Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Cancelled Interview

I had a candidate for a software development position scheduled for an interview today (Monday). She emailed early that she would not be able to make it because she had already received an offer from another IT company.

This was fine. It was a good break for her, and I was glad to have her email me early to inform me of the change in plans (shows good sense, consideration and a certain maturity).

I thought she made the wrong call though. Currently, in the Philippines, it's a geek's market. There is more demand than supply for good developers. I think that even for mediocre developers there is more demand than supply, although I don't want to have anything to do with that class of developer.

Therefore, I think that software developer candidates (particularly the really strong ones, but even those with no experience but who came from good schools) should not take the first offer they get. They should be willing to interview for a month or two (if things don't work out, there are always call center jobs available) and they should look at factors other than the pay. How much challenge will there be on the job? How many different languages/platforms/frameworks will be used on the job? Does the company have a commitment to helping make its developers as mature and strong as they can be?

For developers just out of school, how much will they learn in the first 3-5 years at the company? If they're going to be pigeon-holed into some specialization (e.g., SAP, Siebel, Peopleware or only one language or database), then that's the wrong company. The first 3-5 years out of school are a great opportunity to expand the developer's mind. Pigeonholing limits the developer and (except for those who actively search out new ways of doing things, a minority in everything) stunts his or her growth. Perhaps (likely, certainly, for most developers) forever.

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