I've hired 3 people from an IRC community I run, they all turned out to be exceptional (sysadmins and developers).

I've never been hired from IRC though.

Don't get me wrong, it's entirely possible if you do it right. I've hired quite a lot of folk as a result of interacting with them on HN alone. My point is that it's a significantly more difficult problem than screening those people.

The monthly hacker news "who is hiring" thread.

Great example. HN is the perfect place to find people right? I mean, I should know.

HN who's hiring, like most online job advertising, is a crapshoot. It's a once-a-month post where you are drowning in noise. Finding a very large group of potentially relevant people for the roles you are hiring for isn't as straightforward as it sounds. Engaging said group and convincing folk from said group to come work for you is exponentially more difficult.

I guess this is sarcasm. I was only responding implicitly to your initial question:

>>When was the last time you engaged with a company with a view to working with them because you saw an ad they happened to post in the right fora?

So, yes, hn is where I engage with a company with a view with working with them where they happen to post in the right forum. Suddenly your point is that it isn't a good place to find jobs? Maybe not, but that wasn't your original point. You're moving the goalposts.

Apologies. Wasn't intended to sound sarcastic. I genuinely do believe that HN is the perfect place to find great people but it's still incredibly difficult and if you're hiring at scale it can be super tough to engage enough people on a place like this.

Places like HN and relevant IRC channels are great if you're hiring for one or two roles but beyond that then it's a bit of a lottery.

Beyond a handful of roles you already gave up on finding brilliant people. You can't reliably find the best of the best in industrial amounts, no matter what you do. You can (probably) build stable supply for competent people at best.

Regrettably, HN is the only public resource that I'm able to recommend anymore. AngelList had promise, but never really delivered.