That being said, it’s not impossible.  I love this challenge.  And I want to share an approach that’s worked for me.

After years spent helping to build teams, I’ve noticed some clear patterns start to emerge from the questions that get asked during coffee shop conversations.  Every developer is a snowflake, but there certainly are some common things that come up again and again.

Specifically, I find that there are the eight things that smart developers are trying to evaluate.  My advice – before you sit down, first perform a brutal self-assessment about how your organization and your opportunity measure up on the following:

1. Company
2. Physical Space
3. Position
4. Product
5. People
6. Platform
7. Process
8. Pay

For each item, I’ll highlight the salient questions developers are rolling through during your pitch.  Make sure you have clear, concise answers for all of them.

1. Company

• “Are they viable? Are they going to be around for awhile?”
• “When I tell my friends where I work, will I be proud of it?”

2. Physical Space

• “Is the office in a location that works for me and my commute?”
• “When I walk in, does the office workspace itself feel dynamic, vibrant, modern?  Or does it feel kind of junky and cluttered?”
• “When I go to the office, I want to get stuff done.  Is this a place with the right balance of meeting space and personal space to do that?”

3. Position

• “In my role, will I have ownership over the things I really care about?”
• “Are my technical skills and interests a good fit for the role they’re offering?”

4. Product

• “Am I working on something meaningful?”
• “Is this something that people are excited to use?  Even if it’s not my friends and family, there should be somebody out there that would miss this product if it were gone, right?”

5. People

• “Do these folks have a sense of urgency about what they’re doing?”
• “Do they have the right people in the right spots so far?”
• “Plain and simple – Do I like them?  Do they communicate honestly and openly?”

6. Platform

• “Do I like the technology choices they’ve made?”
• “Are new technologies going to be introduced along the way, so that I can continue to learn and grow?”
• “How much of what they’re working on is untouchable legacy – and how much of it is greenfield?”

7. Process

• “Will I be able to use the development tools I care about?”
• “Are they a bunch of hacks gluing stuff together? Or do they do things the right way?  And can they prove it to me?”
• “Do the engineering managers serve as vocal advocates for quality?”

8. Pay

• “Is the pay competitive at this company? Am I happy with those numbers?”
• “Going forward – If I do well, will I be recognized?”

That’s it.  No secret ingredients. No secret formula.  After reading that, you’re likely thinking “Of course, Steve.”

Listen up: Put your own cognitive dissonance aside and be completely honest with yourself about how your organization truly scores out across all of those facets.  Go from the outside looking in, not the inside looking out.

Maybe you think there are acceptable reasons as to why you have boxes all over your office entryway.  And you’re used to seeing them, so who cares, right?  Wrong.  There’s a good chance that the developer you invite up to the office for a look around was recently at an office with a clean, well-lit space free of clutter.  Where would they rather spend their time?

Maybe you think there are acceptable reasons as to why you don’t quite have the test coverage you want yet, but the site is up, so who cares, right?  Wrong.  There’s a good chance that the developer you’re talking to was recently at an office with realtime wallboards showing current build status.  Do you think your hand wavy answer can compete with that?

Wherever you’re strong, highlight it.  That’s easy.  But wherever you’re weak, fix it.  Don’t hand wave or bullshit (we developers have an incredible detector).  Just face it, own it, fix it.

Make it an initiative to legitimately address any weaknesses above before hitting the streets.  If you do, you’ll turn “meh” into “hell yeah” and have a great group of builders around you. Good luck out there.

This has been making the rounds lately. It’s fantastic.

Here’s the story behind its creation.

Fantastic time last night at Santana Row in San Jose with old high school friends Alex and Marco.  Haven’t seen these guys in a long time.

In a crowded outdoor setting, it’s easy to feel like an idiot for pulling out the big DSLR + flash.  But there are still some moments in your life when you should leave the iPhone in your pocket and use the real deal instead.

Seems you can’t open a web browser right now without getting absorbed in a tale about the insane amount of cash This Guy or That Girl is going to pull in on May 18.

