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Hard skills are surprisingly small percentage of the overall picture of the person from employment perspective. An excellent coder who is hard to manage, discus

Hard skills are surprisingly small percentage of the overall picture of the person from employment perspective. An excellent coder who is hard to manage, discuss, doesn't work well in team, or has trouble to simply do as asked for next 2 months because its a priority for the company but definitely not fun, is... passable for many companies, the bigger the more true. In my experience, quite a few of these hardcore coders lack in 'human' aspects. The employer can go an extra mile to manage them appropriately (ie keep their work fun), but its an extra overhead that many don't want to undertake. But of course the group of those who have good people, communication and/or management skills are usually priceless for the employer.

watwut 7y ago
To some extend, I think that we also tend assume that to hard to communicate with people have higher skills then they have. They are less right then they like to pretend, but people don't like to question them. Quite a lot of these issues is their inability to deal with requirements as they are or construct they are unused to without temper tamtrum. Everyone is more effective on fun tasks, faster when allowed to skip uncomfortable requirements and looks smarter if no one dares to ask him questions or disagree.
JamesBarney 7y ago
You must be working in a different environment than me. The most common failure mode I see of devs is a lack of technical chops. Followed by communication skills, and not internalizing business goals. Don't see doesn't work well in a team, or had trouble doing as asked very often if at all. But I work in Enterprise tech so maybe it's different.
crdoconnor 7y ago
>Hard skills are surprisingly small percentage of the overall picture of the person from employment perspective. This is true outside of tech hubs and in companies with non technical management. What is true in Oklahoma City and Paris isn't necessarily true in SF/NYC

watwut 7y ago

To some extend, I think that we also tend assume that to hard to communicate with people have higher skills then they have. They are less right then they like to pretend, but people don't like to question them. Quite a lot of these issues is their inability to deal with requirements as they are or construct they are unused to without temper tamtrum. Everyone is more effective on fun tasks, faster when allowed to skip uncomfortable requirements and looks smarter if no one dares to ask him questions or disagree.

JamesBarney 7y ago

You must be working in a different environment than me. The most common failure mode I see of devs is a lack of technical chops. Followed by communication skills, and not internalizing business goals. Don't see doesn't work well in a team, or had trouble doing as asked very often if at all. But I work in Enterprise tech so maybe it's different.

crdoconnor 7y ago

>Hard skills are surprisingly small percentage of the overall picture of the person from employment perspective. This is true outside of tech hubs and in companies with non technical management. What is true in Oklahoma City and Paris isn't necessarily true in SF/NYC