Hi Nate - we have good luck with our CS / EE / MIS student body, we have hired some very good developers over the years. Perhaps you could work with a few local colleges/universities to hire student workers, I would contact the chairs of those departments and explain your dilemma, and they could probably help you locate / push a want ad to various student listservs, slack channels, etc. I am finding that it is very, very hard to find/hire developers for the salary levels most libraries and public institutions can pay, but that if we pay a bit above normal hourly wages (eg, 12-15/hour) we can locate and utilize some very, very talented future uber developers.
Drawbacks are that it’s best to locate and hire sophomores and juniors - freshman are usually too fresh, and seniors are focused on internships and projects, and that nice future, high-paying job. Additionally, it takes a bit of time to train them on your languages and your particular setup, as well as the project. it’s more documentation-intensive because you have to achieve continuity between hires, so you need to document the heck out of what they are doing, and really map your projects well. They also generally can only work 20 hours or less during a given semester, and it’s also important to recognize that they are kids, and are in school, so that is their priority, not your organization or library.
Despite the caveats, it usually works out well for us, just a bit more overhead and maintanence than a standard hire.I hope that was informative.
Steven
Steven Turner, MLIS
Manager, Web Technologies and Development, Assistant Professor
University Libraries
The University of Alabama
416 Gorgas Library | Box 870266, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0266
office 205-348-1638
[log in to unmask] | http://www.lib.ua.edu/
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On Jul 3, 2019, at 9:07 AM, Nate Hill <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
Hi all,
I'm looking for some advice on other places beyond libraryland where I
might recruit a developer for the new repository service we are developing
at the Metropolitan New York Library Council.
About a week ago I posted a job for a Digital Repository Developer on the
code4lib job board.
https://jobs.code4lib.org/jobs/34771-digital-repository-developer
When I posted it here, I hit all (or most) of the other usual or
appropriate spots... web4lib, lita, drupal4lib, etc. And yay, I do indeed
have some resumes already, so *thank you* to those communities!
I wonder though: does anyone on the list have experience (good or bad) or
stories to share about recruiting from other places outside our immediate
professional circles... CS programs, code schools, etc? I'm really
committed to putting in the time and energy to scour the earth to find the
right fit and to build a happy, healthy team for this initiative.
Thanks for your thoughts-
--
Nate Hill
natehill.net
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