[Phpwm] Job for web programmer

[Phil Beynon]

> It's difficult to know where to recruit from at the moment.
>
> I'm in the same position as Dave at the moment - I need contractors and
> permanent developers, have advertised on the web and in the press with no
> luck at all. I guess you need to advertise where people will be
> looking, and
> as there are so few PHP developers out there they won't be looking on job
> sites or pages unless they are desperate to move. Which really leaves head
> hunting the only option...

But not so far advertised on here as such! :-)

> ...Which really leaves recruitment agencies as the only option?
>
> My problem with recruitment agencies is that they sell them
> selves as having
> a big book of keen candidates but really just advertise the position and
> send you anyone who responds - so why use them when you could
> have done that
> yourself.

The problem with a lot of recruitment agencies is they try and expand the
requirements to act as a catchall. If i see something advertised as a PHP
job then maybe I might want to apply for it, but when they stick in a whole
bunch of other things like every database known to man, .asp .jsp and a
whole heap of other things I just get turned off and move along.

> We went to an agency with our position recently and the next day I had 3
> emails from that and other agencies asking me if I wanted to apply for my
> own vacancy.
>
> I was talking to someone from Allegis at PHPCon who said they test all
> candidates before they send anyone to the client, this would be
> good to see
> from all agencies. Some of the candidates I've been sent recently couldn't
> spell PHP let alone program in it. If I'm paying an agency for a PHP
> developer I don't want an VB developer with a PHP book.
>
> Cheers
>
> Mike

One of the other things too look at is location, a lot of the people into
PHP tend to be younger with working partners and quite often have small kids
who have to be taken to school etc. I'm in this position myself, and I for
one am simply not that interested in a twice daily cross city / country
commute. With all the collaboration tools that are available there should be
a higher degree in flexibility given to allow people to work from home on
assigned tasks as opposed to having to attend an office daily. Plus it has
to be said my entire snippets and functions library is here which aids and
assists productivity enourmously!

Phil