(photo credit: Dave Parmet)
A few weeks back, Charlie O’Donnell asked, in a blog post, an important question: “Why aren’t you working for a startup?“
Now it’s my turn to ask: “Developers of New York, why aren’t you working for BricaBox?”
Two weeks ago, Kyle and I posted a job opening at BricaBox on the nextNY job board, Authentic Jobs, 37Signals, Zend Jobs, Center Networks, and Craigslist.
One may hope (I did), with the greater-than-zero visibility our project has, we could get the attention of some great independents. People who know us know that working with Kyle and me would be a fun, flexible, and meaningful. We made it clear in our postings that we’re looking for someone to be a local team-member, not just a code-monkey we send specs to and then don’t invite out to drink beers at 2A, or get BBQ at Georgia’s or sip coffee at The Roasting Plant.
No, we were looking to form a great relationship with someone and we’re building something of engineering importance and intrinsic value. And while it may not be the dreamiest of the dream jobs out there, I know from reading the other job postings on the same boards, that working with us is in the top-teir of rewarding jobs in NY market right now.
So, before analyzing the lack of response to our ads as total rejection [tear], I started asking around.
First I turned to my startup CTO friends — folks who are developers themselves and also looking for more hands to help on their projects. Guess what: everyone is having the same problem. The shortage of talent in NYC is real. There are tons of great developers available in other places — I heard from folks in Chicago, Colorado, Washington, India, and California — but the lack of response in NYC was beyond startling. It was troubling, for me and everyone else.
Probably the best insight on the matter came from my very own partner and CTO of BricaBox: Kyle. He reminded me that startups = risk, and that with the economy the way it is right now people would feel more comfortable working in an unexciting job that’s definitely going to be around in a year. While we can hope and expect this for our own startups, we can’t compete with most companies in the job security market. We’re offering a 3 month contract, and while that should look like security for many independents, perhaps it’s getting more and more frightening considering the economic crisis our country is in.
Of course there’s another obvious analysis here: supply is not low, demand is high. I imagine this is also a part of the equation, but I think supply and risk is the real issue here.
So, it’s sad for me to say, because I’m such a booster of the NY tech community, but in my mind NYC is failing us right now. I’d almost like to think that we’re the only ones having this problem, but I know we’re not. Everyone is. And this makes me wonder: what’s the solution? Are we fools to try and work with local folks? Can we only hire when it’s permanent? Should we kick the dream of finding a team-member, rather than a code-monkey, to the curb? I can’t imagine the latter is more attractive than the former, but it all goes back to Charlie’s question:
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5 responses so far ↓
1 Scott T. // Feb 4, 2008 at 9:00 pm
I *am* working for a startup… but yeah, I’ve noticed that demand for web devs is very high right now. Real web designers (the kind that know standards based xhtml & css and can deal with templates, but can also wear the graphic designer hat) are also very hard to find. Plain old graphic-designers-for-the-web and Flash monkeys seem to be a little more prevalent; though real front-end coders (ActionScript, Flex, Javascript) also seem rather rare.
2 Scott T. // Feb 4, 2008 at 9:06 pm
The other side of the risk coin — joining early at a startup can mean working for much lower pay than the going market rate (which are now in the 6 figures for experienced php devs) — and in a city with an insane cost of living, it’s a little harder to “squeeze by” for a few years and take a risk — a little easier to do if you live in a town where you can rent a *house* twice the size of your apartment for 2/3 what you pay in rent.
3 Matt Kangas // Feb 5, 2008 at 12:49 pm
I would apply, but I’m not a UI guy myself… more into “real coding” problems on website back-ends.
I don’t meet many folks in NYC who are both strong graphic designers and strong coders. People seem to specialize one way or the other. Is this better/worse than other places (SF, etc)?… dunno!
4 ericabiz // Feb 5, 2008 at 2:20 pm
NYC is terribly expensive… I wouldn’t blame people who live there from wanting security, because once you sign the Death Leases that many landlords have there, you don’t want a job that will stop paying you in 3 months.
Have you considered hiring someone in a cheaper locale? Someone who is only paying $400/mo for a mortgage in the Midwest or South is probably in a much better position to take on the risk offered with a startup job.
5 Niki Scevak // Feb 12, 2008 at 3:35 pm
One brutal answer: the job ad sucks. It goes against every ounce of tone that your much better blog post conveys.
“Bonus points for XHTML, CSS, UI, and/or UX savvy; must be willing to work 3+ days a week out of our Madison Sq. Park office. Ideally, you can dive into a complex codebase and rapidly become familiar with minimal guidance. Position will be a 3-month contract with potential to become full-time.”
is almost the total opposite of
“People who know us know that working with Kyle and me would be a fun, flexible, and meaningful. We made it clear in our postings that we’re looking for someone to be a local team-member, not just a code-monkey we send specs to and then don’t invite out to drink beers at 2A, or get BBQ at Georgia’s or sip coffee at The Roasting Plant.”
The first says me me me, and the later says we’d love to meet you.
Just my $0.02.
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