Book

Smart and Gets Things Done

Joel Spolsky · Apress (O'Reilly) Paid Intermediate

A short, readable book on finding and recognizing genuinely good developers, from someone who did it without leaning on pedigree. It goes deeper than the free essays on how to attract strong people and how to tell them apart in practice. Worth it if you expect to make several technical hires and want a durable mental model.

  • Great developers are identified by what they build, not their pedigree
  • The best people rarely apply, so you have to go find them
  • A rigorous, evidence based process protects the quality bar
Open on oreilly.com ↗

The question it answers

  1. How do I hire a developer without a warm network or startup connections?

Read with it

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  5. Once no-code has carried you to traction, this is a grounded guide to building the early team you eventually need, including... Lenny's Newsletter Article Hiring your early team Lenny Rachitsky
  6. A deep, practitioner heavy set of guides from operators who built strong technical teams from scratch, useful once you commit... First Round Review Article · long read Hiring engineers First Round Review
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