IT Nomads: Why Companies Still Hire Saboteurs
While experienced professionals confidently plow the open spaces of the IT market, beginners move in dashes. And if at first they run from one interview to another, then in the future some of them continue to run away - only from one company to another. It’s no secret that large IT companies are constantly expanding or shrinking. In this regard, they often recruit juniors by inertia. So, the last thing left is to catch the wave.
This category of young “IT nomads” explains their behavior in different ways: “I am looking for myself”, “I am looking for interesting tasks”, “I am looking for prospects”, “I am looking for an interesting team”, “I am looking for worthy mentors” and so on. However, with a deeper look at their situation, one can assume something in common - a consumer attitude towards the company, the absence of completed projects on time or an extended trial period.
In addition, such persons as self-proclaimed freelance programmers or designers who managed to wrap their modest and not very successful experience in a beautiful portfolio packaging are adjacent to this category. In this case, free workers can not bother finding regular customers and obligations to them. Moreover, explaining the leap between customer companies is no longer necessary.
But experienced customers and employers, after reading a couple of paragraphs of a cursory description, may suspect disguised saboteurs in these IT nomads. To bring them to clean water, you need to study their habits in more detail.
It will mainly be about software developers, but much is true for other positions.
It is interesting that at the interview stage these people try by hook or by crook to make a positive impression. Some even agree to work “for food” as an intern - if only there is a prospect. However, immediately after taking office, they, under any pretext, evade independent work (even on academic tasks): too difficult, not enough time, new team, unusual atmosphere. Thus, they manage not only to overuse the curator with this, but also to distract other employees from their work.
When the personal tasks of these employees begin to sink, and the curator’s patience ends, the junior remains in splendid isolation, one on one with the training project.
What options does the “junior saboteur” have in this situation:
The Great Combinator selects a combination of the last two options and simultaneously begins to look for another job. After all, it is possible that the relationship between the leadership and the curator will deteriorate, and the unhappy, abandoned junior will be to blame for this.
Probably, these tasks are not particularly interesting for him, the team is not friendly, and in general there are better companies on the market. Therefore, you need to leave, the hero concludes, forgetting that in the end, the company did not benefit, but harm (lost profit and sagging tasks of colleagues). He does not despair and continues to search, and the company has to look for a new junior with all his might.
Of course, a milder scenario is also possible: the trainee can sit on the neck of the company, interfere with his colleagues' work and feed the management of breakfast until he is kicked out. Sometimes, for some reason, the curator and other bosses are not eager to admit that they hired a saboteur and nursed him for six months. Maybe they consider themselves too advanced leaders to make such mistakes. And in some large companies, few people pay attention to such incidents. After all, the salary of a junior is a penny, in comparison with the amounts that the company earns.
Self-proclaimed freelancers-saboteurs act differently: first they ask the customer a bunch of strange questions about TK. Sometimes, contrary to a good portfolio, you might even get the impression that this is their first project (often it actually turns out that way). Such negotiations may take several days. Then they take an advance payment (if agreed) and immerse themselves in work.
“At first I was afraid to turn to freelancers, I did not know where to start. I went to a seminar where a person told how to work with freelance exchanges. He made up a whole system that made it possible to distinguish a fake freelancer from the present. There are distinguishing features: the term of the account, reviews, contacts, the distribution of work by time, an adequate portfolio, and so on. There, for example, there was a case when a freelancer had 20 reviews, that is, 20 works in the last month, with serious work. But it is unlikely that he [the programmer] could really do so much, ”says Dmitry, project manager.
Any attempts by the customer to control the stages of work are usually met with hostility. Such freelancers answer monosyllables or with a delay of several days, explaining that "you are not the only ones with me."
The customer may consider himself lucky if the freelancer violates all conceivable deadlines, but issues a completed (albeit done) work. Indeed, often such performers do not finish the job at all, causing financial damage to the customer and forcing him to look for a new performer.
Of course, in Russia now there are more services with safe transactions ... But, as already noted, freelancers of this kind are actively “looking for themselves” and often agree to work even without prepayment.
