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> Joel’s claim is basically that “great” developers won’t have that many jobs compared to “bad” developers because companies will try to keep “great” developers

> Joel’s claim is basically that “great” developers won’t have that many jobs compared to “bad” developers because companies will try to keep “great” developers. Joel also posits that companies can recognize prospective “great” developers easily. That's not what Joel's post said. Joel said that great developers don't apply for jobs much. A great developer could have as many jobs as an unqualified one, but they rarely, if ever, need to apply to places to be offered a job there. Think of any great dev - do you think they'd send their resume someplace? No, they'd just leave, another company would get wind of it and they'd be offered a job in a heartbeat.

aisofteng 10y ago
Not to mention that an extremely able developer will end up leading a company over time; switching to another company would almost always require having to climb the ladder again.
jakub_g 10y ago
It seems like that "great developers never apply for jobs" is taken as an axiom on HN, but it's implicitly assumed that every developer works in an area with a zillion of companies to choose from, has an extensive network of friends in all those companies etc. Bay Area or London might definitely be like this, but there are many cases where this simply does not work like that: - a geographical area with one strong, dominating company -> low employee mobility (not much choice), hence low inter-networking - people who move to a new country/city and know no one there (or people whose friends tend leave to other countries, hence the networks are not that useful either) There are only a handful of developer hubs in the world, many people work in other circumstances and might not have an extensive networks, which is neglected here.
throwaway13337 10y ago
I've known great developers that are terrible networkers. They are able to get jobs through the resume/interview avenue when they want to leave but they still go through this channel. These developers are most likely to be underpaid. Real gems for those hiring.
- jwatte 10y ago
  Please send them my way!
ryandrake 10y ago
It's hard to believe that really is a common thing, even for great developers. Any great developers here on HN want to speak up and tell us all how that went? If you've ever gotten a professional job without a single interview--no formal application, no phone screen, no on-site--just a job offer out of the blue sight unseen, based purely on your reputation, please reply here and tell us your story.

aisofteng 10y ago

Not to mention that an extremely able developer will end up leading a company over time; switching to another company would almost always require having to climb the ladder again.

jakub_g 10y ago

It seems like that "great developers never apply for jobs" is taken as an axiom on HN, but it's implicitly assumed that every developer works in an area with a zillion of companies to choose from, has an extensive network of friends in all those companies etc. Bay Area or London might definitely be like this, but there are many cases where this simply does not work like that: - a geographical area with one strong, dominating company -> low employee mobility (not much choice), hence low inter-networking - people who move to a new country/city and know no one there (or people whose friends tend leave to other countries, hence the networks are not that useful either) There are only a handful of developer hubs in the world, many people work in other circumstances and might not have an extensive networks, which is neglected here.

throwaway13337 10y ago

I've known great developers that are terrible networkers. They are able to get jobs through the resume/interview avenue when they want to leave but they still go through this channel. These developers are most likely to be underpaid. Real gems for those hiring.

jwatte 10y ago
Please send them my way!

ryandrake 10y ago

It's hard to believe that really is a common thing, even for great developers. Any great developers here on HN want to speak up and tell us all how that went? If you've ever gotten a professional job without a single interview--no formal application, no phone screen, no on-site--just a job offer out of the blue sight unseen, based purely on your reputation, please reply here and tell us your story.