Recently a bunch of workers from our company went to a restaurant. One of our guys asked if he could bring a friend who was in town. Sure, why not.

The dinner went well, we were talking about various things from the quality of honey pepper vodka to what dependency injection brings (does it?) to the table. That evening we’ve injected moderate amounts of that vodka. Not much. To avoid dependency.

Some time passed by. We were looking to hire a new software developer. I recalled that friend of a friend and invited him for a tech interview. He did well, and at the end I’ve asked him, “Why do you want to join our company?” He answered, “Remember that dinner? Guys from your company were eating, drinking and talking software. The technical level of most of them was higher than anyone’s in my current team. For me this is an opportunity to learn.”

I hired the guy. Now I’m thinking, should we make such a “Bring a Friend” dinner a tradition in our company? It’s a lot cheaper than paying a recruiting agency. Actually, we never hired even a single person through a recruiting agency yet.