4 ms·
I think a pretty good example of why this isn't work is visible in the LinkedIn inbox of nearly every software engineer (and probably other specialized people).
by donkeyd 6y ago
I think a pretty good example of why this isn't work is visible in the LinkedIn inbox of nearly every software engineer (and probably other specialized people). People with an HR degree become tech recruiters and they often really suck at it on two fronts: spotting the right candidates and explaining the job. All they do is target as many people as possible and hope someone bites.
A really had thing for someone without actual work experience in the field is spotting the difference between: someone with the exact right experience, someone with the wrong experience but a valuable set of skills and personality to learn, someone bullshitting their resume and talking like they understand the tech stack and someone who seems to have the right experience but is actually a bad fit.
For a staff engineer it's critical to be able to spot knowledge gaps in teams, explain complex technical issues to business people, spot opportunities for the implementation of new tech and estimate the complexity of implementing it, etc. No matter how good you are at communicating, you will be unable to do this without actual understanding of the tech stack. Just explaining why last week it was ok to hire a react dev to fulfill an angular vacancy, but this week you really need a dev with super specific knowledge to fill an urgent need is hard to do without understanding those technologies.
- oblio 6y agoI think you're too harsh on recruiters. They're paid less than developers and recruiting is a numbers game. They can't afford to spend time to get super deep technically, since it's not worth it. And I imagine that those that do dive deep just get a technical job for less pressure and more money.
- wink 6y ago> They can't afford to spend time to get _super deep_ technically Maybe you're just extremely lucky. I'm already happy if I get a recruiter mail where the buzzwords aren't even used in a nonsensical way, e.g. just from two sentences I know the person hasn't ever written a single line of code or worked in a project using any of the 10 buzzword technologies. Made up examples "using exciting database technology like mysql and mqtt", using "programming languages like SQL and XML"
- joncrane 6y ago> They're paid less than developers Are we sure about that? I thought one of the most common compensation structures is they got a commission of approximately 10% of the first year's salary for each hired candidate, payable after the candidate has completed 3 months at the new job. I hope the average recruiter places more than 10 developers per year. The smart ones develop relationships with frequent job-hoppers. It turns almost into an agent-talent relationship.