Re: Question for Employers

What are the skills that people are really looking for?

Business sense. Responsibility. Good judgement.

I care little how many modules you know - if you can't read a manual page and figure out how to use a module, you're too junior. But what I do care about is that you can understand how our business works, and how we make the money that pays your salary. You need to be able to understand what the business (be it the customers, or other departments) wants. You need to be able to make decisions when it's better to code a quick solution that just does one thing, and when you need to code "for the future".

What you shouldn't have is misplaced pride. The code you write may be thrown away a week after putting it live. Or be seriously mangled by the next coder.

Comment on Re: Question for Employers

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Re^2: Question for Employers by locked_user sundialsvc4 (Abbot) on Oct 06, 2010 at 03:33 UTC
I cannot agree with the above sentiment strongly enough. There is no “golden ticket,” except in Willy Wonka movies. There is no magic skill that you can learn, such that if you possess it, the world will beat a pathway to your door. However, if you possess good software engineering skills, such as the ones JavaFan has cited, then you will never be hungry for work. Savvy employers have learned not to plop “language skills” onto their job requisitions, because these keywords generate a tremendous amount of “resumé spam.” (Yes, there is such a thing!) Web-connected recruiters in three countries will brain-dump every sheet from everyone in their database into your in-basket overnight. Perl is used everywhere. You don’t have to ask. Experienced programmers wield the tools of their trade with both competency and sound judgment. The latter is far more important than the first. They don’t walk around with an encyclopedia in their heads ... but they know how to use one, and when they do, they know what to look for. It is actually quite commonplace to be presented with a requirement that you have never had to deal with before, and to be obliged to select, and then learn, an appropriate tool or package with which to address it. (And if you ever wondered what PerlMonks is for, now you know. It is a place where highly-competent peer review can happen in a matter of hours, or minutes.)

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Re^2: Question for Employers
by locked_user sundialsvc4 (Abbot) on Oct 06, 2010 at 03:33 UTC

I cannot agree with the above sentiment strongly enough.

There is no “golden ticket,” except in Willy Wonka movies. There is no magic skill that you can learn, such that if you possess it, the world will beat a pathway to your door. However, if you possess good software engineering skills, such as the ones JavaFan has cited, then you will never be hungry for work.

Savvy employers have learned not to plop “language skills” onto their job requisitions, because these keywords generate a tremendous amount of “resumé spam.” (Yes, there is such a thing!) Web-connected recruiters in three countries will brain-dump every sheet from everyone in their database into your in-basket overnight. Perl is used everywhere. You don’t have to ask.

Experienced programmers wield the tools of their trade with both competency and sound judgment. The latter is far more important than the first. They don’t walk around with an encyclopedia in their heads ... but they know how to use one, and when they do, they know what to look for. It is actually quite commonplace to be presented with a requirement that you have never had to deal with before, and to be obliged to select, and then learn, an appropriate tool or package with which to address it. (And if you ever wondered what PerlMonks is for, now you know. It is a place where highly-competent peer review can happen in a matter of hours, or minutes.)