July 29th, 2024 Hiring and time to get SAVAGE. By Jeffrey M. Barber

There are moments in life where I realize my true nature in a primal encounter. It would seem that I’m an deeply angry man, but at what? Well, the list may not be enumerable… At the moment, I have been reviewing hundreds of resumes… I’m angry at the whole system.

I read these resumes, and I wonder “who the fuck trained this person”, “blind leading the blind?”, and sometimes “how are some people living the exact same life?!?”. It breaks my heart as I realize people play the numbers game which the game becomes.

Normally, I get depressed and give up on hiring as I fail to find anyone and the process of rejecting 50 takes a toll. At heart, I’m a hippy that believes we can all get along and jam to some tasty tunes whilst naked in some woods banging our beloved. However, the burden of leadership requires care.

The waves of tech layoffs are fundamentally a failure of leadership. And when I lead, I’m not a hippy. I embrace the inner warlord because I don’t buy into the corporate bullshit of a company “being a family”. Instead, the truth, a company is an army to be marched towards a singular objective.

Out of every one-hundred men, ten shouldn’t even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior and he will bring the others back. - Heraclitus

Beyond winning in technology, my passion is training fighters into warriors. Wars are not won alone, and I’m going through the process of figuring out my own system since I no longer have a giant recruiting organization to feed my war effort. I am learning of the hidden variables that supported me, a glorious machine of war, by the god kings. I need a system that helps me separate the wheat from the chaff.

The system at hand is that I must be authentic and then ask a question about the job via a cover letter.

Cover Letter Local to KC Stellar Resume Result
No No No Instant Rejection, no guilt
No No Yes message “Did you read the job description?”
No Yes Either message something to the effect “I am but a merciful god, and I asked for a cover letter”
Yes Yes Either Short list for round 2

This simple system absolves the hippy of the guilt since attention to detail is an important trait for engineers, so I finally paid for more responses and got hundreds. And, if you are reading this, then you’re part of round 2. So, what is round 2?

Well, I will provide a link to schedule time to talk about culture and philosophy, and I’m doing this rather than a traditional skills test. I can do a l33t code style interview and have done thousands, but that’s just an IQ test. An IQ test doesn’t measure the most important facet of the people I need to deploy: savageness.

So, what is a savage? Well, a savage isn’t going to accept bullshit excuses that hold one back. A savage is not a domesticated human (i.e. a slave). There are various kinds of savages out there, and most successful people at the highest levels are savages.

There are so many dumb ideas that will hold you back. Housing shortage? Fuck that, live in a van down by the river. No good investors in the region? Move. No interesting companies locally? Move. Feeling stupid? Read a book, do some math, write some code. Feel your parents will only love you if you do well and get a nice job? Shrug them off. Want to get life started? Too bad, get useful. Want to fuck around? Well, find out. Need money? Get a shit job or go door to door doing shit for people.

I want people that are willing to dream big and then suffer appropriately for those dreams. My dilemma in hiring is that I hate the soul crushing nature of the current corporate landscape, so why would I aim to recreate the very thing I hate? A fundamental aspect of humanity that I’ve observed is that your desperation and the hole in your soul is going to enslave you.

There is extreme power in facing the abyss of your soul and the nature of human desperation. I’ve been homeless on the verge of suicide only to realize that freedom comes from walking away from the stories placed on you by others. Write you own story and be the bad ass hero.

Before this sounds like hustle culture nonsense, I also believe success isn’t driven alone. We are not the dominant apex predator on this planet because of our individuality. Instead, our ability to work together as social creatures allows us to do tremendous things. The value in what you know is dwarfed by who you know, so look around and find ambitious people. When I was in big tech, I was aggressive to identify the smartest people in the room and reverse engineer them and their behaviors.

As good as it feels having people kiss my ass in meetings, it’s unsatisfying. I love aggression, and I love working with aggressive people. Therefore, I’m looking for savages on two paths: technical masters and entrepreneurs. Then, I want to turn these savages into a community horde that wants to get shit done.

In this phase 2, you are welcome to join the HORDE.

Ok, but what about a job and money? Well, I do have some funded work which is why being local to the KC region is important, but I also find myself not wanting to handle the bullshit of doing W-2s. Some of you already have LLCs, so let’s just use that. If you don’t have an LLC, then show up to the meetings once they are scheduled and we can chat as a group.

And, if you are not local, then just move. A savage has no excuses.