Smart and Gets Things Done: Joel Spolsky's Concise Guide to Finding the Best Technical Talent
Last updated October 31, 2026
By Joel Spolsky
Joel Spolsky, co-founder of Fog Creek Software, explains how to find and hire excellent programmers. His title names the two qualities he looks for above all in a candidate. He describes where talented developers can be found, why the best are rarely job hunting, how to run interviews that reveal how a person thinks, and how to build a workplace with the conditions that good programmers value, from quiet offices to interesting problems.
Buy on Amazon