Maybe you've come across this image in your dev feeds (X, Reddit, LinkedIn...)

Image from a post where there is a list of hidden requirements for a dev position from a recruiter

It's supposed to be a list of hidden requirements from an American recruiter. (I'd love to link the original Reddit post, but I can’t seem to find it anymore—damn you, algorithm ✊!)

As expected, people are overreacting—because, well, that’s what social media is for 💃

my two cents.

#1 No visa candidates: Coming from one of the poorest countries in Europe, I’ve personally hit this wall when considering American companies. I don’t blame them; visa sponsorship is expensive and bureaucratic.

#2 No C2C candidates: (Used ChatGPT for this one because I wasn’t sure) This seems to refer to "Corp-to-Corp" contracts, involving third-party consulting firms. Got it—bureaucracy.

#3 No job hoppers: I get this one. Many years ago, at a startup, it was just the CEO and me at the beginning, and she had this rule: "If someone changes jobs every year, I’m not even bothering with an interview." Why? Because she didn’t want to go through hiring again in a year. She took for granted that we weren’t special.

#4 No bootcamp graduates: This likely stems from past bad experiences. Let me be blunt: 2 years ago, we hired an entire batch of bootcamp graduates as interns... and it didn’t go well. Not because of their technical skills (which were actually top-notch), but because of their maturity.

They were, on average, ~21 years old, with unrealistic expectations and, most notably, overconfidence. Especially overconfidence. Only about 10% made it past the test period.

#5 No consulting backgrounds: I guess, similar to the bootcamp case, this probably comes from negative past experiences.

#6 Experience is NOT limited to big companies: ... ok so in overall, I think they're looking for a profile with entrepreneurial skills, not someone from a large corporation.

Hiring is a two-way street. A company is a private entity, and it has every right to define its own hiring criteria.

Hot take: none of this is outrageous.

If only they could make these things public?... it would save everyone a lot of time and frustration. The only thing I’d demand is more transparency in hiring criteria but the points seem fair to me.

WDYT?