A recent interaction with a developer reminded me of two things I’ve learned:

1. Don’t let your emotions control you, but don’t be afraid to show emotion.

2. It’s easier to control your emotions when you stop thinking everyone is out to get you. More often than not, people hurt you with their idiocy not their meanness.

The story - last week we conducted phone interviews for developer positions we have open at Pocket Tales. One developer failed to answer his phone at the arranged time.

This isn’t unusual. In my history of recruiting you always have one or two no-shows or late arrivers. You usually write the candidate off unless they have a very good reason, but you give them a chance to give you a reason.

Where it got interesting was his email response.

Unlike the other interviewees, we had already exchanged multiple emails with this developer before the interview date to clarify some points in his cover letter. Specifically, he was asking for a salary of $68,000 a year and I wanted to let him know that we couldn’t pay that - definitely not in this first phase of the company’s development. I told him a range of exactly how much salary would be offered. If he’s still interested, great, if not, we understand.

We’re not naive. We know the talent we’re trying to hire can command a very good salary that we can’t match in the short term. That’s why it’s important for anyone we hire at this stage to be optimistic about our success. They will only ever be adequately compensated if their equity in Pocket Tales becomes worth something.

This developer said he was still interested so we scheduled an interview - which he rudely skipped. Then he decided after this transgression it’d also be a good idea to share his opinion on us and our business.

I said I was going to keep this candid so here is the actual email exchange following his missed interview:

Hi guys —

Yes, that’s the right number.  Please accept my apologies.  Had somewhat of an emergency situation come up and couldn’t be there.

So how do the other contenders look?

I have to admit:  having had time to think it over, you’re young, you have no money, you don’t want to pay a realistic salary, you probably have no real connections, and I don’t know if I have a whole lot of faith in the success of this operation.  Even after the app(s) are completed, you will have zero time to market them and get income rolling in. Am I right? Am I missing something?

So, unless you have something spectacular to announce (like, you secured 6 months + of funding), we probably don’t need to talk on Wednesday.

Your needs will probably be better served by junior programmers that have no family commitments, and who can be “easy breezy” come March when the bank balance says “0”.

I don’t mean to sound harsh — I still think you have a great idea — but I can’t afford to gamble on speculation.

Kind regards,
“Cocky Programmer”

I normally wouldn’t respond in this scenario because I have nothing to gain. We’re not going to hire him and his misguided opinion can’t affect our business; however, when the cost is very little, sometimes you rationalize a response because you want the satisfaction of standing up for yourself. It’s good practice.

“Cocky Programmer”,

Since you asked, the answer is no, you’re not right, but how could you be? You know as much about starting a business as I know about building a backend database.

I don’t mean to sound harsh, just blunt.

Get some integrity and keep your commitments. That’s the only thing that pisses me off about the time I’ve spent communicating with you.

Best,
Brennan

Do I think this guy meant to insult us? Absolutely not. I believe in Hanlon’s Razor which says “never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.” The guy clearly lacked tactfulness and mistakenly thought his assumptions were equal to fact. I also don’t believe he had an emergency. Lying and disrespecting my time are two of my pet peeves; hence, the “integrity” zing in my response.