March 27, 2011 at 21:35How do you rate your developer position?
- Transfer
I am looking for work for the position of Senior Developer - in this spirit begins the column Goal in most resumes. The point here is not only that the company is looking for a developer specifically for this position, but rather that the developer, for his part, appreciated not only himself, but also other company developers, while compiling a resume. In today's post, I would like to consider how developers and recruiters make such an assessment.
To get started, let's decide who is who:
What determines the position of the developer? Many determine this by knowledge, experience, certifications, ability to solve problems quickly and efficiently, etc. But, the previous place of work is also important, because the developers are trying to rise up in career and material senses. But, there is another side - the general level in comparison with other developers.
Suppose that the developer works for the position of Intermediate Developer in a medium-sized company in a not-so-large city, and he has a choice:
We will not consider the version “To come up with a brilliant idea, create your own startup and take on the responsibilities of Timlid or Project Manager (or all at once), since this is a topic for a separate discussion.
I think you are a little surprised that Intermediate Developer can take almost any position!
The scenario for Timlid may be as follows: the developer begins to work hard on his knowledge and skills. He explores various problems, participates in various conferences of an international level, answers forums, maintains a professional blog, writes articles for magazines, actively participates in user group meetings, undergoes certification, and creates an open source project. The developer becomes a famous person at the level of his country. After that, his chance of becoming a Timlid in a current or similar company increases significantly.
In the case of the Senior Developer, everything is much simpler. If the developer is not lazy, then he gradually grows to the position of Senior Developer. This is only a matter of time and effort that the developer makes.
We come to the most interesting part about how the Intermediate Developer can become a Junior Developer!
No, you don’t need to do anything at your work! Otherwise, they might simply fire you (and then don’t say that I didn’t warn you) ... One way to return to the position of Junior Developer is to get a job in a large foreign company. If the aforementioned developer does not reside in the USA and wants to go to Microsoft, for example, to Phil Haack’s team , then the likelihood that he will apply for the position of Intermediate Developer is very small.
There is only one conclusion: you need to always correctly evaluate your level in relation to those developers with whom you will work.
The obvious question: how to assess the level of future colleagues?
In the case of teams that create well-known products and lead an active lifestyle on the Web - this is quite simple. For non-public teams, I recommend researching their company’s website or, if possible, downloading a trial version of their product.
So, you are writing a resume for a specific position. At the moment, I'm sure that you are doing it more meaningfully. But, unfortunately, as a rule, companies interview several people at one workplace. There are times when they come to a position below the current one. For example, the Senior Developer has reached the position of Timlid, but sends a resume to the position of Senior Developer. And there are many reasons for this:
A bad recruiter will immediately accept a candidate for the current position. The motivation is this:
A good recruiter will try to find a suitable place for this candidate. Perhaps in another team. Or maybe even refuse the candidate, based on the following reasons:
Of course, the division into “good” and “bad” recruiter is conditional and depends on the goals of the company and the current situation.
However, most often come developers who have not yet reached the expected level. What to do with them? Again, look at this situation from different angles. A bad recruiter just won't hire a candidate. A good one will ask himself the following questions:
Feel the difference? A bad recruiter solves the problem quickly and easily, a good recruiter - effectively with a look to the future.
I hope that I convinced you that the position of the developer is not always easy to determine. But, if you are a developer, please define it for your next job more clearly.
Dmitry_Zhariy says:
Read this text in English!
Try to read the text of this article in English for the sake of improving your skills and kindness.
The following link leads to a parallel (bilingual; mixed, English and Russian) version of this article. Read the text in English and use the Russian translation below if you suddenly lose the meaning of the English text.
[EN / RU] What is your developer's position?
To get started, let's decide who is who:
- Junior Developer - 75% of his work should be controlled by Timlid;
- Intermediate Developer - 50% of his work is controlled by Timlid;
- Senior developer - Timlid controls 25% of his work;
- Timlid - 0% of his work is controlled by Timlid (reports only to the Project Manager)
What determines the position of the developer? Many determine this by knowledge, experience, certifications, ability to solve problems quickly and efficiently, etc. But, the previous place of work is also important, because the developers are trying to rise up in career and material senses. But, there is another side - the general level in comparison with other developers.
