6 ms·

I honestly don't understand this, I'm sure there is ageism, but when I'm reading resumes and interviewing I love the more experienced developers! The few times

I honestly don't understand this, I'm sure there is ageism, but when I'm reading resumes and interviewing I love the more experienced developers! The few times I've seen a solid 10 years experience résumé followed up by a solid phone screen it has been a feeding frenzy. So much so that my company usually can't even move fast enough to get an offer in the ring :( On the other hand, it's really obvious when someone has 10 years of experience staying invisible and just hanging on. Those are the ones that get ignored in my experience, and for good reason.

aridiculous 13y ago
>>10 years of experience staying invisible and just hanging on. Can you elaborate on this?
- michaelochurch 13y ago
  People tire out but realize they can work at 5% utilization (sometimes 0%) and not get fired. It's not common among ambitious people and in geographic regions with a robust job market, but some people resign themselves to career mediocrity.
- tsm 13y ago
  Repeating the content/work of one year of experience ten times, rather than having ten years of diverse and beneficial experience.
- jefffoster 13y ago
  There's 10 years of experience, and there's 10 years of having the same experience time and time again.
  - pekk 13y ago
    That is a great way to rationalize deciding that a specific person is no good even though they have the experience. Of course it will turn out that you have personally made the most of your time, and that you have some other reason for downing the other person.
    - mbillie1 13y ago
      Some percentage of the workforce essentially manages to not-get-fired and little else. I don't necessarily think that's a rationalization about a specific hiring circumstance, rather that it's a fairly general observation that probably applies in lots of fields.
    - morganherlocker 13y ago
      I have interviewed people with 10+ years of experience who failed fizzbuzz (in their language of choice, unlimited time, googling encouraged). There really are people out there who do not meet even the lowest of bars, despite having years of experience on paper.
    - matwood 13y ago
      It's not a rationalization at all. Get a job paying well and learn how to do it in 3-6 mos. Now repeat doing said job over and over for 5 years. The person ends up with ~6 mos. experience. I have interviewed these people. The problem is that it is a slow skill drain and by the person realizes they are behind they are often so far behind the level of effort to catch up keeps them stuck. It is basically innovators dilemma on a personal level. In order to stay growing you have to move on and take risk, but that is hard to do when you can easily do your job and make okay money. Then one day that job is gone.
MartinCron 13y ago
A part of it depends on what/where the experience is from. If I see someone who has worked for 10 years at a shop that I know is fundamentally dysfunctional, that makes me hesitant. Similarly, if someone looks like an opportunistic job-hopper who never stays put for more than nine months, I also get hesitant.
ap22213 13y ago
Yes - I try to hire a lot of experienced developers. There is no hand-holding, with them. If I hire someone skilled and with a lot of experience, I can give them vague requirements and a general deadline, and I know that I'll get something high quality, that just works, and that's probably better than I original spec'd. I don't like risk, but that's just me. I know I could hire more inexperienced (e.g. cheaper) staff. But, there's just a lot more risk that goes with that. I'd rather pay someone good, a lot, and know I can sleep at night.
wpietri 13y ago
Sure, but how would you feel about 30 years experience? Because at that point, somebody who started just out of college has another 10 years to go before retirement.
- NegativeK 13y ago
  My experience is limited, but I don't see many companies aiming for employee retention on the order of ten years.
- cpwright 13y ago
  I don't think anyone expects someone to stick around at a company for more than 10 years.

aridiculous 13y ago

>>10 years of experience staying invisible and just hanging on. Can you elaborate on this?

michaelochurch 13y ago
People tire out but realize they can work at 5% utilization (sometimes 0%) and not get fired. It's not common among ambitious people and in geographic regions with a robust job market, but some people resign themselves to career mediocrity.
tsm 13y ago
Repeating the content/work of one year of experience ten times, rather than having ten years of diverse and beneficial experience.
jefffoster 13y ago
There's 10 years of experience, and there's 10 years of having the same experience time and time again.
- pekk 13y ago
  That is a great way to rationalize deciding that a specific person is no good even though they have the experience. Of course it will turn out that you have personally made the most of your time, and that you have some other reason for downing the other person.
  - mbillie1 13y ago
    Some percentage of the workforce essentially manages to not-get-fired and little else. I don't necessarily think that's a rationalization about a specific hiring circumstance, rather that it's a fairly general observation that probably applies in lots of fields.
  - morganherlocker 13y ago
    I have interviewed people with 10+ years of experience who failed fizzbuzz (in their language of choice, unlimited time, googling encouraged). There really are people out there who do not meet even the lowest of bars, despite having years of experience on paper.
  - matwood 13y ago
    It's not a rationalization at all. Get a job paying well and learn how to do it in 3-6 mos. Now repeat doing said job over and over for 5 years. The person ends up with ~6 mos. experience. I have interviewed these people. The problem is that it is a slow skill drain and by the person realizes they are behind they are often so far behind the level of effort to catch up keeps them stuck. It is basically innovators dilemma on a personal level. In order to stay growing you have to move on and take risk, but that is hard to do when you can easily do your job and make okay money. Then one day that job is gone.

MartinCron 13y ago

A part of it depends on what/where the experience is from. If I see someone who has worked for 10 years at a shop that I know is fundamentally dysfunctional, that makes me hesitant. Similarly, if someone looks like an opportunistic job-hopper who never stays put for more than nine months, I also get hesitant.

ap22213 13y ago

Yes - I try to hire a lot of experienced developers. There is no hand-holding, with them. If I hire someone skilled and with a lot of experience, I can give them vague requirements and a general deadline, and I know that I'll get something high quality, that just works, and that's probably better than I original spec'd. I don't like risk, but that's just me. I know I could hire more inexperienced (e.g. cheaper) staff. But, there's just a lot more risk that goes with that. I'd rather pay someone good, a lot, and know I can sleep at night.

wpietri 13y ago

Sure, but how would you feel about 30 years experience? Because at that point, somebody who started just out of college has another 10 years to go before retirement.

NegativeK 13y ago
My experience is limited, but I don't see many companies aiming for employee retention on the order of ten years.
cpwright 13y ago
I don't think anyone expects someone to stick around at a company for more than 10 years.