Latest news about Bitcoin and all cryptocurrencies. Your daily crypto news habit.
Five Signs of an Undervalued Software Developer
Iâve been interviewing for a while now and right after my first session of interviews with some candidates, I came to an epiphany, Iâm doing this all wrong.
I decided to map out my desired skill set.
Some of them are âsoftâ skills that can be seen in an interview, and some are technical that can be tested or sometimes even asked in an interview. Iâm here to share my thoughts on what is a good developer in my eyes. Keep in mind, these are my thoughts, it can be subjective.
Looking for our superman/wonder woman by Esteban Lopez on UnsplashPassion
Neil deGrasse Tyson said: âPassion is what gets you through the hardest timesâ, I canât agree more. Sometimes we get to the hard times in our job, the times where we feel like weâre working on auto-pilot. Thatâs where you need passion, you need the fire to find the tiniest joy in everything you do.Youâre looking for the one that âkicksâ the comfort zone aside, is passionate to work and to learn new things, passionate for every little part of the job (even CSS).
To understand if our candidate has passion, try focusing on âWhyâ and not âHowâ. Let me reference Simon Sinek in his Ted lecture on a different subject: âEvery single person on the planet knows what they do, some know how they do it, but very few people know why they do itâ. The person who searches for the âWhyâ behind the âWhatâ, has the passion. Ask âWhy does React hooks work the way they do?â rather than âWhat is React hooks?â, âWhy did you start programming?â. The one who has passion will search for the why, and not settle on the how or the what.
Photo by Martin Jernberg on UnsplashSelf learner
Self learning is a great skill and mastering it takes time, sometimes a lot of time. If you find that self learner, who can take a dive into something he has never seen and deliver a solution without even asking, youâve found yourself a treasure. Self learning is usually in direct correspondence to being independent, thatâs also a skill weâre looking for.
To understand if our candidate is a self learner, try asking âTell me of something youâve learnt and lovedâ and try going deeper with that question by asking âHow did you learn it?â. This skill can also be tested in a technical test.
Photo by Ben White on UnsplashSocial skills
As developers usually donât work alone but as a part of a full eco-system (Front, Server, QA, Product, Devops and many more) he must have decent social skills. Thatâs even a must when it comes to team work. Not saying that a developer canât be a good developer without decent social skills, but weâre looking for the full package.
Figuring out if the candidate has the social skills weâre looking for might be tricky since weâre not seeing him in his neutral environment. The interview can be a good place to start and look for it. If you see the potential, then a follow up meeting with the wider team can be a good way to see how the person fits in.
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on UnsplashSees the whole picture
We donât want the one that only sees what heâs doing, weâre looking for the one that sees the âwhole pictureâ. The one that understands that if he changes his code there will be side affects. Lets take an example of a backend developer changing an endpoint to return null instead of empty array when thereâs no data, this can cause some bugs on the client side. Responsibility is the key. Weâre looking for someone who will be responsible and not only for the code he writes but also feel responsible for the whole app.
To see if our candidate has what it takes, look for responsibility between his words, see if he says âI took the decisionâ, âIt was my responsibilityâ. Try asking âTell me of things youâve did and didnât go wellâ and see if he takes responsibility or ditches it aside.
Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on UnsplashStrong opinion
Thatâs my favorite one. It can get tricky because weâre not looking for the one that will cause a headache, but we do want a productive dialogue within our team. If we will get to the point where a developer has a task and you suggest a solution that he doesnât like and he still doesnât say anything and just goes on and do it, thatâs a big problem.
This one is pretty hard to figure since no one will argue with you in a job interview, a good talk about a technical issue might help you with it. Try seeking something the candidate did and they took ownership of, give him the opposite opinion, see if his opinion is firm.
Photo by Kaleidico on UnsplashExperienced developer !== Good developer
The use of strict equality here is on purpose. An experienced developer doesnât have to be a good developer, he can be.
Donât disqualify a developer because he doesnât have enough experience. We all get to see jobs with high experience requirements, some are even fictional for an example âAt least 7 years React experienceââââCome on, the framework was open-sourced in 2013.
What does this experience even mean? A developer can sit for years and work on a specific feature or worst, just sit and do nothing. We want the one that can learn and progress with the technology and not stay behind with his valuable âX Years of experience in jQueryâ.
Photo by Mikito Tateisi on Unsplash
Summing it up
Iâve mentioned a few soft skills and some more skills and how we can look for them.
Mastering job interviewing is pretty hard but can be a valuable skill for us.Interviewing isnât a nice situation for an interviewee, try making him feel comfortable, both sides will benefit from that.
The main point is that youâll need to read behind the answers or the stories. Try looking for a reason rather than an explanation, see what drives your candidate, what he likes, what heâs proud of, keep in mind that this is the intervieweeâs stage and not yours.
With all these, I believe youâre set to go.
Feel free to ask me any question, Iâm here and also on twitter.
If you enjoyed, give me some claps :)Thanks,âââMatan.
Five Signs of an Undervalued Software Developer was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the views of Bitcoin Insider. Every investment and trading move involves risk - this is especially true for cryptocurrencies given their volatility. We strongly advise our readers to conduct their own research when making a decision.