Danny Tipple

Some internal recruiters are exceptional. Others.... others are not. Here's 3 interactions I've had recently with 3 different TAs.... Number 1: Me: He's been working with React and Node for 8 years. Them: He's not suitable, we need an engineer that has worked with - pauses to read the JD - "Typescript or Javascript Frameworks". Number 2: Me: Very experienced in React, Node, Python for data, done a bit of Rust and Go too, and is the go to for all the CI/CD and Cloud stuff in the team. Them: Sounds like a Front End Engineer, not relevant for us. Number 3: Me: Sorry, do you mind repeating, is it Java or Javascript? Them: They're the same aren't they? Do want to be clear - lack of knowledge is NO problem at all, especially if you're a founder and it's doubly true if you are a non-technical founder. But if you're hiring someone to own and run tech recruitment in your startup, they MUST know the basics, otherwise they are just taking you and your business for a ride, and YOU are letting them. If you have any questions about what the good TAs are doing, and how they're genuinely improving and owning your talent function, give me a shout, I can explain what to look out for.

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One month back at OpusRS – here’s what I’m seeing in the JavaScript contract market. It’s been great to get stuck back in, and I’ve already noticed some clear trends across the UK JavaScript contract space. 🏢 Hybrid working is shifting. Fully remote roles are becoming less common, with more contracts now asking for 2–3 days a week in the office. Collaboration and team presence are making a comeback. 💬 Contractors who know how to add value and communicate clearly with clients are being consistently extended. It’s not just about technical ability—commercial awareness and soft skills are making a real difference. 📉 Rates have taken a hit compared to a few years ago, but demand is still strong for those who can hit the ground running. ⚙️ Next.js is gaining serious traction. While React remains dominant with 39.5% of developers using it, Next.js is quickly rising with 17.9% adoption—thanks to its performance benefits and built-in features like server-side rendering and static site generation If you're a contractor looking for your next move, or a business needing top JavaScript talent, I’d love to connect. #JavaScript #NextJS #ReactJS #Contracting #TechRecruitment #OpusRS

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Enjoying my morning coffee date with Chat GPT this morning and came across a UK contract market update… 📈 One of the most popular UK staffing platforms has reported on contract hiring, suggesting a stronger than expected uptick in contract activity in September. The report notes that contract roles increased 10.4% year on year in September and month on month, contract roles increased 18%. A consideration is that employers are leaning more on contract / flexible talent strategies to manage risk… but positive signs ahead of Q4!

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If you’re looking for a new role on LinkedIn here are two simple tips to increase your visibility: 1. Change your job title to what you actually do and what recruiters will actually search for - DevOps Engineer not Cloud Wrangling Wizard. 2. Put your CV (with contact details) on the featured section of your LinkedIn profile. Told you they were simple.

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Pick up the phone!! Go and visit!! Build proper relationships!! What is happening to recruitment? Everyone harping on about AI and Automation as some kind of saving grace. Disruptive, yes. Helpful around efficiency, for sure. The saviour, not at all. AI and Automation should help recruiters to do those meaningful and powerful parts of the job - building relationships, embedding into clients business, adding value. To do this you’ve got to pick the phone up. Consistently and with purpose and quality. If you’re sat behind spec CVs, automation, making occasional calls to clients you know little about then YOU ARE REDUNDANT. Every agency I meet the difference between success and failure is the quality and quantity of personal outreach (sales calls) to well thought out and targeted communities. There’s some company’s flying right now - they’re just doing the basics right, and often. Pick. Up. The. Phone. And. Speak. To. People.

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I think it's fair to say that the SRE and DevOps market has significantly shifted, especially for permanent resources. The main trend I have seen from a recruiting perspective, is that the hard to fill roles are now your Seniors, Principals and Staff Engineers. With technology accelerating at rates never seen before, I think the candidates with a tonne of experience who code, independently build/manage kubernetes and are very strong on the observability side of things, they are now in very strong positions when it comes to job hunting. The mid level market is also trending upwards after a tough year in 2024. From September onwards it's gotten competitive again. What I see now is clients asking for a lot more bang for their buck. This can be interpreted in a few ways. Mainly around hybrid working, being certified, multi cloud knowledge and strong Generative AI interests. Candidates that have done a course in Gen AI or been exposed to ML Ops for example, they often get noticed more though in selection processes! I'm going to post my thoughts on the market a lot more this year. I'd be interested to see if people agree with this or have noticed other trends? #SRE #DevOps #SydneyTechnologyHiring

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𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐨𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝! 🎙️ 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝟏, 𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝟏𝟓: 𝑁𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐿𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑖𝑛 𝑇𝑒𝑐ℎ This week on the More Than A CV Podcast, I had the pleasure of catching up with Mark Kitching – someone who’s built and led engineering teams across Sky, Ladbible and Compare the Market. We talked about the reality of tech leadership – not just scaling teams, but shaping culture, communicating effectively with the wider business, and making sure that the people you bring in are aligned with where the organisation is going. 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐭: 💡 Hiring for curiosity as much as capability 💬 The critical link between tech and business communication 🏗️ The challenge of building teams that can grow sustainably 🤝 Culture fit isn’t a buzzword – it matters Mark’s blend of technical depth and people-first leadership really comes through in this one. Give it a listen if you’re building teams, leading in tech, or just interested in how to make people and strategy work better together. 💻 Biometric Talent → https://lnkd.in/eVrQzPsX 🎧 Spotify → https://lnkd.in/eCXebBwg 🍏 Apple Podcasts → https://lnkd.in/eSXeJspu #TechLeadership #EngineeringTeams #Podcast #MoreThanACV #NewEpisode #HiringRight #CultureInTech

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Who is the most technical recruiter you know? TAG!? 🫵🏼💥 When I started in tech recruitment about 10 years ago I focussed on conceptually understanding technology as much as I could. It is hard enough to find these damn engineers, let alone if you don't understand what you are looking for 🫠 This conceptual knowledge on the technology domain is not readily available. Usually you can find what a technology is, how it works or learn how to use it. Not so much where it stands in the bigger context and what other technology is related to it. So we had to grind, beginners mind. Ask questions, ask again. After 3 times foolishly admit you still don't get it and ask again. Screening call after screening call. Always learn something new about some technology. Research in the evenings. Go to events where you literally understand 1% of what is said. 🤙🏼 As I said, the grind. Penetration Testers, Embedded Security Engineers, Senior Software Architects, Cloud Engineers and Architects, (Chief) Information Security Officers, Data Engineers and Scientists, Site Reliability Engineers, and more. Within a diversity of tech stacks 🙃 💥 By now I pride myself that I have placed hundreds of engineers in a variety of technical disciplines. Often I get a compliment in screenings or intakes about my understanding of technology, which I cherish deeply. I've had to learn this the hard way, but I've developed some little frameworks to understand context and translate that into a workable search. My plan is to specify that a bit per role or domain and start sharing that to help other tech recruiters understand their hiring managers and/or technical teams better. Small changes in your approach for the job intake and candidate search can already deliver great results. TAG. THAT. TECH. RECRUITER. 🩵

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