How do you attract programmers in rural areas?

Question

I run a software development group for a very small, but stable and established company in a small town, somewhat outside of the "big city". Unfortunately, the "programmer" labor pool is much smaller due to the size of the city. There are many positives to working in this area, especially in terms of quality of life (particularly for people interested in outdoor activities), lower cost of living, great schools and neighborhoods, etc. However, I've always had difficulty attracting high-qualtiy, experienced developers.

For those of you who hire developers outside of large cities:

• Where do you advertise to find good developers? Many of the large sites are very focused in certain metropolitan areas, and seem inappropriate places to advertise if you're outside of that main region.
• How do you attract quality developers to rural (or at least less metropolitan) locations?
• Do you find that you make more sacrifices in your hiring due to a smaller labor pool? Or do you just wait, and take extra time to attract people? What sacrifices do you expect to make if you are outside of the main developer-rich cities?

For all of the developers out there...

• What would entice you to working in a smaller town?
• Are there things that would stand out and make you willing to relocate or at least apply to a position that was not nearby?
• What specific qualities would help you want to move outside of the city?

In the past, I've had difficulty with finding good people. Most of the people who've applied and been willing to move out to a more rural location seem like the types that can't keep a quality job elsewhere. I'd like to know what advice people have to attracting quality technical staff.

I don't believe its the work itself that's been the problem - The work is both interesting and challenging, and nearly 100% new development. The developers I have seem very happy with their situation - they love the work, the atmosphere, etc. It's more a matter of finding willing, able developers.

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Edit: More info after the first couple of answers:

Right now, some of my best developers telecommute (some work from overseas); however, for this question, I'm trying to figure out how to get people who want to live and work full time locally. I need some people with whom I interact every day.

Answer 1

Is telecommuting an option? If so, emphasize that in your adverts. Perhaps you can also offer a reasonable compensation for relocation. Also you could emphasize the recreational activities that are available in your area.

Answer 2

I grew up in semi rural town and would consider moving back to something similar at some point.

I think one of the biggest issues would be job security - if you are going to move away from the city and majority of work you would want to be very sure that it's going to last.

Answer 3

Maybe an opportunity to work the job on a contract basis remotely first?

The first things that come to mind when I see something like that is - what if I don't like it? Or what if the company I just relocated to work for goes under? Now I just moved my family out to Podunk, Nebraska and I'm either stuck in this job or I need to relocate again to find something different since there's no other programming work around here.

I think allowing someone to work on a contract basis remotely first would help alleviate some of those concerns, and gives you a chance to see if you like them enough to hire them full-time and relocate them as well.

Answer 4

How close is the nearest city? If you're, say, 3 hours out of Chicago then Chicago is still where you're likely to find prospective employees.

How small is small? If the population is, say, 50,000 then that's still a real (yet small) town in terms of facilities. If it's 200 and theres a salloon on a dusty Main St then that's a different story.

Assuming your company is stable and your town is of a sufficient size, the kind of employee you want to attract is one with a family, for several reasons:

• People with familiies change jobs less often as a general rule;
• Quality of life for not only them but their family is much more important;
• Factors such as cost of living are of greater importance because the cost benefits of cheaper living are greater when you're supporting 2, 3, 4+ other people (potentially);
• Schools, crime and the community become more important.

I can't stress how important stability of your company is. People need a good reason to uproot their family. It's not only expensive but stressful.

Also, if you happen to be on a commuter line to a major city (eg as many towns around New York City are) then emphasize that too (even if people don't use it it's comforting to know you're not completely cut off from civilization).

If anything, the recession will probably help you. Assuming your company is stable you'll find a greater pool of applicants simply by virtue of more people being out of work.

You should actually be using your small town as a selling point. Programming by its nature tends to be focused around large cities but I know quite a few people who would happily live somewhere smaller if they could.

As for job ads, the large boards like Monster tend to be a bit of a cesspit. You might be better off using more boutique search locations like the Joel On Software job board. Recruiters may help with this too. At least they can earn something for their money by filtering out those that don't want to move out of the city.

