 5 Non-Technical Questions to Ask When Hiring a Development Firm - Nick Kishfy

  4. Oldie, but still goodie: Guide to Finding a Technical Co-Founder - Vin Vacanti (we also recommend the other posts in Vin's 4-part series on this topic)

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Recommended Reading

  1. Scroll down Prof. Eisenmann's reading list on startup recruiting to a section with lots of good posts on recruiting engineers (including several posts listed here)

  2. How to Hire Developer Unicorns  - Ben Slater

  3. How to Hire a Programmer - Derek Silvers (overlaps with the Liu post above, but offers some new advice)

  4. The Anatomy of the Perfect Technical Interview - Neil Roseman

  5. In-House vs. Outsourcing Software Development - Ved Prakash

  6. The Technical Co-Founder Search - Michael Woloszynowicz (see also Mariam Naficy's post on her co-founder search at Minted.com)

  7. A Tech Founder's Guide to Finding a Non-Tech Founder - Jessica Alter (see also Elizabeth Yin's post on factors that are important to potential tech co-founders)

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Minor Deliverable:

A reminder that the first draft of your Job Description is due on Nov 23. We will select 2-3 JDs for critique in class. No additional preparation will be required for these crits.

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Session Prep

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  1. As individuals: It's time to diverge and converge again! As the hiring managers for your PM101 project, review the four candidate profiles below and explore their GitHub repos to get familiar with their work: Select one candidate from the below list whom you would choose to interview for your PM101 project and be prepared to discuss why in our session. DO NOT SHARE WHICH CANDIDATE YOU CHOSE WITH YOUR TEAMMATES. Fill out this FORM with your choice and three (3) questions you’d ask the candidate. Please also keep these questions to yourself and bring them with you to class on Monday.

  2. Final countdown for the PRD! Please bring any questions you or your team has about the PRD. We will use the last 10 minutes of the session to talk PRD as well as what to expect in PM102. The lab this week on Nov 28 will be reserved for teams to work on their PRDs.

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