First off, excellent article. I'm going to dissect it in this comment, but I still encourage you to share your thoughts as it will make you a better professional in the long run. I've been where you're at (struggling to break into the industry), and while that was a decade ago, many of your points reflect my own experiences. Since that time, I've gained a significant amount of experience, not only as an engineer, but also as a hiring manager. Here's my thoughts to points you've laid out in your article:
We need to stop prioritizing formal education or experience when hiring entry level developers.
I empathize with this point but unfortunately it's not a practical in reality. The plain truth is that an overwhelming majority of businesses have finite time, money, and resources to deliver on its purpose (product or services). Hiring the wrong candidate can have tangible down-stream implications on the health/longevity of a business. Not only would a bad hire subtract diminish those finite resources, but they could have other consequences. For example, if a bad hire caused the company to miss an important deadline, it could result in lost or deferred revenue for a business, which may force the business to shrink its workforce since it can't pay everyone. That may seem a bit dramatic in the context of a junior role, but I have witnessed it - both inside and outside of software development.
Additionally, as someone who's taught bootcamp courses in software development, I have learned that while anyone can learn to code, not everyone is capable of doing it when they think they can.
We need to stop writing job descriptions for juniors that include responsibilities that mid level developers wouldn’t even qualify for
I don't disagree with this point, but I do think it's important to point out that there is no agreed-upon standard for what makes a Junior/Mid/Senior/etc software engineer. A senior level engineer at a small startup may be considered a junior-level at a FAANG type company.
We need to stop wasting human beings time by requiring them to complete a take home project to “assess their skills”
As much as I loathe the frustration when I fail these tests, I disagree with the premise that we should abolish this type of screening tool. They are very important tool when building teams as it enables hiring managers to onboard team members with a baseline set of skills. While I may not be a fan of abolishing these tests, I do believe we need to make significant improvements to this process across the industry to make these tests more equitable.
Thanks for the super thoughtful comment Joe! For context I myself am not struggling to break into the industry (I've been doing web development for over a decade as well). But I see the struggles of many friends and colleagues, which is where my passion for the topic stems from.
There's no one right or wrong way to do things, I think the main takeaway here is that something needs to change.
I've hired developers, I've employed code challenges, I've even had devs code a website on a whiteboard for me to assess their unassisted knowledge of HTML structure.
What I've seen personally is that there are better ways to assess talent than week long, 40 hour take home tests and pairing interviews. And the industry needs to start prioritizing establishing solid mentorship programs in an effort to reduce the massive backlog of entry level talent that exists.
Thanks again for your thoughtful comment Joe, I appreciate the perspective!
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Hey Dominic,
First off, excellent article. I'm going to dissect it in this comment, but I still encourage you to share your thoughts as it will make you a better professional in the long run. I've been where you're at (struggling to break into the industry), and while that was a decade ago, many of your points reflect my own experiences. Since that time, I've gained a significant amount of experience, not only as an engineer, but also as a hiring manager. Here's my thoughts to points you've laid out in your article:
I empathize with this point but unfortunately it's not a practical in reality. The plain truth is that an overwhelming majority of businesses have finite time, money, and resources to deliver on its purpose (product or services). Hiring the wrong candidate can have tangible down-stream implications on the health/longevity of a business. Not only would a bad hire subtract diminish those finite resources, but they could have other consequences. For example, if a bad hire caused the company to miss an important deadline, it could result in lost or deferred revenue for a business, which may force the business to shrink its workforce since it can't pay everyone. That may seem a bit dramatic in the context of a junior role, but I have witnessed it - both inside and outside of software development.
Additionally, as someone who's taught bootcamp courses in software development, I have learned that while anyone can learn to code, not everyone is capable of doing it when they think they can.
I don't disagree with this point, but I do think it's important to point out that there is no agreed-upon standard for what makes a Junior/Mid/Senior/etc software engineer. A senior level engineer at a small startup may be considered a junior-level at a FAANG type company.
As much as I loathe the frustration when I fail these tests, I disagree with the premise that we should abolish this type of screening tool. They are very important tool when building teams as it enables hiring managers to onboard team members with a baseline set of skills. While I may not be a fan of abolishing these tests, I do believe we need to make significant improvements to this process across the industry to make these tests more equitable.
Thanks for the super thoughtful comment Joe! For context I myself am not struggling to break into the industry (I've been doing web development for over a decade as well). But I see the struggles of many friends and colleagues, which is where my passion for the topic stems from.
There's no one right or wrong way to do things, I think the main takeaway here is that something needs to change.
I've hired developers, I've employed code challenges, I've even had devs code a website on a whiteboard for me to assess their unassisted knowledge of HTML structure.
What I've seen personally is that there are better ways to assess talent than week long, 40 hour take home tests and pairing interviews. And the industry needs to start prioritizing establishing solid mentorship programs in an effort to reduce the massive backlog of entry level talent that exists.
Thanks again for your thoughtful comment Joe, I appreciate the perspective!