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If your developers are either incapable of pivoting to a new language or flat out refuse to, then they are terrible developers. That's a pretty strong statemen

by jm4 15y ago

If your developers are either incapable of pivoting to a new language or flat out refuse to, then they are terrible developers. That's a pretty strong statement. I'm glad I don't work for you. If my employer decides to switch to Cobol and I refuse that makes me a terrible developer? What if they want to switch from an imperative language to a functional language? If I can't easily make the transition I am terrible? What is so wrong with developers that specialize in one thing, even if it's PHP? Regardless of your opinion, there is a place for those kinds of developers. They likely won't advance as far as those with a broader skill set, but they are not terrible or useless. This isn't the developers' fault. Rose hired a whole team of developers that were not qualified to do the required work. That's on him, and he is rightly accepting responsibility.

ebbv 15y ago
Just go ahead and assume there's an unwritten "within reason" on any assertion I make. I really don't want to have to type it every time. Of course a developer refusing to switch to Cobol or Brainfuck is completely justified. But switching from PHP to Ruby, Node.js, Python, etc. is a completely reasonable transition to expect a competent developer to be capable of. I'm not saying you should be able to be an expert in the new language overnight, but IMHO any developer worth her salt jumps at the chance to learn a new language on the company dime.
- jm4 15y ago
  any developer worth her salt jumps at the chance to learn a new language on the company dime I would agree with that sentiment. Another way to put it is I would prefer not to be on a team with a developer that wouldn't do that. Still, I also think competence can be relative. There are lots of developers who prefer to stick with one thing. They usually cost less and are more likely to stick around long term. They can be experts in their domain (even if it is limited to 1 or 2 languages). There's something to be said about someone who is content (or ignorant) to have their career stagnate for years working with older technology and projects that keep the company running. Personally, I'm of the opinion that it's important to keep up with the times, but if you have a requirement for that sort of thing those developers can be the workhorses on projects that some other developers wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. They can also mean certain disaster if you hire a bunch of them for your fast-moving startup.
  - ebbv 15y ago
    I would agree that there are competent developers who want to stick with a single thing and aren't interested in changing languages. The distinction for me is that competent is not necessarily good. For me, good is a higher bar than competent. That's why I said any good developer, any one I'd want to work with (as you say), wouldn't be a problem with switching languages.

by jm4 15y ago

ebbv 15y ago

Just go ahead and assume there's an unwritten "within reason" on any assertion I make. I really don't want to have to type it every time. Of course a developer refusing to switch to Cobol or Brainfuck is completely justified. But switching from PHP to Ruby, Node.js, Python, etc. is a completely reasonable transition to expect a competent developer to be capable of. I'm not saying you should be able to be an expert in the new language overnight, but IMHO any developer worth her salt jumps at the chance to learn a new language on the company dime.

jm4 15y ago
any developer worth her salt jumps at the chance to learn a new language on the company dime I would agree with that sentiment. Another way to put it is I would prefer not to be on a team with a developer that wouldn't do that. Still, I also think competence can be relative. There are lots of developers who prefer to stick with one thing. They usually cost less and are more likely to stick around long term. They can be experts in their domain (even if it is limited to 1 or 2 languages). There's something to be said about someone who is content (or ignorant) to have their career stagnate for years working with older technology and projects that keep the company running. Personally, I'm of the opinion that it's important to keep up with the times, but if you have a requirement for that sort of thing those developers can be the workhorses on projects that some other developers wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. They can also mean certain disaster if you hire a bunch of them for your fast-moving startup.
- ebbv 15y ago
  I would agree that there are competent developers who want to stick with a single thing and aren't interested in changing languages. The distinction for me is that competent is not necessarily good. For me, good is a higher bar than competent. That's why I said any good developer, any one I'd want to work with (as you say), wouldn't be a problem with switching languages.