Hiring developers can be a nightmare. You spend weeks sourcing candidates, only to have them vanish mid-process, turn down your offer or—worst of all—ghost you after accepting. Meanwhile, that one candidate you really wanted? They took another job before you even scheduled the second interview. Brutal.

So why does it feel impossible to attract great devs? It’s because most hiring processes repel talent faster than a broken Stack Overflow link. But don’t worry—you can fix this.

Here’s how to make developers actually want to work for you (instead of watching them run for the hills).

1. Stop writing job descriptions that read like a robot wrote them

Developers don’t dream of working for a company that sounds like a boring corporate dystopia. Yet, most job descriptions sound like they were copy-pasted from a 2006 HR handbook.

Fix it:

• Ditch the soul-crushing bullet lists of generic skills. If you’re asking for “10+ years of Kubernetes experience,” congrats—you just eliminated half the planet. (Kubernetes isn’t even that old.)
• Be specific and human. Instead of listing 15 technologies, talk about the actual work they’ll be doing.
• Show some personality—if your job post could be swapped with your competitor’s and no one would notice, you’re doing it wrong.

2. Speed up your hiring process (or lose every good candidate)

Developers hate slow hiring cycles. If your process takes four weeks, just assume your best candidate is already gone. Top tech talent doesn’t sit around waiting for an offer—they have options.

Fix it:

• Cut out unnecessary interview rounds. If you need four calls to decide if someone can write code, you’re the problem.
• Set clear expectations. If the hiring process is going to take three weeks, tell them. But ideally? Make it faster.
• Give fast feedback. Nothing kills enthusiasm like waiting two weeks after an interview to hear crickets.

Need help streamlining hiring? TechTeems matches you with devs—without the endless interviews.

3. Kill the “whiteboard interview” before it kills your pipeline

Look, if you’re still making developers reverse a binary tree on a whiteboard without Google, you’re doing it wrong. No one does that in real life.

Fix it:

• Ditch pointless algorithm questions. Focus on practical skills they’ll actually use.
• Use real-world tests. Give them a take-home project (that isn’t unpaid labor) or a pair-programming session.
• Respect their time. If the coding challenge takes longer than two hours, you’ll lose great candidates who have actual jobs.

4. Offer actual work-life balance (not just buzzwords)

Every job post brags about “great work-life balance,” but the second a dev signs the contract, suddenly it’s 10-hour days and “just one more sprint.”

Fix it:

• Actually respect work-life balance. If you say “we work hard, play hard,” devs will assume it’s crunch time with free pizza.
• Be upfront about hours. Is there on-call duty? Late-night deploys? Tell them.
• Let them work async when possible. No one wants to sit through another standup meeting that could’ve been a Slack message.

5. Pay fairly (yes, that means more than market rate)

Developers know their worth. If your salary offer is $30K below industry standard, you’re wasting everyone’s time. And no, “equity” in your pre-revenue startup doesn’t count as compensation.

Fix it:

• Do your research. Use sites like Levels.fyi and Glassdoor to see actual salary trends.
• Be transparent. Posting salary ranges in job descriptions saves everyone time.
• Offer more than just money. Great benefits, flexibility and remote options make a difference. (But yes, you should also pay well.)

6. Stop the “culture fit” excuse (and hire for what actually matters)

“We didn’t feel they were a culture fit.”

Translation: “They weren’t exactly like us.” And that’s a huge mistake.

Fix it:

• Hire for skill and adaptability, not just vibes. Culture isn’t about ping-pong tables and beer Fridays—it’s about how people work together.
• Don’t filter out great talent because they don’t fit an imaginary mold. A dev who doesn’t go to happy hour can still ship amazing code.
• Diversity makes teams better. If everyone on your team thinks the same way, you’re limiting innovation.

Curious why diverse teams outperform homogenous ones? Here’s the data.

7. Treat devs like the smart, capable humans they are

At the end of the day, developers are people, not code-generating robots. Treat them with respect, and they’ll actually want to work for you.

Fix it:

• Give them autonomy—micromanagement is a dealbreaker.
• Provide growth opportunities. No one wants to be stuck doing bug fixes for three years.
• Create an environment where they feel valued. The best devs don’t just want a paycheck—they want to do meaningful work.

Final thoughts

If you’re struggling to hire great developers, the problem probably isn’t them—it’s your process.

Fix your job descriptions, speed up hiring, offer fair pay and respect work-life balance, and you’ll see the difference. Oh, and maybe stop making people solve ridiculous algorithm challenges. Just saying.