Hiring

So, we are hiring in my group. Here is the link to the job posting:

https://hire.jobvite.com/Jobvite/jobvite.aspx?b=nkspCnwF

We are looking for people with automation skills. What does that mean, you might ask? Well, here is what I think.

First of all, automation engineers are developers. The have good skills at developing automation software. At Mozilla, that means that they know Python, JavaScript, C, or C++. They know how to code and debug.

However, they are also QA engineers. They have a desire to break software to make it better. They have a desire to have some level of comfort in measurable quality. They are the kind of person who breaks websites trying to do normal things like buy a shirt or login to their bank. And they always want to know why it breaks, and may try to figure it out because either they are angry, they are curious, or they enjoy the thrill of a problem solved.

These kinds of people are very hard to find. Most people with coding skills want to work on some other kind of software than automation. Most really good testers don't necessarily have the technical skills to write automation.

I am plowing through a bunch of resumes this afternoon. Most of them are from candidates who are submitting their resume to every position that they can find regardless of qualifications. While it is true that there are many fewer jobs in tech than there are people who want them, it is also true that the number of qualified candidates is very small. There is no such thing as a candidate that matches all of the job requirements perfectly. My philosophy is looking for somebody who is smart, has a track record of success, knows some of your skills, has knowledge in similar skills, and has a track record of learning. Add on top of that some requirement of social skills, and you have a good candidate.

It's a large job standing in front of the firehose and screening resumes. It's fun, but at the end of the day, I am glad it is my bosses position and I am only helping out.