Developer Auction raises $2.7M for exactly what you’d think(venturebeat.com) |
Developer Auction raises $2.7M for exactly what you’d think(venturebeat.com) |
As a developer it appeared the only required field for employers was salary. Often equity, vacation days and perks were listed but sometimes they were listed as negotiable. All but one of the offers I received were for significant raises above my previous salary. And the offers included some from high profile companies.
Once you receive an offer you have the choice to either interview with the company or decline to interview. I actually chose to decline three of the six interview offers I received because one company looked like a horrible fit off the bat, one company offered a small raise but required moving to the bay area (which I was open to for the right circumstances but not that one) and one company offered me a salary below my current salary (Developer Auction allows you to set a minimum salary it would require for you to consider moving to another company, I actually listed my minimum as below my current salary to try to leave open the possibility of moving to an early stage company).
If you choose to interview with a company the process proceeds as it would normally and you may have still have to go through a rigorous hiring process. The purpose of the site is less to create an actual auction and more to shift the power in the hiring process toward the employee. It really helps you do a comprehensive job search with a lot of companies in a short amount of time. It solves the job search problem of accepting an offer and wondering if something else is out there that's a better fit. All in all it was a great way to look for new opportunities and I ended up accepting an offer from one of the companies I interviewed with.
Thank you for sharing your story.
You mentioned you declined 3 of the 6 offers but did you end up accepting one?
I ended up accepting an offer that I think is a better culture fit than my old position and a significant raise.
There are companies that do it right--like Github and Etsy--and there are companies that do it wrong. The big problem is that doing it right probably takes more time. Supporting the local developer ecosystem, presenting at conferences and meetups, mentoring others, open sourcing projects, writing blogs that help others, etc. are all great recruiting strategies (and just darn nice things to do overall), but they all take a lot of time (and none are guaranteed to bring you new employees).
I think the fact that these guys are successful tells me that a fair number of companies are saying "my time is more valuable than $xx." I'm not sure how I feel about that. I completely understand it--especially when you're a part of a super-small team--but I still kinda wish it didn't have to be that way. And fwiw I'm not sure how well cultural fit is addressed by this platform, but maybe the companies figure all that out in interviews.
I'm biased, but I think giving developers the chance to discover the one company (among as many options as possible) that fits them best is the way to really improve recruiting. That forces companies to actually be worth a damn--not just have deep pockets--to recruit successfully.
..and now for the shameless plug. It's free to set up a company page on Work for Pie, and you can post up to two jobs for free too. Tell our thousands of developers how awesome you are: https://workforpie.com/companies/join/
[reposted from disqus comments]
"You are expressly prohibited from accessing DEVAUCT through a virtual private network or by proxy;"
WTF?
a) unenforcable. b) breaks IronKey Secure Sessions. c) breaks compressing mobile browsers eg. Opera Mobile etc. d) don't tell me what I can and can't do with my network.
I doubt any early stage startup spends meaningful time crafting their own T&Cs. And if they do, they should probably reconsider their priorities.
I feel like I'm still not seeing the additional value that Developer Auction brings to the table. Am I missing something or are they just offering an air of exclusivity?
1. I get contacted by tons of recruiters over linkedin, but I have no idea which of them actually have relationships with great companies. Lots of them make big promises and introduce you to terrible uninspiring companies. Through Developer Auction I got interviews at some really interesting companies.
2. You the developer get a cut of the recruiter fee if you are hired through developer auction.
Not a perfect analogy by any stretch, although it is interesting.
And obviously no one is literally auctioned off, employees and employers both have a say in the matter.
Also what slaves got auctioned off to make six figures in loft offices of hip cities?
With this, they aren't really bids in the strictest sense, they're non-binding offers of an interview.
Is it just me or does this actually sound quite interesting?
Maybe you could start off small and make an AirBnB for fishing boats or something. I'm sure most fishermen would be pretty happy if they could get a small berth a bit out of town at half the price? I'm no fisherman though.
* AirBnB for oil tankers
* Dropbox for cars
* Uber for soft drinks
* Exec for music
* Github for food
* Twitter for fashionhttps://www.google.com/search?q=github+for+recipes
The rest seem less useful...
Dropbox for cars makes no sense. Do you mean a garage?
Twitter for fashion - already exists! Just follow people who talk about fashion on twitter already.
Does this mean that DeveloperAuction will only accept developers residing in these specific cities? What about non-US residents (e.g. Canada)?
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Thanks so much for your application! We will thoroughly review it and if your application is approved, you'll be sent a second confirmation email 72 hours before an auction launches with an opt-in link to confirm your participation.
We've been very excited to receive thousands of applications to participate in each of our auctions, but unfortunately we can only let in a select pool of candidates. We will be judging applications based on:
1.) Location. We are primarily focused on the SF Bay Area, NYC, Boston, and LA though select Engineers from Austin, Denver, Seattle, and developers that are willing to relocate are also let onto the platform.
2.) Likelyhood to attract offers from employers. For example, Python and Rails Developers are much more in-demand among start-ups than .NET Programmers
3.) Education History & Open-source contributions. We favour Engineers from the likes of MIT, UC Berkeley and Stanford as well as Engineers who have notable GitHub accounts.
4.) Notable accomplishments & achievements. Make sure your profile is complete!
They probably only accept developers who want to work in one of those specific areas. Those are probably the only cities where they have connections with enough companies to get bids. The whole thing would be pointless if no one was bidding. I would imagine that if they are successful, they will expand to other areas.
edit: here it is! http://forkthecookbook.com/