And any tips on what makes a great job ad?
I mean we all work hard to get in touch with great people when you start a project but sometimes you simply have to throw something out there to cast a wider net.
keep it minimal, don't list skills that aren't needed, if you don't need someone with 7 years experience don't say you do, etc.. when job ads make it seem like they "want it all" it turns people off, honestly the ones that appeal to me most are the ones where you know the person who wrote it know what they are talking about, such as they only list related technologies, like Java, Spring, Hibernate and they don't randomly throw in something unrelated, like "also nice to have php, perl and ruby experience" when every other skill requested is related to java.. just an example but something I've noticed.
I've noticed that as well. For the RoR jobs at least, they list a bunch of gems that they use, as if this is the only thing you can or ever use, or else we won't hire you. Sure, in some cases you need a specific toolset, but it's not always the case.
I think the job postings from startups with the random other stuff are more well thought out about what's involved (or could be) in your day to day.