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Thanks. I agree that having some knowledge is beneficial and, I guess, the more the better. Does that knowledge really look good on paper, to future employers

Thanks. I agree that having some knowledge is beneficial and, I guess, the more the better. Does that knowledge really look good on paper, to future employers though? I’ve recruited my fair share of people in the past and, anecdotal data notwithstanding, it’s not something that comes up much. We’d be far more interested in the skills required, as — as I say — the engineering and science cohorts within the team are orthogonal; we don’t really interact (if anything it’s the engineers helping them, rather than the other way around). I do agree with you in the general case, though.

gregjor 6y ago
I suppose it depends on the domain and the job. But I do think a resume looks better with accomplishments that refer to business value rather than technical details. For example “Saved $200,000/yr by developing a more efficient inventory management system” vs. “Wrote 30,000 lines of Javascript code and made 325 git commits.” As a former hiring manager I would shy away from programmers who only wanted to code and didn’t seem to care about the business. That could indicate immaturity and inexperience, or an autism spectrum condition, but it most often indicates someone who puts their own technical interests above their job. It would make me wonder how well that person would fit with a team, and the overall organization. When personal tech interests and the job mesh well everyone is happy. As a freelancer I see extreme examples of this: programmers who tell the customer how they should run their business and try to fit requirements into their preferred tech “stack.” They want to rewrite everything their own way, disregarding cost, risk, and any larger considerations of the business so they can do things their own way.
- Xophmeister 6y ago
  I see your point and, yes, I do agree. Someone who is pathologically “all about the code” — unless the domain was something really niche like PLT — would definitely one to avoid. Thanks :)

gregjor 6y ago

I suppose it depends on the domain and the job. But I do think a resume looks better with accomplishments that refer to business value rather than technical details. For example “Saved $200,000/yr by developing a more efficient inventory management system” vs. “Wrote 30,000 lines of Javascript code and made 325 git commits.” As a former hiring manager I would shy away from programmers who only wanted to code and didn’t seem to care about the business. That could indicate immaturity and inexperience, or an autism spectrum condition, but it most often indicates someone who puts their own technical interests above their job. It would make me wonder how well that person would fit with a team, and the overall organization. When personal tech interests and the job mesh well everyone is happy. As a freelancer I see extreme examples of this: programmers who tell the customer how they should run their business and try to fit requirements into their preferred tech “stack.” They want to rewrite everything their own way, disregarding cost, risk, and any larger considerations of the business so they can do things their own way.

Xophmeister 6y ago
I see your point and, yes, I do agree. Someone who is pathologically “all about the code” — unless the domain was something really niche like PLT — would definitely one to avoid. Thanks :)