Unfortunately, many customers still take such an employment relationship (or rather, sabotage) for granted, and sometimes they themselves do not mind “throwing” a freelancer. Another problem follows: customers have to work with familiar and trusted freelancers, who are not always the best specialists in their field.
Saboteurs (if this concept is interpreted in our context) easily bypass psychological tests, if suddenly HR offers them for an interview. No, they are not special agents and not actors. Perhaps they give one or another answer to the questions because they themselves at the moment believe in what they say. This can be compared with the so-called "amorous" people: today - one object of adoration, and tomorrow - another.
That is, consciously making a decision on employment, they are ready to rush into battle, but the ardor after some time passes. And besides him, there is no other strong motivation. Therefore, the person inside is trying to negotiate with himself, to justify one or another change. Often in the process of such self-justification of wine and auto-aggression is passed on to others. In this case, the IT company and its employees.
How long such a person will stay in the company depends on his efforts to fight with himself. It happens that he is to some extent aware that he is doing something wrong. Especially if he repeats similar situations around him. Therefore, he decides to stay with the company for a while, while trying to figure himself out. But you can’t just sit there without following the instructions of the leadership, and in the background it creates the appearance of intense activity. However, his professional side does not develop.
In this regard, I recall a case that a familiar programmer told me:
Well, do not forget that sometimes they still pay money for the time spent in the company.
In this regard, freelancers are even more difficult: if they are not motivated by money, then there is hardly anyone from the side capable of encouraging them to do righteous work. After the interest in the order fades, the person remains face to face with his doubts. And they, in turn, eat up energy that could be spent on fulfilling the order.
Therefore, a conscious desire to harm these people in most cases is absent. This may be more related to incompetence, lack of experience, misunderstanding of TK.
Dmitry shared his story on this topic:
Perhaps the saboteurs should remember that the “search for oneself” cannot be reduced only to the search for employers. This search is explicitly or indirectly present in every area of life. And so every area of our life needs us to spend our attention, time, energy on it. Hobbies, love, friendship, spiritual and physical development, image formation and much more - all this cannot be projected onto the plane of professional self-realization without a tangible loss in the quality of life in general. For most, this decline in quality of life is a problem.
One of the solutions to this problem may be the choice of work in relation to which a person does not experience illusions, strong emotions. You can search for a job to which a person is neutral, and tune in to receive not pleasure and pleasure from the “coolness” of a vacancy, but to receive satisfaction from the process of professional growth itself. As skills develop, this will develop into satisfaction that a person benefits the company with his work.
Another solution may be to convert the issue of employment into a different format: it is possible to make work not a goal, but a means for serving constantly changing human passions. Of course, this conversion is a temporary measure. Gradually, energy consumption in various areas of life will be balanced, and a person will cease to “burn out”.
*********
So far, employers in the IT industry have been screening out unsuccessful candidates, including saboteurs, at the start. It is not always possible to verify the integrity of the test tasks. Often candidates are not allowed to provide source code for projects (and sometimes even links to them) from their previous place of work.
But the most difficult thing is to reveal a double deception when the candidate deceives not only the employer, but also himself. Therefore, for the time being, the presumption of innocence extends to such candidates, and “IT nomads” freely move from one company to another.
This category of young “IT nomads” explains their behavior in different ways: “I am looking for myself”, “I am looking for interesting tasks”, “I am looking for prospects”, “I am looking for an interesting team”, “I am looking for worthy mentors” and so on. However, with a deeper look at their situation, one can assume something in common - a consumer attitude towards the company, the absence of completed projects on time or an extended trial period.
In addition, such persons as self-proclaimed freelance programmers or designers who managed to wrap their modest and not very successful experience in a beautiful portfolio packaging are adjacent to this category. In this case, free workers can not bother finding regular customers and obligations to them. Moreover, explaining the leap between customer companies is no longer necessary.
