Why does publishing salary in the posting matter so much?

Hidden salary reads as a signal: either you pay little or you don't respect candidate time. Case in the article — after publishing the salary band, application volume rose 140%.

How many interview stages are normal for IT in 2026?

Three. Five and above is either disrespect for candidate time or internal decision-making dysfunction.

Is remote a perk or a baseline expectation?

Baseline expectation. Of 100 senior+ developers in 2026, more than 80 start the conversation with work format. Regions and distributed teams are a separate pool of strong middles reachable no other way.

How to reject a candidate without damaging the employer brand?

Written rejection within 3 working days after the interview with a concrete reason. Silence leads to anti-recommendation in the IT community (which is small and remembers).

Why replace leetcode with architecture discussion?

Leetcode tests patience and memory, not the ability to solve your tasks. An hour of architecture / performance discussion gives more signal and doesn't scare off seniors who have options.

What Russian-speaking developers actually want in 2026

I talk to developers every day and see an enormous gap between what companies consider an attractive offer and what developers actually want. Five things that decide a 'yes' for senior+ candidates, from 200+ candidate conversations this year.

I talk to developers every day. I see an enormous gap between what companies consider an attractive offer and what developers actually want to see. The last few months I've been systematically asking candidates what makes them decline before the first call.

Hidden salary

The most massive, most irritating one — "salary upon agreement." In 2026 this reads as a signal: either they pay little, or the company doesn't respect anyone's time.

Recently a senior Go engineer named Anton declined an otherwise interesting company exactly because of this. He didn't want to spend a day on interviews only to find out at the end that they wouldn't match on money. The moment another of my clients put a concrete band of €3-3.8K in the posting, application volume rose 140%.

Simple rule: publish the salary band. It saves your time and the candidate's.

Endless interview rounds

Daria, an Android developer with five years of experience, went through a selection process at a major retailer: HR, team, week-long take-home, CTO, business meeting — six stages over three weeks. While that carousel ran, she received an offer elsewhere where the process took four days and three stages.

Three stages is the norm. Five and above is either disrespect for the candidate's time or internal dysfunction.

Work format

Remote isn't a perk — it's a baseline expectation. Out of 100 developers, more than 80 start the conversation with the work format.

A regional company called "AgroDigital" bet on full remote and managed to hire strong middles from cities they'd never have reached otherwise — engineers who weren't going to relocate.

Post-interview ghosting

Silence after the interview is a problem because the IT community is small. The story of "company took the take-home and disappeared" lives long and lands the company on the anti-recommendation lists.

If the person didn't fit, write it honestly within three days.

Algorithm puzzles

Linked-list reversals and BFS tasks read as a signal that the company doesn't understand what it's looking for. Give tasks close to real work: discuss architecture with backend candidates, dissect component performance with frontend.

What to do tomorrow

Publish the band. Cut to three rounds. Default to remote. Reply within three days. Replace leetcode with case discussion. None of this is expensive. All of it changes acceptance rates.

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