Edit: As someone else noted elsewhere in this question, you are from Bellingham, WA, which has a population of 75,000 and is closest (city-wise) to Seattle. I wouldn't call that semi-rural really. I'd be curious to know what kind of job ads you're running. If it were me writing the job ads I'd be using something like this:

Calling all experienced ... developers looking for a lifestyle change

Are you tired of life in the big city? Do you want better quality of life for you and your family? Would you rather be seeing your family an hour or two more each than spending that time in traffic? Are you looking for a greater sense of community?

You can have all this. We are a software development company in ... (either the town name or, if that's too specific, something like "upstate ..." or whatever description you prefer). We have been in business for X years and are looking for suitably qualified ... programmers who have excellent technical skills, want a healthy work-life balance and want all this and more for themselves and their families.

(then go on to describe the job requirements and so on)

The point of this is that you should spend the first paragraph or two just talking about the environment. The title alone should get people to read your ad I think you'll be surprised at how many people are actually interested in something like this. If you ad title is "Seeking ... programmers with 5+ years of experience" you just won't stand out from the millions of other ads out there.

Instead embrace your location and use it as a selling point. Emphasize words such as lifestyle, security, community, etc. Play on the negatives of the big city life without going overboard (on either count). Be careful to say "your family" rather than "your children" as you don't want to limit yourself to people with children (or suggest to the reader that that's the case).

Answer 5

First of all, the economy is your friend right now: people will move anywhere, especially cheaper, for a job. In fact, I would dare say that part of your problem might be in not advertising to enough places so people never learn about your company if they are not from your area. Small companies have less advertising budgets, but they can use networking tools like alumni groups on LinkedIn to let people know about the position.

On a related note, at a time of economic crisis, areas with lower costs of living are so much better, especially for people with families. I would love to work in areas in the Northeast that are not NYC or Boston, but can't find that option.

This brings me to what I think the greatest issue is: age. I know I'll get flamed for this, but you may want to look at hiring older programmers (25+) rather than college graduates. My experience is that younger folks who come out of college want to go somewhere cool. They can share houses with other people, don't have kids, don't need much space, they want a nightlife and a large single population. Unfortunately, you can't supply them with that. They will still want to live in NYC, SF, Seattle, and the like. It's so much fun in your early 20s.

As those people settle down, get married, and start spawning, priorities change. Being close to a trendy bar is no longer as important as having a back yard. Tons of cultural events don't matter as much as air quality, space for a private room for the kid, etc. Commuting becomes a bigger issue when you have to get back to take the kids to soccer practice on time.

So my view is this: aim your recruiting at older folks. Emphasize the cost of living. Emphasize how family friendly the area is, the atmosphere is, the school system, etc. Use the benefits of a rural area - give each developer a private office rather than a cubicle. And so on. Highlight the activities in the area: for example, if you're close to skiing, boating, camping, etc.

Beyond that, you need to advertise what makes your company or job special. My experience here in the northeast is that most companies in rural areas do fairly boring things. If your company isn't, highlight it.

Answer 6

To attract developers to your particular town, you need to stress the fact that you are in the Pacific Northwest. A small town here in the Midwest is a lot different than Bellingham. The developers you're looking for are the ones who would like to have access to Seattle and Vancouver while escaping the skyrocketing cost of living in those cities.

I would return to the PNW in a heartbeat if I could find an affordable place to live while I advance my career. As it is, I moved to a small town in the Midwest because I could get good pay and an affordable cost of living.

Per the specifics of your question:

Where do you advertise to find good developers? Many of the large sites are very focused in certain metropolitan areas, and seem inappropriate places to advertise if you're outside of that main region.

We post our ads in the Des Moines metropolitan area. You, for example, would be considered Seattle metro on sites like Monster.com.

How do you attract quality developers to rural (or at least less metropolitan) locations? Do you find that you make more sacrifices in your hiring due to a smaller labor pool?

We attract people who like Midwestern values, a stable economy, and a low cost of living. They typically have families or want to start one.

What sacrifices do you expect to make if you are outside of the main developer-rich cities?

We expect to spend more money on training. If we need, for example, a SharePoint developer, we'll take a good C# person who wants to learn SharePoint and send him to training.

