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Excellent observation. We should all be asking ourselves why the laws of supply and demand aren't asserting themselves in the software development space. From w

Excellent observation. We should all be asking ourselves why the laws of supply and demand aren't asserting themselves in the software development space. From what I see, companies are aggressively forcing rates lower and doubling down on insanely obtuse hazing rituals. If demand were truly inelastic (what a "shortage" would imply) then rates/salaries would be rising and the on-boarding processes would streamline. Their behavior appears to telegraph that there is no actual shortage.

tomp 8y ago
My interpretation (which I think is "more correct" than yours and your parent's because it subsumes both) is that there's a good developer shortage and bad developer glut, and the interview process is an attempt to sort an individual developer into one of the two buckets. Although from personal experience, I've been rejected from several companies and gotten more than one amazing offers at the same time (i.e. in the same "I want a new job" career cycle). So maybe the categories aren't that clear cut.
- Apocryphon 8y ago
  The thing about separating developers into good and bad is that it also flies in the face of software engineering culture- the idea that you have to have a Growth Mindset and you can Level Up through Best Practices and Deep Work and Teach Yourself to Code after 10,000-Hours (or 24, but who's counting?). The idea is that if you work on passion projects and read up on the hottest frameworks and design patterns in your spare time, you can become good. On the other hand hacker culture also praises 10x developers who are seemingly born, not self-taught into it. What this translates into industry is that managers and companies continuously grind through candidates in an attempt to find 10x rockstar ninja cliches, rather than finding diamonds in the rough and trying to just train people. Of course, there are going to people who are worse than that level of quality. Maybe there should be some sort of guidance for them, that even if they fail interviews, they should at least get feedback as to how they can improve themselves, instead of being stuck in bad interview death spirals.

tomp 8y ago

My interpretation (which I think is "more correct" than yours and your parent's because it subsumes both) is that there's a good developer shortage and bad developer glut, and the interview process is an attempt to sort an individual developer into one of the two buckets. Although from personal experience, I've been rejected from several companies and gotten more than one amazing offers at the same time (i.e. in the same "I want a new job" career cycle). So maybe the categories aren't that clear cut.

Apocryphon 8y ago
The thing about separating developers into good and bad is that it also flies in the face of software engineering culture- the idea that you have to have a Growth Mindset and you can Level Up through Best Practices and Deep Work and Teach Yourself to Code after 10,000-Hours (or 24, but who's counting?). The idea is that if you work on passion projects and read up on the hottest frameworks and design patterns in your spare time, you can become good. On the other hand hacker culture also praises 10x developers who are seemingly born, not self-taught into it. What this translates into industry is that managers and companies continuously grind through candidates in an attempt to find 10x rockstar ninja cliches, rather than finding diamonds in the rough and trying to just train people. Of course, there are going to people who are worse than that level of quality. Maybe there should be some sort of guidance for them, that even if they fail interviews, they should at least get feedback as to how they can improve themselves, instead of being stuck in bad interview death spirals.