4 ms·

Up or out, amirite? Likewise, if they've spent 20 years in industry and haven't saved enough to retire, what have they been doing? There's a lot of growth tha

Up or out, amirite? Likewise, if they've spent 20 years in industry and haven't saved enough to retire, what have they been doing? There's a lot of growth that can happen in 20 years that will be invisible to you in an interview loop. Things like patience, humility, perspective, compassion, ability to teach/mentor, etc. Focusing on technical ability at the junior level with leetcoding, and technical growth at the senior level, means you will filter out all but the most exceptional (or one-dimensional) senior candidates. In your opinion, is it acceptable to have grown for the first 10 years of your career, hit a personal snag (burnout, parental healthcare, medical condition) and then reluctantly chosen to coast on your career and skills for 10 years? If this is not 'equally qualified' as a candidate who has been "only" been working for 10 years, then what are you saying about older candidates? Because this kind of stuff happens to a lot of us--and I might even be as bold to say it happens to most of us. And as far as "predicting future growth", does this mean you wouldn't hire a 60-year-old who planned to retire in a few years? Keeping in mind that most hires leave before a few years anyway.

mabbo 6y ago
> In your opinion, is it acceptable to have grown for the first 10 years of your career, hit a personal snag (burnout, parental healthcare, medical condition) and then reluctantly chosen to coast on your career and skills for 10 years? God I hope not- that what I've been doing, lol. But seriously though, if you've spent 10 years growing as a developer, you're probably at the level of a senior dev. Those soft skills are also interviewed for- we don't just ask technical questions. I've been on interview loops where at the end, we've said "This person's soft skills are out of the park good, but they're technical skills lacked. Are there other roles we could consider this person for, like a project manager?" because soft skills are king. I've also been on loops where we said "This person's technical skills are out of the park, but there are too many worrying signs in our soft-skills questions to go forward". > does this mean you wouldn't hire a 60-year-old who planned to retire in a few years Hasn't happened to me yet. Most folks with 30+ years in the industry aren't looking for junior level dev jobs.
- rabidrat 6y ago
  I hear what you're saying but you can't tell someone's day-to-day soft skills from an interview. They're either on their best behavior or nervous and/or trying to impress you with their skills within a limited timeframe. This does not inform how they will be able to use their professional relationships that they develop within your organization (over the course of months and years) to get the job done. For that you'd have to look at their past work and their references. Neither of which were even checked during multiple interviews during my last job hunt in 2018.

mabbo 6y ago

> In your opinion, is it acceptable to have grown for the first 10 years of your career, hit a personal snag (burnout, parental healthcare, medical condition) and then reluctantly chosen to coast on your career and skills for 10 years? God I hope not- that what I've been doing, lol. But seriously though, if you've spent 10 years growing as a developer, you're probably at the level of a senior dev. Those soft skills are also interviewed for- we don't just ask technical questions. I've been on interview loops where at the end, we've said "This person's soft skills are out of the park good, but they're technical skills lacked. Are there other roles we could consider this person for, like a project manager?" because soft skills are king. I've also been on loops where we said "This person's technical skills are out of the park, but there are too many worrying signs in our soft-skills questions to go forward". > does this mean you wouldn't hire a 60-year-old who planned to retire in a few years Hasn't happened to me yet. Most folks with 30+ years in the industry aren't looking for junior level dev jobs.

rabidrat 6y ago
I hear what you're saying but you can't tell someone's day-to-day soft skills from an interview. They're either on their best behavior or nervous and/or trying to impress you with their skills within a limited timeframe. This does not inform how they will be able to use their professional relationships that they develop within your organization (over the course of months and years) to get the job done. For that you'd have to look at their past work and their references. Neither of which were even checked during multiple interviews during my last job hunt in 2018.