Everywhere, the same complaint. Finding people is hard. Finding good people is impossible.

What if I told you that there is no lack. There is only lack of attention.

Talent is everywhere...

...if you know how to find it.

I spent three years running and hiring for the team at shaadi.com in Mumbai, considered a tech backwater with no depth in tech talent. I went diving in this backwater and found so many pearls - young developers with a Monad implementation in Javascript and 500 stars on Github working for 4LPA in a code sweatshop in Mulund. A kid from Dharavi with his own framework, trembling at the interview, went on to lead a team at Disney Hotstar. Or the seasoned managers going from one bad boss to another because everyone talks about autonomy but few have the courage to offer it meaningfully.

I have always found it easy to spot talent. All it takes is an understanding of The Programmer Vibe, and the courage to hire as per your convictions.

What you seek is seeking you

Good talent is looking for you. The best talent is desperately searching for a good place to work. A place where they can learn and grow. I know this because I have run such places. During the 'Great Resignation' of 2020-21, my team at Invideo saw negligible attrition. Certainly no one left for more money. This is the power of a good workplace and a seasoned team.

The tragedy

Everywhere I look I see A players and A teams crossing each other like ships in the night. HR wants to avoid expensive mistakes so they select only the safest CVs for interviews. The safe CVs turn out to be duds with no spark or imagination.

Meanwhile, the interesting nerds are spending their 20s adventuring in start up after startup, and find themselves in their 30s, at what should be the high growth phase of their career, penalised for taking risks and 'being volatile'.

I feel so sad when I see this that I want to work with hiring managers to find a new way to hire - one that doesn't leave everyone competing for the handful of developers with impeccable CVs.

Here's the deal

So the deal is this - if you can be such a workplace, I can build you your dream team - high intellect, high energy, high agency individuals that embody the programmer spirit, that love the craft and work with passion and integrity.

We're a boutique headhunting firm

How do I know A players? Because I am one. I've been part of the developer community for decades. I write a newsletter that is read in the best companies of the land.
I run a discord with about 2500 talented developers. I am in deep with the developer community in India.

Do you know that the best talent doesn't interview? When they want a new adventure, they call some friends and they get their next role. I'm one of the friends they call.

You can read more about me on my X, or read my newsletter The Engineering Org and you will see that I understand how to make people and computers work together.

To hire me to help build your team, email me at recruit@svs.io