How do Software Developers choose between job opportunities?

How do Software Developers choose between job opportunities? What do they consider before applying; once they apply, what they value, and what do they hate?

Index

1. Intro
2. Results
3. Analysis
4. Advice for companies
5. Conclusion

Introduction

If you are an employer who is trying to recruit good Software Engineers, you’ve got to ask yourself - why would a candidate be attracted to work in your team, as opposed to any other team in London? When applying to roles, what do Software Developers value the most? Is it flexible working, or specific technical tools, or perhaps simply compensation/salary? And once they talk with a potential employer, what do they dislike the most?

I believe that information like this is very useful. If a particular company/team is self-aware about how attractive they are to the external market (i.e. the pool of talent in their industry), they can address their weaknesses and play to their strengths, in order to maximise the chances of securing new employees.??

The Covid 19 pandemic and the ensuing shift towards remote working had significant effects on the job market within Software Engineering in Financial Services. One of the effects has been blurred lines/separations between various industries, when it comes to developer choice of where they want to work. I’ve seen an increasing number of developers from Banking migrate towards crypto companies, fintechs, or even big tech companies. And interestingly I’ve seen the opposite trend too - a lot more people from tech companies moving into more traditional finance / trading firms, etc.!

This fluidity, together with the fact that the post-covid market seems to be overall booming (there are lots of advertised job opportunities), definitely makes this a “candidate-short” market where good Software Developers have a lot of choice. In the recent months, I have seen many clients in the financial sector struggle (a lot!) to reliably attract & secure candidates.?

All of this made me question - is there a common trend on how developers choose what opportunities they apply to, and what they generally like / dislike once they actually engage in the interview process? Of course - to some extent, everyone is different - but given a large enough sample population, perhaps it would be possible to discover general insights, which employers could use to increase their probability of success in attracting talent???

Survey??

This article is based on a survey of Software Developers, mainly the mid-senior end of the market, within Financial Services (trading technology) - across Banking / Crypto / FinTech / HFT Trading. 52 participants completed the survey. The survey has 2 parts:

1. The first part is about candidates choosing what companies / roles to apply to. That is - how people value the different characteristics of any company / role before making their application (high-level judgement, most important factors for them). These are mostly things a company CANNOT change, or are more difficult to change.
2. The second part is about negative candidate reactions to the interview process. That is - how much do candidates dislike certain things they encounter in the interview process? These are mostly things a company CAN change (by tweaking their approach to conducting the interview process).

Results Part 1 - what do Software Developers value? (1 - value least; 5 - value most)

Also, a couple of survey participants said:

• “Having this feeling that what you are doing is an investment into your future. It's a bit related to the 3rd point (tech stack/tools), but not exactly the same. I would say that the ability to constant learning is one of the key elements for me”
• “Compensation is still the number one factor. There is nothing more annoying than firms proclaiming that they are 'looking for the best and the brightest', then around contract signing time they table graduate or average level comp package”

Results Part 2 - once they apply to a role, what do Software Developers hate (or dislike most)? (1 - dislike the least; 5 - dislike the most)

Also, a few survey participants said:

• “Lack of professionalism, when you face interviewers who just pretend to know but don't. This is probably the most annoying thing”
• “Dishonesty about the reality of the role which subsequently comes out during probing”
• “The interviews can be tough and gruelling but need to be conducted in a pleasant manner from both sides.”
• “What IS annoying however is when you spend a weekend on a complicated hand in, and get zero feedback and no follow up. I find it extremely rude and arrogant, to ask someone to spend anywhere between 5-15h of their time and then not even offer to sit down for 30 minutes to explain what was good and what was bad. When this happens, I am quick to write an anonymous review on Glassdoor or similar size to tell others of my experience”

Analysis

Part 1 - what factors do developers consider when comparing roles / companies?

What’s interesting is that even though the technical aspects of a role (such as tech tools / interesting project) are still quite high up in the priority list, they are surpassed by the more “soft” factors in this list - i.e. culture fit and work-life balance/flexibility both rank higher than the “technical” qualities! The most valued factor, perhaps unsurprisingly, is compensation.?

This suggests that, generally speaking, when choosing between job opportunities, software developers mostly care about money, as well as the quality of their personal & intrapersonal lives. That is not to say they don’t care about the “technical” aspects of a role; but that compensation and work-life balance/culture seem to be of paramount importance, in comparison with all other aspects.?

Another way to phrase it would be: it’s reasonable to predict that, generally speaking, no matter how interesting a technical problem or how exciting the technical stack, a developer will not be attracted to work in a particular team if he/she is underpaid, doesn’t like the people in that team, and / or cannot incorporate that role into their personal schedule (work-life balance).

Another interesting finding - what developers valued as their lowest priority factor was company brand (external recognition / prestige). This suggests that programmers (at least within Financial Services) are generally quite cynical / disinterested towards overall corporate image.?

The reason I think this is interesting is - I have personally seen a trend where companies that have good / impressive names, such as the big Tier 1 Banks, or some of the well-known firms in the fintech / crypto world - behave in a slightly assumptive manner towards candidates. The implication in their behaviour seems to be that the brand in itself should be enough to attract most candidates. This contradicts the findings in the survey - I would predict that if the top desired factors are not present (compensation, work life, and good culture), even top firms will struggle to reliably attract talent.

Part 2 - what do developers hate most during interviews?

