Stack Overflow is a Q A site where programmers, software engineers and other tech pros discuss everything from Unix and SharePoint to photography, math and role-playing games. It\u2019s the kind of place where users explore technical topics as granular as \u201cNo Response from jQuery getJSON method\u201d and \u201cRequest params not parsed in Ring\/Compojure app.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like GitHub, it\u2019s primarily used to pursue the successful implementation of technology. Users ask questions when they\u2019ve hit a wall in their approach and have exhausted all of the possible solutions they could uncover on their own. The difference between the two is that, on GitHub, users primarily post and comment on code, whereas on Stack Overflow they engage in detailed conversations about often-narrow aspects of technical challenges.<\/p>\n
For recruiters, Stack Overflow represents an opportunity to get a sense of a candidate\u2019s technical expertise, how they approach challenges, and their skill at communicating with others. Many say its tools are too limited for conducting effective searches, but most agree the site can provide meaningful information that will help you decide whether a candidate has the skills and personality to fit with the specific demands of a particular opening.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re localized and Stack Overflow isn\u2019t set up for local searches,\u201d said Willis Johnson, Vice President of Technical Recruiting for the Robert Half Technology office in Albuquerque, N.M. \u201cBut I use it as another tool to vet candidates\u2014see how they interact, what questions they ask, look at the bits of code they post, see how their logic works.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson also noted that a \u201ctrue programmer\u201d will be on either Stack Overflow or GitHub: \u201cIf not, it\u2019s a red flag.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aaron Ho, a recruiter at San Francisco-based Riviera Partners, says the site is a good way to get a sense of a candidate\u2019s expertise. One of the first things he does is look at the \u201creputation\u201d score that\u2019s featured on each user\u2019s profile. The higher the score, the more active the user and the more answers they\u2019ve provided that others thought were helpful.<\/p>\n
In addition, examining a user\u2019s \u201cTop Tags\u201d and \u201cTop Posts\u201d provides an idea of where the user has the most expertise. \u201cThe assumption is that if they are taking the time to answer specific types of questions, and other people are upvoting them, then they are probably pretty good at it,\u201d Ho said.<\/p>\n
Johnson points out that even a user\u2019s questions provide an indication of their work habits. \u201cOne \u2018rule\u2019 of Stack Overflow is that you\u2019re supposed to try to answer the question yourself,\u201d he said. He\u2019s wary of users who post a simple question without any indication that they\u2019ve already spent time trying to work a problem through. Those people, he believes, \u201care trying to get other people to do the work for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Using Stack Overflow does have its downsides, however. Because of its Q A format, it can be more hit-or-miss than GitHub in providing access to a user\u2019s work samples. In addition, said Scott Schefferstein, Senior Technical Recruiter in the New Orleans office of the consulting firm Resolvit, some engineers simply don\u2019t warm up to the site\u2019s approach. \u201cSome of the best developers I know, you wouldn\u2019t be impressed by their Stack Overflow profiles at all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Ho agrees. Though he \u201cabsolutely\u201d uses it to vet candidates he finds from other sources, \u201cyou have to take it with a grain of salt,\u201d he said. \u201cJust because an engineer doesn\u2019t have a fully built out Stack Overflow profile, doesn\u2019t have a high Reputation score, or hasn\u2019t answered many questions, it doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s a bad engineer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Likewise, he continued, \u201cJust because an engineer answers a lot of questions, it doesn\u2019t automatically mean he is good at programming. You have to take a look at the content of the answers and how well they were received by the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGitHub and Stack Overflow are like Twitter and Facebook,\u201d Johnson added. \u201cMany try both, but then tend to stick to one or the other. Typically, they\u2019re two very different types of users.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stack Overflow differs from GitHub, in that it hosts more interaction between users, said Johnson. Right off the bat, that hints that Stack Overflow users are less introverted, and helps him get a sense of how they\u2019d work on a team and approach other people. \u201cYou can learn a lot about temperament and logic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Even though he doesn\u2019t use Stack Overflow regularly, Schefferstein agreed that you could get a lot out of reading their answers. When a user goes into depth, \u201cthat tells me something. Someone who\u2019s glib tells me something else. Read a few of their posts and you can get a sense of them.\u201d That, he added, \u201ccan be helpful in terms of figuring out how to approach them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Using Stack Overflow isn\u2019t without its dangers, recruiters suggest. First among them: It\u2019s a professional community hosting professional conversations. A sure way to burn your bridges is to spam threads with job pitches. \u201cI’d caution about interacting with developers on Stack Overflow,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cWe’re recruiters, not developers. When non-tech people try to interact, our answers tend not to be very good. It\u2019s not a communications tool.\u201d<\/p>\n
That said, Johnson noted that he has occasionally posted queries asking what would be good interview questions for certain skill sets. In each case, he received valuable answers.<\/p>\n
The other danger is relying on it too much. As Schefferstein pointed out, some talented engineers just don\u2019t take advantage of Stack Overflow, and Johnson says it would obviously prove detrimental to use it as your only vetting tool: \u201cThere are so many other things that go into recruiting a candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re not using Stack Overflow, Ho recommends giving it a try. \u201cIt does take a little bit more time and effort to locate the right candidates, but it\u2019s definitely worth it,\u201d he said. Johnson adds that the site has a \u201cvery good, robust\u201d help section, and suggests: “Just go in and get acclimated. Pick some topics you\u2019re recruiting on and go take a look.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Stack Overflow is a Q A site where programmers, software engineers and other tech pros discuss everything from Unix and SharePoint to photography, math and role-playing games. It\u2019s the kind of place where users explore technical topics as granular as \u201cNo Response from jQuery getJSON method\u201d and \u201cRequest params not parsed in Ring\/Compojure app.\u201d Like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":371869550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2154],"class_list":["post-999881429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sourcing-candidates"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n