I’m a voracious consumer of information, so this is as difficult for me as anyone.  But I also remind myself of the simple secret that every successful person I know has figured out:

This world rewards creators, not consumers.

Great people don’t talk about doing the work with status updates on Facebook.

Great people don’t read about doing the work on Hacker News.

They shut up and do the work.  

I humbly offer this blog post as a small reminder of what’s really important.

Look around for the closest pen and paper.

Write down what you want to get done today.

Then close the browser and get started.

Don’t worry – the web will still be here when you’re ready to come back to it.

But you’ll be a lot closer to your own personal happiness because you made that choice.

See you on the other side.

With those two guys hooking up, you pretty much knew it was going to be a banger. Sure enough, it is. Markus + Jochen have delivered, big time. The crowd of 10,000 in Buenos Aires ate it up. And I’m eating it up, too. Classic 2011 trance anthem. Huge lead synth, fun little stabs and plucks here and there, and — naturally — a great build and climax.

The juicy part here, though, is the social media angle of this. Thanks to Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, electronic dance music fans were able to watch the creation happen in realtime and help shape what it eventually became.

Fellow artists need to watch and learn. This is how it’s done.

Monday, March 28

Just after the Ultra Music Festival in Miami, Markus invites fellow trance producer Jochen Miller over to his Miami-based studio. Something starts to brew.

Ok @jochenmiller, Dinner break. I think we have an anthem brewing in the studio.

March 28, 2011 2:32 pm via EchofonReplyRetweetFavorite

@MarkusSchulz

Markus Schulz

These are two guys at the top of their game. This is going to be good.

Wednesday, March 30

Markus tweets that he’s putting the finishing touches on this “still untitled” track.

Final touches in the studio to this still untitled monster with @jochenmiller.

March 30, 2011 10:36 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@MarkusSchulz

Markus Schulz

That tweet gets automatically reposted over to Markus’ Facebook page. Within minutes, fans start suggesting track titles. Fifteen minutes in, to be precise, a fan named Jeff Williams suggests the name “Rotunda”:

Around that same time, Markus’ team uploads a sneak preview video to YouTube, straight from Markus’ studio:

“Love that” is damn right. I’m with Markus. That quick little stab right at the end of each bar is a great touch. I’m really digging what I hear. And it’s just plain fun to see the guys right there in the lab experiencing their creation while it’s still completely fresh to them, knowing they have a monster on their hands. But back to the story …

Later that night, co-creator Jochen Miller tweets:

Track with @MarkusSchulz is finished! "rotunda" is the titel, and sounds BIG!!

March 30, 2011 12:05 pm via EchofonReplyRetweetFavorite

@jochenmiller

Jochen Miller

Nice! The track was completed in three days … and Markus & Jochen just let the fans name it.

Saturday, April 2

A few days later, down in Buenos Aires, Markus introduces Rotunda to the massive crowd.

A photo posted to Facebook captures the moment.

And several videos pop up on YouTube to send it around the world:

And that, my friends, is how an anthem is born in 2011.

Let’s recap. Two very popular dance music artists collaborate on an incredible new piece of music. The music goes from conception to worldwide distribution in less than one week.

During the course of the track’s creation, tweets are posted to keep in the loop. One of those fans ends up responding with a suggested track title. The artists bless that name and make it official.

Then, we’re treated to a sneak peek of the track straight from the studio. And when the track finally gets played for a massive audience just days later, a photo is taken of the moment that it happened and we’re able to hear the crowd’s reaction even though we are thousands of miles away.

We live in amazing times.

As engineers, when we think about Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, we often think about scalability, APIs, etc. But often times it’s fun to just sit back, put the “regular ole user” hat on, and marvel at the powerful experiences that these technologies allow.

And since Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are free services, none of it costs us a dime. Great job to those teams as well. Markus and Jochen are definitely not the only ones crushing it right now.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to put the headphones back on and turn this one up.