Online education portals like Udacity and Coursera are really changing the world of remote learning in significant ways. By making free and high quality education accessible to a global audience, these platforms are opening up undreamt of possibilities for communities around the world to improve, grow, and prosper in the digital economy of the 21st century. Education at top tier colleges and universities has traditionally been a social and economic privilege, but now anyone can join in the learning revolution by sitting in virtual classrooms with the world’s best and brightest educators. Whether this involves learning how to code and build smart phone apps, or starting up a new business, or learning about public health literacy, the sky is the limit of what’s now possible.

Everything about Web and Network Monitoring

A Dummy’s Guide to Hiring a Geek

by | Sep 26, 2012

If you are a “techie” yourself, you know all the best places to find other people with technical talent to help you with your projects.  But if you’re like most people, the language of the “Web Development and Software World” probably sounds like nonsense to you.

When it comes to writing a classified ad, you may not know whether you need a programmer or a web designer; an IT manager or a network engineer; a software security application or an actual network team – or what each of these people do!  Do you need someone who knows PHP, Java, Perl, ASP, CGI or mySQL? Should you go with Ruby or Python?

You simply have a vision and you want someone who can make it happen.   But where is the best place to hire technical talent to get the job done?

You may know about job posting sites such as Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com and Indeed.com.  But when it comes to hiring technical talent, especially if the project can be handled virtually, these sites are not always the best place to look.

Another problem is that resumes for this type of work don’t always provide an accurate picture of a person’s abilities and how well they know what they say they know.

According to recent articles in Forbes and the Washington post, there is hope on the horizon in the form of a new company called Remarkable Hire (www.remarkablehire.com), scheduled to launch hopefully by the end of 2012.

“Remarkable Hire is essentially a search engine for finding people who actually passionately discuss and gather around technology and design online. The tool crawls sites where such collaboration happens and pulls in search results for each relevant person. Such sites include the likes of GitHub, Hacker News, Stack Overflow, Quora, and Twitter. Remarkable Hire even pulls in niche sites…”

If Remarkable Hire does all it promises to do, it should streamline the hiring process, but until then, here some resources to help find the technical talent you need:

Local “Techie” Hangouts

Meetup Groups

MeetUp Groups are a great place to start – especially if you are having trouble putting into words what you need.  Search for meetups targeted to technical people or related to your specific industry.  Even if you don’t find the exact person you need, you may find someone who can point you in the right direction.

Universities

Don’t overlook the local college or university campuses for technical talent.  Depending upon the scope of your project, you may find someone willing to work at below industry standard rates to help build a portfolio.   Call the computer or technology department and ask for recommendations.   Ask about local “geek” hangouts, such as coffee shops, too!

BarCamps

BarCamp is an network of user-generated “unconferences” primarily focused around technology and the Web. They are open, workshop-events and are a great place to learn, network and find technical talent in your area.  Do a search for “bar camp your state” or “bar camp your town” and see what comes up.

Visit the Online Tech Hangouts

 CodeEval  (www.codeeval.com)

“CodeEval is a platform used by developers to showcase their skills. Developers can participate in app building competitions and win cash/prizes.”   As a potential employer, you submit a “challenge,” with specs related to your project of course, and then you get to evaluate the submissions.  This gives you a chance to view live examples of a developer’s work.

GitHub (www.github.com)

GitHub is a web-based hosting service for software development projects that use the Git revision control system. As an employer, you have the ability to view actual projects and codes that have been posted as OpenSource by programmers and developers.  Of course, if you don’t have an understanding of code, this may not be the best place for you to start.

Yahoo and Google Groups

Search for groups about topics that involve the skills that you need or your type of project. Look for the people who provide legitimate and valuable comments and answers. Reach out to them.  If they can’t help, they may know someone, who knows someone… 

Technical Blogs and Journals

If your project is not urgent, take the time to check out some of the technical blogs.  Read the comments and subscribe so that you can ask questions of the “experts.”  If you have a candidate in mind, ask if they have a blog – or ask what blogs and journals they read.

Facebook, Twitter and Google+

Have a candidate? Ask for their social media sites and you may get some valuable insight on their experience, professionalism and personality.

Online Technical Recruiting Sites

Dice (www.dice.com & https://resources.dice.com)

“Dice is the leading career site for technology and engineering professionals. With a 21-year track record of meeting the ever-changing needs of technology professionals, companies and recruiters, our specialty focus and exposure to highly skilled professional communities enable employers to reach hard-to-find, experienced and qualified technology and engineering candidates.

StartUpHire (www.StartUpHire.com)

“StartUpHire makes it easy to reach that target audience of passive and active professionals with startup experience. Posting jobs is restricted to startup companies as the site attracts a community which is passionate about these careers. Job postings reach a broad network of affiliated sites, and employers can easily add a website careers section using the StartUpHire widget.”

Tech Hire (www.tech-hire.com)

Tech Hire Consulting is a Software Services company committed to provide workforce and consulting Services to customers across industries.

General Freelance Recruiting Sites

  • eLance – www.elance.com
  • Freelancer – www.freelancer.com (aquired Scriptance 7/12)
  • Guru – www.guru.com
  • HireVue – https://new.hirevue.com
  • Indeed.com – www.indeed.com/resumes
  • oDesk – www.odesk.com
  • vWorker – www.vworker.com
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About Anne Balke

Outside of my freelance work as a writer, I provide business consulting, web design and online marketing services for small businesses – from one small business owner, to another. As an entrepreneur who has been through the struggles of learning how to succeed when resources were limited, I understand what it is like to build a small business from the ground up. My formal training is in Psychology and this background gives me a unique perspective on the world of marketing and behavior. I have been a work-at-home mother since 2002 and absolutely love the freedom that being self employed provides.