I recently used DEV's listings to help make a hire. We'd been struggling to get candidates for a mid-level position located near our main company locations in the DC area. I remembered that DEV created a new Listings section and decided to look there for possible candidates. The process opened my eyes to a few new perspectives:

• DEV members already pass my first level of vetting
  DEV is a wonderful community. In my opinion, members already have a desire to continually learn and realize the value of others in their learning/career growth. Those that contribute by blogging themselves also show good organizational and communication skills.

• Junior is OK
  We were originally looking for a mid-level developer. But, as a consulting company, ICF is very dynamic environment with a wide variety of projects and opportunities for junior devs to learn on the job. I checked with our PMs to make sure they'd be able to use a junior dev before moving to far. Even if her first project isn't using the latest, cutting-edge technology, a junior dev could learn a lot about software development, real-world projects and challenges, and the soft skills required to work in a team.

• Starting remote is OK
  ICF has always been remote friendly, but usually with experienced developers that had previously worked in one of the main offices (including myself!). I've always thought that being in a local office provided some comfort to new hires. Even though your colleagues might be ecologists, cancer researchers, or social workers, they could still help a new hire navigate the company organization and processes. While that could be helpful, I don't think it's required any more.

Overall, it was a good experience and I'm glad DEV has this new capability. I'm really like that the Contact via Connect is checked by default now to make it easier for people to connect.

Happy Coding!