But experienced customers and employers, after reading a couple of paragraphs of a cursory description, may suspect disguised saboteurs in these IT nomads. To bring them to clean water, you need to study their habits in more detail.
It will mainly be about software developers, but much is true for other positions.
Junior consumerism
It is interesting that at the interview stage these people try by hook or by crook to make a positive impression. Some even agree to work “for food” as an intern - if only there is a prospect. However, immediately after taking office, they, under any pretext, evade independent work (even on academic tasks): too difficult, not enough time, new team, unusual atmosphere. Thus, they manage not only to overuse the curator with this, but also to distract other employees from their work.
When the personal tasks of these employees begin to sink, and the curator’s patience ends, the junior remains in splendid isolation, one on one with the training project.
What options does the “junior saboteur” have in this situation:
- Continue to work, developing what the curator and good colleagues started? - Hardly.
- Ask management to extend the trial period, since now you have to work alone? - Option.
- Offended and complain to a higher management? - A good idea.
The Great Combinator selects a combination of the last two options and simultaneously begins to look for another job. After all, it is possible that the relationship between the leadership and the curator will deteriorate, and the unhappy, abandoned junior will be to blame for this.
Probably, these tasks are not particularly interesting for him, the team is not friendly, and in general there are better companies on the market. Therefore, you need to leave, the hero concludes, forgetting that in the end, the company did not benefit, but harm (lost profit and sagging tasks of colleagues). He does not despair and continues to search, and the company has to look for a new junior with all his might.
Of course, a milder scenario is also possible: the trainee can sit on the neck of the company, interfere with his colleagues' work and feed the management of breakfast until he is kicked out. Sometimes, for some reason, the curator and other bosses are not eager to admit that they hired a saboteur and nursed him for six months. Maybe they consider themselves too advanced leaders to make such mistakes. And in some large companies, few people pay attention to such incidents. After all, the salary of a junior is a penny, in comparison with the amounts that the company earns.
Spite the Deadlines
Self-proclaimed freelancers-saboteurs act differently: first they ask the customer a bunch of strange questions about TK. Sometimes, contrary to a good portfolio, you might even get the impression that this is their first project (often it actually turns out that way). Such negotiations may take several days. Then they take an advance payment (if agreed) and immerse themselves in work.
“At first I was afraid to turn to freelancers, I did not know where to start. I went to a seminar where a person told how to work with freelance exchanges. He made up a whole system that made it possible to distinguish a fake freelancer from the present. There are distinguishing features: the term of the account, reviews, contacts, the distribution of work by time, an adequate portfolio, and so on. There, for example, there was a case when a freelancer had 20 reviews, that is, 20 works in the last month, with serious work. But it is unlikely that he [the programmer] could really do so much, ”says Dmitry, project manager.
Any attempts by the customer to control the stages of work are usually met with hostility. Such freelancers answer monosyllables or with a delay of several days, explaining that "you are not the only ones with me."
The customer may consider himself lucky if the freelancer violates all conceivable deadlines, but issues a completed (albeit done) work. Indeed, often such performers do not finish the job at all, causing financial damage to the customer and forcing him to look for a new performer.
Of course, in Russia now there are more services with safe transactions ... But, as already noted, freelancers of this kind are actively “looking for themselves” and often agree to work even without prepayment.
Unfortunately, many customers still take such an employment relationship (or rather, sabotage) for granted, and sometimes they themselves do not mind “throwing” a freelancer. Another problem follows: customers have to work with familiar and trusted freelancers, who are not always the best specialists in their field.
How conscious are the actions of the “saboteurs”?
Saboteurs (if this concept is interpreted in our context) easily bypass psychological tests, if suddenly HR offers them for an interview. No, they are not special agents and not actors. Perhaps they give one or another answer to the questions because they themselves at the moment believe in what they say. This can be compared with the so-called "amorous" people: today - one object of adoration, and tomorrow - another.
That is, consciously making a decision on employment, they are ready to rush into battle, but the ardor after some time passes. And besides him, there is no other strong motivation. Therefore, the person inside is trying to negotiate with himself, to justify one or another change. Often in the process of such self-justification of wine and auto-aggression is passed on to others. In this case, the IT company and its employees.
