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Agree 100%. In India, computer programming has been something parents pushed their children into as a high value career for a long time. In the last 7-8 years

Agree 100%. In India, computer programming has been something parents pushed their children into as a high value career for a long time. In the last 7-8 years we've seen that mentality also take hold in the US as the economy has gone sideways and a lot of formerly-headed-for-finance are looking to make their fortune in Silicon Valley. It really ends up diluting the talent pool over time. In these cases you really have to make sure you're hiring people with real potential as programmers, and that's easier said than done. Even after 20 years as a hiring manager I still get tons of false negatives and false positives. Beyond that I think India imposes at least one big cultural landmine which is that subordinates are extremely reluctant to ever deliver any bad news. Effective management requires asking probing questions and reading between the lines, not something that every western manager has great experience or talent with.

praneshp 10y ago
Yes, Indians are a really small bunch, go ahead and make more boneheaded generalizations about them. "Even after 20 years as a hiring manager I still get tons of false negatives and false positives." Just means that in addition to being racist, you are an incompetent hiring manager.
- orf 10y ago
  The only boneheaded thing I see is your comment. What did he say that was racist?
lr4444lr 10y ago
Honest, unloaded question for you as a hiring manager: do you think accrediting body that is neither for-profit nor funded by for-profit entities could strike a balance in an industry as dynamic as software development?
- Kadin 10y ago
  Not to put words in the GP's mouth but as someone involved in hiring I find that idea intriguing, although I think how effective it would be would depend a lot on the nature of how it was implemented (isn't that always the case, though...). The biggest problem with hiring experienced people for software development positions is the broad range of what falls under "software development". It's a very big field, and I think the breadth of the field isn't well appreciated by people working outside it -- including, particularly but not exclusively at large organizations, management and HR. A good accrediting body might do a lot as a way of ensuring a baseline level of competence for new CS grads, and in particular it might help people coming from schools that are good, but not one of the "big names", by showing that their education is up to a consistent standard. I don't know if it would do much for hiring more experienced candidates, though. Too much hinges on evaluating the experience that's being claimed since graduation.

praneshp 10y ago

Yes, Indians are a really small bunch, go ahead and make more boneheaded generalizations about them. "Even after 20 years as a hiring manager I still get tons of false negatives and false positives." Just means that in addition to being racist, you are an incompetent hiring manager.

orf 10y ago
The only boneheaded thing I see is your comment. What did he say that was racist?

lr4444lr 10y ago

Honest, unloaded question for you as a hiring manager: do you think accrediting body that is neither for-profit nor funded by for-profit entities could strike a balance in an industry as dynamic as software development?

Kadin 10y ago
Not to put words in the GP's mouth but as someone involved in hiring I find that idea intriguing, although I think how effective it would be would depend a lot on the nature of how it was implemented (isn't that always the case, though...). The biggest problem with hiring experienced people for software development positions is the broad range of what falls under "software development". It's a very big field, and I think the breadth of the field isn't well appreciated by people working outside it -- including, particularly but not exclusively at large organizations, management and HR. A good accrediting body might do a lot as a way of ensuring a baseline level of competence for new CS grads, and in particular it might help people coming from schools that are good, but not one of the "big names", by showing that their education is up to a consistent standard. I don't know if it would do much for hiring more experienced candidates, though. Too much hinges on evaluating the experience that's being claimed since graduation.