HACKER Q&A
📣 ta-001

Is it worth to look for a job as a team?


I'm thinking about changing jobs. I told some of my colleagues about my plans and they are quite unhappy with them. They even said that they will leave our current company when I leave. We like to work with each other and I think we form quite a strong team of programmers.

So I started to think that maybe we could find a job as a team. There is a couple of pros for the potential employer. First of all, they will get at once 4 programmers instead of one (of course this is a plus only if they are trying to hire at least 4 programmers). Secondly, we already make quite a cohesive team of friends.

I also wonder if there are pluses for us. Of course the obvious advantage for us is that we will work with people that we already know and like. But do you think its possible to negotiate higher salary for us because we can bring more value as an already formed team?

I'm just not sure if there are companies that recruit teams at all? Or should we form a company? Is this the only way to be hired as a team? What are our options here?

  👤 yann2 Accepted Answer ✓
I have seen it happen so its possible. I worked at a startup where the founders had built an initial version of their product that required a total rewrite. They had customers and funding so were looking for an experienced architect. The eventual pick brought his whole prior team over. And it worked out quite well for them.

As long as one of you gets into a position where you are responsible for building a team should be very possible. So I guess target such jobs and definately play up the fact you have a team ready to go. Building out good teams can take a lot of time so managers will see it as a definate plus.

Edit:on second thoughts you dont have to even get into a position where you are in charge, you just have to get into a team that is in growth mode/expanding. Who you recommend will have more weight than what comes through the HR pipeline.