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Moneyball at the keyboard: Lessons on how to Scout Talented Developers by Adam Jonas The central premise of Moneyball is that the collected wisdom of baseball insiders is subjective and flawed. Like baseball, the tech industry has a poor history of evaluating talent by favoring biased perspectives over objective analysis. As a baseball scout turned web developer and team lead, I will explore how the lessons I learned in my former career can enable us all to make better decisions on how to grow our teams and surface undervalued skills. Help us caption & translate this video! http://amara.org/v/H0zk/
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The video 'Moneyball At The Keyboard: Lessons on How To Scout Talented Developers' by Adam Jonas emphasizes the importance of objective talent evaluation in both baseball and the tech industry. The presentation draws parallels between traditional scouting methods in baseball and how to better assess developers in software engineering. Key Points Discussed: - **Introduction and Background**: Adam Jonas, Managing Director of Engineering at the Flatiron School, shares his background in baseball scouting and the transition to the tech industry, emphasizing the need for objective evaluation metrics in hiring developers. - **The Moneyball Philosophy**: Referring to Michael Lewis's 'Moneyball,' Jonas discusses how the Oakland Athletics utilized statistical analysis to identify undervalued players despite budget constraints. - **Traditional Scouting in Baseball**: Jonas describes the 5 tools used to evaluate baseball players—hitting for average, hitting for power, running, fielding, and throwing—and explains how subjective evaluations can lead to missing out on talent. - **Identifying Developer Talent**: The talk shifts focus to the Flatiron School and its five criteria for assessing potential developers: hireability, technical background, aptitude, passion, and culture. - **Anecdotes and Examples**: Jonas shares stories of baseball icons like Derek Jeter, Trevor Hoffman, Albert Pujols, and David Ortiz to highlight the importance of context in talent evaluation and how traditional methods can overlook potential. - **Methods for Improvement**: The speaker provides actionable strategies for better talent evaluation in the tech industry: - Acknowledging the uncertainty of where talent originates. - Controlling for sample size bias by increasing touchpoints and evaluations over time. - Rethinking cultural fit to prioritize organizational values over personal attributes. - **Conclusion**: Jonas concludes with the notion that successful talent evaluation requires introspection about what is valued within an organization and a commitment to objective criteria over instinctual bias. He encourages fostering a diverse environment to enhance creativity and decision-making. Overall, the session urges viewers to adopt a more scientific and inclusive approach to identifying and nurturing developer talent based on the lessons learned from baseball scouting.
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