What would entice you to working in a smaller town?

Generally speaking, all the things that we use to recruit people here. Cost of living, family-friendly, excellent schools, etc. I would go to a smaller town if I felt like the people I'm working with wanted to build a strong team based on camaraderie, which is what makes small town life so nice.

Are there things that would stand out and make you willing to relocate or at least apply to a position that was not nearby?

Natural beauty, availability of older homes (I like prewar houses), and a unique culture would be enough for me.

What specific qualities would help you want to move outside of the city?

See above. :)

Hope that helps!

Answer 7

I've lived in expensive cities since college, but now that we're a family of four, for the first time I've considered moving somewhere smaller. Here's what would make up my mind:

1. Company has interesting, challenging work, and room for growth over time.
2. Company is relatively stable. I know no job is forever, but it'd be good to get at least a few years out of it.
3. Salary and cost of living are such that when I run the numbers, I'm able to save a lot more money than I am saving now. We're currently a two-job family, in different specialties, which is possible because in a big city there are jobs everywhere. But if we moved, I'd likely be the sole breadwinner, so the job would have to be really attractive financially.
4. Area has some culture. It doesn't have to be San Francisco, but it has to have some diversity and ideally a walkable downtown area.

EDIT: To expand on #2...

In a big city, when I take a job, I'm making the same level of commitment to the company as the company is to me. I can find another job if I need to, and the company can find someone to fill my job if they need to.

But if I move my family to a place where it's not easy to get another job, then the commitment level unbalances. The company can still lay me off or go under, but I can't easily find another job. Yes, if I leave they have to fill the spot, and that's more difficult than in a city. However, since they're the only game in town, and I've moved my whole family there, I'd be willing to stick out situations that previously would have seen me looking for new work.

So considering that, an employment contract could make the job more attractive to people who have a lot of choices.

Answer 8

I would generally prefer rural areas to live in. I have a profound dislike for big cities with a lot of people. I like mountains, fishing, hunting, etc. As a matter of fact, if I didn't have an internship this summer, I'd be contacting you...(seriously. :-) )

I think the quality of life angle is what you want to push. You might also mention the local geek amenities: quality of internet, number of software shops, video game shops, RPG shops.

Answer 9

The following is not about C Tech, per se. It could be a great company in a great town.

I just got through a period of job-seeking recently. Many of the recruiters who called me were trying to fill positions in smaller cities and towns. In some cases, they were for interesting companies, mostly they were not.

But in most of those cases, I'd have had to be paid a serious premium to move out there.

So, I have to turn it around a bit - you, and others like you, chose to create your companies in these areas. Maybe it's where you grew up, maybe where you went to school, maybe it's just an area you fell in love with. But by locating in these areas, you've restricted yourself to hiring developers who feel the same way you do about the area. Those may or may not be the best developers for the job. Certainly, you have a narrower field to choose from.

I think you may have to either live with your choice, or else find ways to make telecommuting work out better for you. Consider - if you think your company would benefit from hiring from the same pool as your big-city competitors, then find a way to do that, yet stay out in Bellingham.

Answer 10

In this situation you're selling a lifestyle, not a job, and you're also selling to the whole family not just your future employee. How about running a weekend 'get to know you' for interested technical people. Advertise online, or more especially in local cities, get people out to your neck of the woods, hopefully people who are kind of interested will come out, see your town, find out how much it costs to live there. Once they're interested then you can start talking about jobs.

Answer 11

I'd say that the most sure fire way to get really good programmers is to make the project as interesting as possible. You might be able to get a few hardcore lisp hackers to move if you use lisp (or correspondingly less and harder-core hackers for correspondingly more esoteric languages). Beyond that, I don't know.

Answer 12

h1b caps are still there. Hire a telecommuter from another country, and make those who you think are worthwhile an offer. I doubt someone would decline that offer and they'd have to be highly motivated to change the country they live in, so you can expect hard work and some tying to your company.