According to the survey, the clear “most hated” event encountered during an interview process is unpleasant interviewer personality. To me this is not surprising. As a recruiter, I have witnessed a lot of good candidates being immediately put off by interviewers who appear either arrogant / abrupt / aggressive / non cooperative / unenthusiastic / disinterested, etc. In my experience, even if these interviews are for “good” companies and roles, such an interaction usually leads to the candidate withdrawing from the interview process or at the very least losing a lot of interest in the role. I suppose that this naturally ties in with the previous section category company culture, and reinforces the point that programmers care a lot about culture fit.

The 2nd “most-hated” factor encountered in the interview process was a long and/or slow interview process. Once again - personally I don’t find this surprising. In a fast-moving market where candidates have opportunities across multiple industries, they are exposed to a wide spectrum of interview process types, and many of the more modern firms are very slick in this regard. And it’s not just the “techy” firms which exhibit efficiency with their interview process - even teams in traditional Banking can be quick. In those cases, the entire process can be completed in 1-2 weeks (all the way from initial intro to offer on the table).?

On the opposite side of the spectrum, some Investment Banks take 2-3 weeks to even shortlist a CV for an interview, then have 5-7 interview steps (with delays for feedback in between), and the entire process there can take 2-4 months. By the time this hypothetical client selects their first batch of CVs to interview, those candidates could already be gone from the market!?

Advice to companies - 4 Scenarios

In reference to the above survey, companies & their interview processes can be classified into these basic categories:

1. Attractive company - above-market compensation, good work-life balance, interesting technology, interesting projects, etc.
2. Unattractive company - below-market compensation, poor work-life balance, outdated technology, boring projects, etc.
3. Attractive process - personable interviewers, efficient process & quick feedback, good interview process?
4. Unattractive process - disagreeable / unpleasant / unenthusiastic interviewer attitude, long and/or slow process???

In the real world, it’s not black & white, and most companies will fall somewhere in between Categories Attractive & Unattractive; and their processes between Attractive & Unattractive. However, generally speaking, my advice would be:??

1. If a company is mostly in the Attractive category, and their process is mostly in the Attractive category - that is a good place to be. I would predict that this company will be able to reliably attract candidates
2. If a company is mostly in the Attractive category, but their process is mostly in the Unattractive category - then there are some things to improve. Whilst doing well at attracting good CV submissions, I predict that this company will periodically encounter hiccups such as losing good candidates mid-process, etc.?
3. If a company is mostly in the Unattractive category, and their process is mostly in the Attractive category - there are things to improve also. Within the company characteristics, perhaps there are aspects such as work-life balance / culture which could be improved, in order to compensate for some other factors which may not be as easy to change (such as compensation, or technology/tools)?
4. If a company is mostly in the Unattractive category, and their process is mostly in the Unattractive category - this is the worst place to be. I would advise such a company to start by improving its interview process (as that is the easier aspect to change, rather than inherent company characteristics).??

Companies & teams within those companies should be aware of how “Attractive” they are to the external pool of talent in the market. It is reasonable to assume that this quality (Company / Role Attractiveness) determines how many good applicants the respective hiring manager will receive. According to the above survey, the top 3 company/role characteristics that Software Developers value most when considering opportunities are:

1. Compensation
2. Work-Life Balance
3. Culture Fit

Some company / role characteristics such as Compensation may be very difficult to change (though not impossible); however, I would argue that there still are aspects which a company may improve, for example:

• Remote working / flexibility. Ex. perhaps allow 2-3 days from home instead of only 1-2? Or perhaps allow your employees to work remotely from abroad for 2-3 months per year??
• Overall culture / approach to engineering - encouraging people to undertake ownership, influence things
• Technical stack / tools - open mindedness about new approaches, etc.
• New long-term initiatives & projects - a clear sense of direction and what the team will try to accomplish

After the CV submission stage, when the interview process begins, companies & teams should be mindful of their approach to conducting interviews, because this leaves a strong impression on the interviewed candidate (which can be positive or negative). Even if a certain role appears as a very desirable one and entices a lot of good candidates to apply to it, a poor interview process can significantly impact that team’s ability to reliably attract talent.?

Here are some things which companies can do to make their processes better:

• Reduce the number of interview steps
• If the above is not possible - perhaps consider combining interview steps into a joint interview session?
• Improve turnaround time for feedback
• Be pleasant to the interviewed candidate
• Describe the role / team clearly, so that the candidate is informed about what role they are interviewing for
• Be enthusiastic about the positive aspects of your team / company / potential role for the candidate

Conclusion

I think that in a candidate-short market, employers should recognize that they are in fierce competition for talent. They should understand how they measure up against their competitors in terms of the various factors that Software Engineering candidates find important - such as Compensation, Work-Life Balance, Technology Stack, Culture, etc.?

If your company cannot pay the highest salaries, what are the other characteristics of your team that would be considered attractive? Make sure to clearly highlight these!

Also, during the interview process, it is important for employers to be conscious of how they come across. For a candidate, the interviewers are the face of the company. If the candidate doesn’t like the interviewer or the interview process, it’s quite likely that they will also lose interest in the role.

Whether you’re a hiring manager working for a large Investment Bank, or at a small fintech / crypto company, these days (perhaps more so than ever before) you are competing with a lot of other teams for the best engineering talent. I would advise you to play to your strengths in order to ensure successful recruitment efforts.??