Hiring Developers & Cultivating Innovation for Agency Growth by Chris Alvares

1. HIRING DEVELOPERS &
CULTIVATING INNOVATION
FOR AGENCY GROWTH
@CHRISALVARES

2. WHY HIRE DEVELOPERS?

3. WHY HIRE DEVELOPERS?
Help
Retain
Employees
Help
Retain
Clients

4. RELATIONSHIPS + PERFORMANCE
CLIENT RETENTION

5. CLIENT RETENTION
RELATIONSHIPS + PERFORMANCE
+ TECHNOLOGY

6. CLIENTS LOVE TOOLS

7. CLIENTS LOVE BEING PART OF
THE PRODUCT PROCESS

8. IT’S LIKE MAKING BABIES

9. USE DEVELOPERS & SOFTWARE
TO FILL THE GAP

10. EMPLOYEE RETENTION
SALARY + CULTURE

11. SALARY + CULTURE
+ DOING MEANINGFUL WORK
EMPLOYEE RETENTION

12. FOR THE NEW GENERATION,
DOING MEANINGFUL WORK THAT
RESONATES GOES A LONG WAY.

13. DATA TRANSFORMATION (ETL)
+
DATA WAREHOUSE
EVERY AGENCY NEEDS 2 PIECES OF SOFTWARE

14. HOW SHOULD YOU DEFINE
SUCCESS FOR INTERNAL TOOLS?

15. USE “PEOPLE” BASED METRICS

16. IN 2014:
30 OF 40 PEOPLE WORKING ON
REPORTING AFTER 6PM

17. IN 2015:
15 OF 60 PEOPLE WORKING ON
REPORTING AFTER 6PM

18. IN 2016:
1 OF 102 PEOPLE WORKING ON
REPORTING AFTER 6PM

19. HIRE TECHNICAL PEOPLE

20. HIRE TECHNICAL PEOPLE
15% Engineers 35% Write SQL

21. HIRING DEVELOPERS

22. 5 REASONS WHY HIRING
DEVELOPERS SUCKS

23. #1 DEVELOPER’S “LIE”
ON THEIR RESUME

24. GIVE THEM A STANDARDIZED
CODING TEST
+ CODE REVIEW SESSION
github.com/agencypmg/programmingChallenges

25. #2 MORE DEVELOPMENT JOBS
THAN DEVELOPERS

26. REDUCE RED TAPE.
CONTRIBUTE TO OPEN SOURCE.
BE A GREAT PLACE TO WORK.

27. #3 DEVELOPERS ARE
EXPEN$IVE

28. EXPERIENCE IS OVERRATED.
FIND DEVELOPERS LEARNING
THE NEWEST TECHNOLOGIES
AND CONTRIBUTING TO OPEN-
SOURCE SOFTWARE

29. #4 THERE ARE A LOT OF
BAD DEVELOPERS

30. HIRE SOCIAL /
ENTREPRENEURIAL PEOPLE
FIND “T” SHAPED DEVELOPERS

31. “T” SHAPED DEVELOPERS
• Lots of General Knowledge in a
multitude of fields
• Front End Design
Front End Development
User Experience
Digital Marketing Experience
Customer Support
Backend Development
Machine Learning
Paid Search
SEO
• Specialized, Focused Knowledge in
one or two particular fields.
General knowledge
specialized knowledge

32. #5 RETENTION RATE IS LOW

33. GIVE DEVELOPERS OWNERSHIP
IN THE STUFF THEY BUILD
INCLUDE THEM IN DECISION
MAKING PROCESS

34. HOW DO I INTEGRATE DEVELOPERS
INTO MY COMPANY CULTURE?

35. FOCUS ON SOLUTIONS

36. HIRE POSITIVE DEVELOPERS
WHO ARE GOOD BARTENDERS

37. CONTINUE TO WINE & DINE

38. DEVELOPERS WITH MARKETING
KNOWLEDGE ARE POWERFUL

39. DEVELOPERS ARE MORE
POWERFUL WHEN THEY
UNDERSTAND THE DOMAIN

40. TAKE AWAYS
- Use developers to build a competitive advantage and work with clients to develop
great technology.
- Hire Positive, Entrepreneurial, and Technical People
- Trust & Verify Developer Resumes
- Focus on Solutions, Not Problems
- Train developers outside of development.

41. Q/A?
@CHRISALVARES