Answer 13

My suggestion would be to see if there are some local connections to be made and/or used:

• Schools - Are there colleges and universities within an hour's drive that may be worth seeing if they have programs that align with the kinds of programmers you want. This can have a couple of benefits as you are giving students or recent graduates a job which means they may not want as much as someone with lots of experience. Another factor is to see what the curriculum is like and if it may make sense to change some elements used. I'm not saying you'd get changes overnight, but if you could build a relationship with nearby post-secondary institutions that may help. If you are struggling to find workers, you could consider trying to get some Canadians to come down under NAFTA visas for temporary work. I don't believe there is a cap but the time spent can't be used toward a green card so this isn't necessarily the best suggestion though it may work if there is an immediate need for someone.

• User groups or clubs - Is there a Bellingham .Net developers group or something nearby within the Seattle-Tacoma area? These may be another way to find people as they form groups on Facebook or LinkedIn if you end up having to create a group that may help get the word out as I'd think there may be a few software companies near Bellingham.

Answer 14

Biographical anecdote: there is a major employer of developers about ten minutes from my home. I know the work is interesting, yet I ride a train for over an hour to work in the city at a job that is nowhere near as exciting because I get paid over twenty grand more than the local firm was offering.

Answer 15

Think about where to advertise.

• If there is a train station in or near your town that people commute from to the bit city, rent a poster site at the station.
• If a main road (moterway) passes close to your town, think about how you will reach commuters that are driving along it every day.
• Get lot of stories in the free local papers, so that everyone knows there are programming jobs in the down if asked by a relative that wishes to “move back home”.
• Think about the type of people that will want to work in your town, e.g. if you have good local rock-climbing you should consider an advert in a climbing publication.
• Would your town be a great place for someone to retire to, if so try targeting people looking for their last job.

De-risk it for the worker.

• Pay relocation for both when someone moves to takes your job AND when the leave to move back to the city
• Be willing to pay for help for the partner to find local work.
• Provide a “free” house, so the worker does not have the risk of trying to sell up in a small town if he/she has to move jobs.

Answer 16

As an undergraduated computer science student, I'll be attracted by the job, even if it's in a rural area, if:

1. the mission passionate me, the job offer me what I want to do, and I'll be given the opportunity to work with the tools I like.
2. I do estimate the company, and the team are also geeks
3. it pays well
4. I see opportunities to evolve and to develop my skills through this job and this company
5. Most important, I work on something I want to, and with which I think I can achive great things !

Answer 17

I like Cletus's answer. I'm a software recruiter (no, not pitching or looking for candidates, just find this type of probelem interesting). I also happen to think Bellingham's one of the coolest places on the planet, so go with what makes it great: lively, and fairly youtful/ hip social scene due to the University (one that produced Death Cab for Cutie, 1/2 of The Postal Service, and Hillary Swank - oh, and Larry Niven nuked you in Footfall, so you have that going for you...); access to water & mountains; close to Vancouver; brewpubs, coffee shops, The Up & Up; burgeoning arts scene; affordable living; great school system; etc etc.

There's a ton that would attract software developers, to my mind. If they're young, it's the rock & college scene. If they're settling down, it's the fact that they can get a killer Arts & Craft bungalow for a fraction of what they'd pay in San Fran, Boston, etc etc.

If you're offering to relocate people, find a local realtor you can partner with and make sure they treat candidates well. If they're married, and their spouse works, help them find work for their significant other. Pay a lot of attention to helping them acclimate, as part of your onboarding process.

You might want to think about working with the University, and the WatComm Chamber of Commerce, and get some tech conferences/ panels going in Bellingham. Generate some buzz, meet some talent, and generally deepen the tech pool in the city.

All that said: Bellingham rocks. My wife & I are profoundly jealous that you live there :)

Best of luck - if I happen to stumble on any developers looking for a lifestyle change, I'll point 'em your way, gratis.

Answer 18

The only way to get Devs move to a smaller town is to pay them more and provide them an interesting project. Especially Devs with families and small children might bite for some extra dollars:-) The raw truth is that it is not easy for a developer to move to a smaller town to get hired by a small company. What if the hire doesn't go well? The dev is blocked in the small city locked by the small company! So you will need to provide people also with some extra level of security. Example include in the contract of employment that you need to give them a 6 months notice before they have to leave.