Re:What's Wrong with Tech Hiring
by ChrisMarshallNY on Thursday September 16, 2021 @01:03PM
(#28554288)
Yes and no. I think it's important, for certain types of coding; maybe not so much, for other types.
FAANG companies are willing to put their money where their mouths are. They pay quite well. I think it would be quite reasonable for them to require a standardized certification, and people would bust their butts to pass the cert., for a chance at the money to be made.
A lot of startups, on the other hand, have much "earthier" needs. They may want people that are more "generalist," for a lot of their roles, and might be able to use support for eventual training to the tests as a carrot. If they treat their employees well, they could get some certified engineers for a bargain price, out of the deal.
Also, there is such a huge variety of coding specialties. Algorithm coders work with data processing, but you also have people that may specialize in ML, and that could require entirely different skillsets (I am not an ML person, so I don't know whether or not standard DP algorithms are ideal for AI work). I have done a lot of communication and device control stuff, and that has some facets that few of your "standard" developers see.
Then, you have toolsets and frameworks. These are really what makes a developer rock. Someone who really knows their way around specific toolsets, or deep language knowledge, may be what you need. I can learn a new language, in a couple of weeks, but knowing it well can take years. And there's a better than even chance that knowing it well won't be particularly valuable to a company.
Lot of variables. Software is a very, very dynamic place, and it's really difficult to distill meaningful standards from it, that aren't rendered obsolete, almost as soon as the ink dries on the documents.
FAANG companies are willing to put their money where their mouths are. They pay quite well. I think it would be quite reasonable for them to require a standardized certification, and people would bust their butts to pass the cert., for a chance at the money to be made.
A lot of startups, on the other hand, have much "earthier" needs. They may want people that are more "generalist," for a lot of their roles, and might be able to use support for eventual training to the tests as a carrot. If they treat their employees well, they could get some certified engineers for a bargain price, out of the deal.
Also, there is such a huge variety of coding specialties. Algorithm coders work with data processing, but you also have people that may specialize in ML, and that could require entirely different skillsets (I am not an ML person, so I don't know whether or not standard DP algorithms are ideal for AI work). I have done a lot of communication and device control stuff, and that has some facets that few of your "standard" developers see.
Then, you have toolsets and frameworks. These are really what makes a developer rock. Someone who really knows their way around specific toolsets, or deep language knowledge, may be what you need. I can learn a new language, in a couple of weeks, but knowing it well can take years. And there's a better than even chance that knowing it well won't be particularly valuable to a company.
Lot of variables. Software is a very, very dynamic place, and it's really difficult to distill meaningful standards from it, that aren't rendered obsolete, almost as soon as the ink dries on the documents.