The other technical debt

Technical debt is a term often used in IT to indicate taking shortcuts to get products released faster or within a specific budget while sacrificing quality in one of many areas like documentation or coding standards. As a result, it takes extra time and effort to add new features or fix bugs, resulting in a build-up of “technical debt”.

But there’s another kind of technical debt that you may not be considering. It’s when an organization rushes through the screening process, or has insufficient resources to adequately screen and hire IT talent. As a result, they skimp on the quality of screening candidates in order to make quick hires or get behind on core responsibilities.

What is technical debt and what is it costing us?

Traditionally, technical debt is when companies, either deliberately or accidentally, cut corners on development to meet internal or external deadlines. The result is declining productivity and increased costs in the longer run.

“68% of developers said they work on products with high or very high amounts of tech debt” – Hackernoon

Although tech debt tends to happen gradually, over time it adds up to a significant amount. The cost of tech debt is estimated to be $81 billion annually.

How does this translate to technical hiring debt?

While many areas of technology have made progress in leaps and bounds over the last decade, unfortunately, IT hiring processes have not experienced the required modernization to keep up.

Companies experience technical hiring debt when they make investments to hire fast in order to meet deliverables, for example the launch of a new service line or product. They cut corners because that’s what they need to do to get it done in the short term.

Alternatively, companies sometimes have no choice but to build up technical hiring debt, such as when they experience turnover in their IT departments. The team is already working overtime to get the work done, and those same overloaded people are spending extra time interviewing new candidates.

Over time, this also adds up and becomes a significant debt not just for the development team, but for the business as a whole.

How much is technical hiring debt costing your organization?

We’ve created a framework to calculate your company’s current cost of hiring, and how much can be saved by increasing efficiencies in your interviewing and hiring process.

Click here to calculate your current tech screening costs and estimate your savings in 5 quick steps.

Challenge the status quo in your organization to avoid technical hiring debt

Modernizing your hiring process and increasing tech interviewing capabilities is critical to avoid unnecessary technical hiring debt. This ensures that when you need to hire at scale, it can be done efficiently and effectively. Also, it keeps your IT teams focused on their real job, rather than on interviewing candidates who may not even be suitably pre-qualified.

Now is the time to reevaluate your traditional hiring process, as the status quo is just not working anymore in today’s competitive tech hiring environment.