Suppose that the developer works for the position of Intermediate Developer in a medium-sized company in a not-so-large city, and he has a choice:
- Become a Timlid;
- Become a Senior Developer;
- Become a Junior Developer
We will not consider the version “To come up with a brilliant idea, create your own startup and take on the responsibilities of Timlid or Project Manager (or all at once), since this is a topic for a separate discussion.
I think you are a little surprised that Intermediate Developer can take almost any position!
The scenario for Timlid may be as follows: the developer begins to work hard on his knowledge and skills. He explores various problems, participates in various conferences of an international level, answers forums, maintains a professional blog, writes articles for magazines, actively participates in user group meetings, undergoes certification, and creates an open source project. The developer becomes a famous person at the level of his country. After that, his chance of becoming a Timlid in a current or similar company increases significantly.
In the case of the Senior Developer, everything is much simpler. If the developer is not lazy, then he gradually grows to the position of Senior Developer. This is only a matter of time and effort that the developer makes.
We come to the most interesting part about how the Intermediate Developer can become a Junior Developer!
No, you don’t need to do anything at your work! Otherwise, they might simply fire you (and then don’t say that I didn’t warn you) ... One way to return to the position of Junior Developer is to get a job in a large foreign company. If the aforementioned developer does not reside in the USA and wants to go to Microsoft, for example, to Phil Haack’s team , then the likelihood that he will apply for the position of Intermediate Developer is very small.
There is only one conclusion: you need to always correctly evaluate your level in relation to those developers with whom you will work.
The obvious question: how to assess the level of future colleagues?
In the case of teams that create well-known products and lead an active lifestyle on the Web - this is quite simple. For non-public teams, I recommend researching their company’s website or, if possible, downloading a trial version of their product.
So, you are writing a resume for a specific position. At the moment, I'm sure that you are doing it more meaningfully. But, unfortunately, as a rule, companies interview several people at one workplace. There are times when they come to a position below the current one. For example, the Senior Developer has reached the position of Timlid, but sends a resume to the position of Senior Developer. And there are many reasons for this:
- At the moment, the company does not have a vacant Timlid position;
- The developer is afraid of responsibility in a higher position;
- The candidate clearly underestimates himself.
A bad recruiter will immediately accept a candidate for the current position. The motivation is this:
- Ability to reduce price / quality ratio;
- Stimulates other team members to improve their knowledge;
- Eliminates the need to listen to other candidates.
A good recruiter will try to find a suitable place for this candidate. Perhaps in another team. Or maybe even refuse the candidate, based on the following reasons:
- The team should work as a coordinated mechanism. And if one wheel is larger than the others, then this may be the cause of a possible failure of the entire mechanism;
- Man intends to change his place sooner or later. Perhaps take another place in the team. In our case, a new project will open soon, where he can test his strength;
- It is necessary to find the best among Senior Developers, but not Timlid among Senior Developers.
Of course, the division into “good” and “bad” recruiter is conditional and depends on the goals of the company and the current situation.
However, most often come developers who have not yet reached the expected level. What to do with them? Again, look at this situation from different angles. A bad recruiter just won't hire a candidate. A good one will ask himself the following questions:
- Can we train him? Is it possible to spend time and money of the company on this? (Of course, this is an option for the Junior Developer);
- Can we retrain him? (for example, ASP.NET Intermediate Developer, decided to become Silverlight Intermediate Developer. It is important that a person already has a lot of skills and there is no need to prepare it from scratch);
- Can we find someone better at a given time (the deadline for the project came up, no comment);
Feel the difference? A bad recruiter solves the problem quickly and easily, a good recruiter - effectively with a look to the future.
I hope that I convinced you that the position of the developer is not always easy to determine. But, if you are a developer, please define it for your next job more clearly.
Dmitry_Zhariy says:
Read this text in English!
Try to read the text of this article in English for the sake of improving your skills and kindness. The following link leads to a parallel (bilingual; mixed, English and Russian) version of this article. Read the text in English and use the Russian translation below if you suddenly lose the meaning of the English text.
[EN / RU] What is your developer's position?