Full Disclosure: I’m happy where I’m at because I’m getting all my needs met right now.
I’m a pretty darned good coder. I’m not the best but I’m not the worst either. I’ve taken a few apps from the small stage to the big stage when it was hard to do so. Now 10 million users is the new million. If you give me a bug list of 200 or so bugs, I am pretty sure I can bring down that list to zero in 2 to 3 months. If you have features to build, you can be sure that they will be BDD’d / TDD’d if you’re willing to work with me on that.
I’m not the best, but definitely good enough to get 100 calls a day if I were to announce my availability.
Also, right now, I’m focused more on my photography and helping out hackathons by mentoring new coders and telling them about how different tools and APIs can help them.
What do *you* need to do to get me to join your startup?
First off, I’m INFP and there were many times where I could have made money but passed on it simply because the technology wasn’t cool enough. You can quote me a number that’s high, but it isn’t worth it if the technology isn’t cool.
Ok, enough talk. Here’s the list:
1. I’ve seen your team hanging out either partying or doing group activities together. If you can keep a crew of people together for what seems like 24/7, I’m down. It also means that there’s more than just money going on.
2. Money is not important but showing that you aren’t cheap and take payday seriously is. I’m surprised that there are still companies with millions in the bank that pay their employees late or nickle and dime them. Great companies have policy of the 1st or the Friday before the 1st if it falls on the weekend, and the 15th or the Friday before the 15th.
3. Career pathing – this might seem like a ploy when hands change so fast in the tech industry, but I would rather work with a company with a clear idea of what my success will look like than not. Most folks manage by sink or swim, or micro-managing. Career pathing when done right is the middle road of these.
That’s pretty much it, and if you look at the companies that have lured talent away, they hold out the promise of one of these things.