Personally I'd much rather work with someone that is smart and never programmed before than someone that is a terrible coder with 5 years of experience in buzzw

Personally I'd much rather work with someone that is smart and never programmed before than someone that is a terrible coder with 5 years of experience in buzzword-of-the-month. Last time I looked for a job I actually crossed out any place that wanted more than one year experience with anything. I guess I'll never be a Senior Java Engineer or a Senior .NET Architect or a Senior Oracle DBA, but is that really a loss? Asking for five years experience in some technology is like actively seeking out people that are content to actually do the same thing for five years. Any small company that wants that is going to get trounced by a competitor that learns new tricks.