How long such a person will stay in the company depends on his efforts to fight with himself. It happens that he is to some extent aware that he is doing something wrong. Especially if he repeats similar situations around him. Therefore, he decides to stay with the company for a while, while trying to figure himself out. But you can’t just sit there without following the instructions of the leadership, and in the background it creates the appearance of intense activity. However, his professional side does not develop.
In this regard, I recall a case that a familiar programmer told me:
We had one friend - generally zero. I don’t know if he studied programming at all ... He got a job as a PHP programmer. He asked me a lot of questions. It ended up having to fully explain to him what and how to write. But since he could not give birth to anything on his own, a week later he disappeared.
I am really surprised where he came from. After all, before taking it, some programmer had to talk with him, and not just HR. After all, a test task, of course, could be done by someone.
Well, do not forget that sometimes they still pay money for the time spent in the company.
In this regard, freelancers are even more difficult: if they are not motivated by money, then there is hardly anyone from the side capable of encouraging them to do righteous work. After the interest in the order fades, the person remains face to face with his doubts. And they, in turn, eat up energy that could be spent on fulfilling the order.
Therefore, a conscious desire to harm these people in most cases is absent. This may be more related to incompetence, lack of experience, misunderstanding of TK.
Dmitry shared his story on this topic:
The most interesting thing is when you meet a really adequate person, with an adequate price tag and portfolio that adequately answers questions. You can even work with him on a safe transaction. And then I had the idea to save money, and I gave him the usual transaction with an advance payment of 50% - before, 50% - after. He started to work. A week has passed ...
He shows me something - there errors are poured. And I told him to do it on my hosting, because I was too lazy to deploy it myself. So in general I became dependent on him. He began to tell me that he didn’t succeed, that it was impossible to do this, that he didn’t meet the deadlines, and so on. I tell him: "Let's say goodbye." He: "No, I did almost everything." Then I found 30 errors with him again.
He apparently has different ideas about quality. He thought that "tyap-blap" will go. I told him: “In TK it is written this way, which means it must be done that way.” He replied: “Good,” and nothing happened.
In the end, we made a new, safe deal. For this I did not pay him the second half. And even for a safe deal, he was dumb and slowed down. Then I again told him: "Time to round off." He unloaded the project with errors to me. People who later watched what he did said: "Well, here the whole project needs to be rewritten."
Cases of overt sabotage and fraud are not deliberately addressed here - they are obvious.
Not a single work
Perhaps the saboteurs should remember that the “search for oneself” cannot be reduced only to the search for employers. This search is explicitly or indirectly present in every area of life. And so every area of our life needs us to spend our attention, time, energy on it. Hobbies, love, friendship, spiritual and physical development, image formation and much more - all this cannot be projected onto the plane of professional self-realization without a tangible loss in the quality of life in general. For most, this decline in quality of life is a problem.
One of the solutions to this problem may be the choice of work in relation to which a person does not experience illusions, strong emotions. You can search for a job to which a person is neutral, and tune in to receive not pleasure and pleasure from the “coolness” of a vacancy, but to receive satisfaction from the process of professional growth itself. As skills develop, this will develop into satisfaction that a person benefits the company with his work.
Another solution may be to convert the issue of employment into a different format: it is possible to make work not a goal, but a means for serving constantly changing human passions. Of course, this conversion is a temporary measure. Gradually, energy consumption in various areas of life will be balanced, and a person will cease to “burn out”.
*********
So far, employers in the IT industry have been screening out unsuccessful candidates, including saboteurs, at the start. It is not always possible to verify the integrity of the test tasks. Often candidates are not allowed to provide source code for projects (and sometimes even links to them) from their previous place of work.
But the most difficult thing is to reveal a double deception when the candidate deceives not only the employer, but also himself. Therefore, for the time being, the presumption of innocence extends to such candidates, and “IT nomads” freely move from one company to another.