BuzzFeeds Director Of Engineering On How He Screens Developers

BuzzFeeds Director Of Engineering On How He Screens Developers PowerToFly interviewed BuzzFeeds Director of Engineering, Clment Huyghebaert, on what to look for when hiring remote developers.1. The main thing is good communication. If you cant communicate with the remotes properly, its going to be an issue, even if theyre extremely good. How quickly can they answer simple questions? It doesnt have to be complicated if English isnt their first language. But, I do look for some control over the English language. Thats priority no. 1.2. The second thing I look for is attitude. I find that Ive often had people start complaining about other projects theyre working on, fixing other peoples code and that kind of stuff. For me, thats a bad sign. Its always parte of the job, youre always going to have to fix someones code at least once a day. Its part of being a developer. If youre complaining, thats a no-no.3. Im looking for excitement??about our own projects at BuzzFeed, but also tech in ge neral. I always ask, Tell me about the project youre most proud of, whether its for work or something on the side. It gives me an idea of what theyre excited about and how to talk about it.4. We give them homework after the interview that will introduce them to our code base so that it will give them an idea of what theyll be working on and us an idea of how theyre working.5. Being open to new technologies is a plus. Our backend is built in Perl, which is elend a very sexy language these days, but it does great things??were not switching away from it. Sometimes it cools people off because its not the latest, bright thing. Understanding that you can make any product using any type of technology is key. Its about how you use the technology rather than the technology itself.6. They need to be proactive. Because Im a manager, I have 1015 projects going on at once. Its better when they keep me updated on what theyre doing, rather than me having to check in.7. Being curious, inquisitive i s a good thing. I like when people like to try new things within our app. Some people will start as frontend and then theyll want to do backend. I like that. It shows theyre interested, and they want to learn more and that theyre not bored.