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>If you’ve been doing .NET or PHP for 5+ years without even trying something else I’d treat it as a red flag too. But if I put other languages on my resume out

>If you’ve been doing .NET or PHP for 5+ years without even trying something else I’d treat it as a red flag too. But if I put other languages on my resume outside of .NET, I might look unfocused or "not specialized". Plus, some people treat resume skills as an expert matter, so if I'm only doing hobby stuff, the conversation might not be that interesting (hobby projects usually never pay technical debt so I can just write whatever I want). So in one corner, we have you, that thinks different languages on a resume are good for showing curiosity and breadth. You don't have as much of a focus on depth (or, you want us to be deep on a few and broad at the rest, which requires a ton of time) In another corner, we have hiring managers that can ask difficult questions of whatever's on your resume. Or who will think your .NET experience is lower than it should be because you spent time on other languages. So I, as an individual, get both of those and basically have to flip a coin to figure out which people I want to side with. But since I can't know what kind of resume-parsing person you are before talking to you, I still have to waste my time applying to everyone vs. knowing that ahead of time. The same is true for technical interviews. Some are Algs/DS, others are CRUD examples, others are some hard problem someone solved last week, some are knowledge quizzes. There's a huge amount of breadth in the interviewing world and it makes it a whole skill you have to waste time on.

brightball 9y ago
I’ve never even heard of an interviewer knocking someone for having more than one language on their resume. I’m not saying you need 10 or all the trendiest things. You need at least 2. Programming is a job of constant problem solving. If you’ve done the job close to 10 years and never seen a problem with the language that you are using...that actually tells me more about you than any other question I can answer. It tells me that you are married to one stack, you’re invested in it, you’re probably going to be highly resistant to solutions that don’t fit in that box. And it tells me that because languages are all about trade offs because there isn’t a perfect language out there. It tells me that you have your hammer. People are strongly confusing my comment with “know all the cool tech trends and program in your spare time constantly”. I did not say that. I said use ONE additional language if you’ve been working for more than 5 years. ONE. It’s a very low bar and if that is shocking, silly or offensive it is probably worth it to take a hard look at why. You could meet that criteria in a single weekend if you wanted to. This isn’t directed at you but the comments I’ve seen so far.
- FLUX-YOU 9y ago
  >You could meet that criteria in a single weekend if you wanted to. But that's the issue: one person will like that I spent a weekend on that, someone else will start asking technical questions when it was really just a hobby project. I don't want to answer questions on that because I'm not likely to give good/correct/interesting answers. It's only served me well in the first case when they didn't ask any questions and chose to instead focus on my strengths. It's on my resume, so it's fair game to them.
- astura 9y ago
  >If you’ve done the job close to 10 years and never seen a problem with the language that you are using Only having professional experience with %LANGUAGE% does not mean you've never seen a problem with %LANGUAGE%. Why on Earth would you assume that? If you're doing paid work you get minimal input on what technology stacks the projects you are working on use and 99.9% of the time that decision has already been made before your arrival. In fact, they could be looking for a new job because they want to change stacks, I know a few people who changed jobs just for that reason. Someone's single weekend "Hello World" project is completely irrelevant when I'm looking to hire a developer with 10 years experience. >It tells me that you are married to one stack, you’re invested in it, you’re probably going to be highly resistant to solutions that don’t fit in that box. Absolute nonsense.
  - brightball 9y ago
    > Why on Earth would you assume that? Because you've been in the field for 10 years and never once looked for a solution to that problem. It's a giant red flag. > Absolute nonsense. Explain why please. That's basic human behavior.
    - astura 9y ago
      If you are doing paid work you work with the tools you are told to work with. You don't get to go off on your own and do what you want. That, however, doesn't preclude you from understanding the flaws of your tools. In fact, I'd expect someone to be an expert in knowing the limitations of a language they have worked with for so long. That doesn't even mean you like your tools or you'd prefer to use them over other tools if given the choice. Your jumping to completely unwarranted conclusions and it makes it sound like you have very little real world professional experience interviewing and hiring.

brightball 9y ago

I’ve never even heard of an interviewer knocking someone for having more than one language on their resume. I’m not saying you need 10 or all the trendiest things. You need at least 2. Programming is a job of constant problem solving. If you’ve done the job close to 10 years and never seen a problem with the language that you are using...that actually tells me more about you than any other question I can answer. It tells me that you are married to one stack, you’re invested in it, you’re probably going to be highly resistant to solutions that don’t fit in that box. And it tells me that because languages are all about trade offs because there isn’t a perfect language out there. It tells me that you have your hammer. People are strongly confusing my comment with “know all the cool tech trends and program in your spare time constantly”. I did not say that. I said use ONE additional language if you’ve been working for more than 5 years. ONE. It’s a very low bar and if that is shocking, silly or offensive it is probably worth it to take a hard look at why. You could meet that criteria in a single weekend if you wanted to. This isn’t directed at you but the comments I’ve seen so far.

FLUX-YOU 9y ago
>You could meet that criteria in a single weekend if you wanted to. But that's the issue: one person will like that I spent a weekend on that, someone else will start asking technical questions when it was really just a hobby project. I don't want to answer questions on that because I'm not likely to give good/correct/interesting answers. It's only served me well in the first case when they didn't ask any questions and chose to instead focus on my strengths. It's on my resume, so it's fair game to them.
astura 9y ago
>If you’ve done the job close to 10 years and never seen a problem with the language that you are using Only having professional experience with %LANGUAGE% does not mean you've never seen a problem with %LANGUAGE%. Why on Earth would you assume that? If you're doing paid work you get minimal input on what technology stacks the projects you are working on use and 99.9% of the time that decision has already been made before your arrival. In fact, they could be looking for a new job because they want to change stacks, I know a few people who changed jobs just for that reason. Someone's single weekend "Hello World" project is completely irrelevant when I'm looking to hire a developer with 10 years experience. >It tells me that you are married to one stack, you’re invested in it, you’re probably going to be highly resistant to solutions that don’t fit in that box. Absolute nonsense.
- brightball 9y ago
  > Why on Earth would you assume that? Because you've been in the field for 10 years and never once looked for a solution to that problem. It's a giant red flag. > Absolute nonsense. Explain why please. That's basic human behavior.
  - astura 9y ago
    If you are doing paid work you work with the tools you are told to work with. You don't get to go off on your own and do what you want. That, however, doesn't preclude you from understanding the flaws of your tools. In fact, I'd expect someone to be an expert in knowing the limitations of a language they have worked with for so long. That doesn't even mean you like your tools or you'd prefer to use them over other tools if given the choice. Your jumping to completely unwarranted conclusions and it makes it sound like you have very little real world professional experience interviewing and hiring.