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In-demand tech skills are the last thing to look for in IT hires

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Re: In-demand tech skills are the last thing to look for in IT hires

#21

Post by wvenable »

Jensson wrote: post #10

> A good technologist has grace. He will respectfully probe for intent in a way that doesn’t put the requester on the defensive. He will make it clear that this is a partnership, and that getting the job done is high on his list of priorities — it’s just that he needs some information in order to do a good job for you. Sounds like a very toxic environment. What would put the tech worker that much on their toes, what…

People are people and many don't understand or are actively afraid of technology. They have jobs to do and if they don't know you, they may be skeptical about what you can do for them. They might even have been burned in past by developers who promise but don't deliver.

Knowing how to talk to people to get your project done is a great skill.

Re: In-demand tech skills are the last thing to look for in IT hires

#23

Post by Oddskar »

pjmlp wrote: post #17
Oddskar wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We didn't have APIs 10 years ago? I agree with the article. As we build more complex products we need to be more specialized and work together. Maybe not the case if one is working at a startup trying to cobble something together that looks like a working product by customers and investors.

We had APIs since Sun RPC, they just keep being rebooted. The 2021 version is REST/gRPC for SaaS products.

REST? Didn't you get the memo? We've all moved on to GraphQL because Facebook use it and that means we all should use it.

It also enables our UI components to easily fetch data themselves. Because that's a great architectural pattern that we've discovered.

Re: In-demand tech skills are the last thing to look for in IT hires

#24

Post by pjmlp »

the_only_law wrote: post #6
lumost wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People work at companies for a variety of reasons. You never know if you're hiring someone who hated the culture of Oracle but wanted a job in their region working on DB technology. Or they come in via acquisition, or Oracle was simply the only job which would take them at their current pay - or they were ignorant of the reputation.

I think GP was meaning they don't use Oracle products

I guess he keeps his own custom Linux kernel clean from Oracle paid commits, and doesn't use any product that might have Java underneath.

Re: In-demand tech skills are the last thing to look for in IT hires

#25

Post by DeathArrow »

lumost wrote: post #5
dep_b wrote: post #2

> Entrepreneurs need to guard against the temptation to hire an antisocial or unempathetic talent, no matter how brilliant I think the same about the products of antisocial or unempathetic companies. Hence my “no Oracle” policy.

People work at companies for a variety of reasons. You never know if you're hiring someone who hated the culture of Oracle but wanted a job in their region working on DB technology. Or they come in via acquisition, or Oracle was simply the only job which would take them at their current pay - or they were ignorant of the reputation.

I think the poster is saying he wouldn't work for Oracle.

Re: In-demand tech skills are the last thing to look for in IT hires

#27

Post by zerkten »

Oddskar wrote: post #11
blueslurpee wrote: post #7

>Sure, in the ’80s, it might have been possible for one person to do it all: systems administration, database, coding, design. But in today’s world, database administrators, infrastructure engineers, coders, designers, project managers and others — whether on staff, on contract or with a vendor or service provider — must work together to execute projects quickly, securely and reliably. Tech today is a team sport. I f…

We didn't have APIs 10 years ago? I agree with the article. As we build more complex products we need to be more specialized and work together. Maybe not the case if one is working at a startup trying to cobble something together that looks like a working product by customers and investors.

It's not that we didn't have APIs, but it's the reality that they have penetrated every sector beyond early-to-medium adopters. Even regulated companies are moving to the cloud and using public web services at this point.

Ten years ago these companies would have been playing around with these things for sure, but not using them for their core business. This is creating demand for generalists within that huge section of the economy that isn't a top-tier pull for talent because the demands are different. These demands can't sustain frontend devs who could be working at Facebook. Eventually they will need specialized folks, but for now that continues to come from outside consultancies, just like it always has for this set of companies.

Re: In-demand tech skills are the last thing to look for in IT hires

#28

Post by [deleted] »

runnerup wrote: post #14
lumost wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People work at companies for a variety of reasons. You never know if you're hiring someone who hated the culture of Oracle but wanted a job in their region working on DB technology. Or they come in via acquisition, or Oracle was simply the only job which would take them at their current pay - or they were ignorant of the reputation.

I think the poster you replied to may have meant "no B2B contracts with Oracle, etc"

[deleted]

Re: In-demand tech skills are the last thing to look for in IT hires

#29

Post by DeathArrow »

donretag wrote: post #20

Companies still do not know how to interview for hard skills, what makes you think they can do it for soft skills? Previous workplace disagreement? Easy to hide during an interview.

>Companies still do not know how to interview for hard skills

They put you trough leetcode or hackerrank.

Re: In-demand tech skills are the last thing to look for in IT hires

#30

Post by pjmlp »

Oddskar wrote: post #23
pjmlp wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We had APIs since Sun RPC, they just keep being rebooted. The 2021 version is REST/gRPC for SaaS products.

REST? Didn't you get the memo? We've all moved on to GraphQL because Facebook use it and that means we all should use it. It also enables our UI components to easily fetch data themselves . Because that's a great architectural pattern that we've discovered.

Yeah you're right, silly me.
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