The Senior X-Language Developer

Lately, I’ve seen some job posts in the local newspapers which seek for senior .NET developers and senior Java developer who have at least 4 years of experience in .NET/Java, and feel a little bit dissatisfied with them.

HR folks think that someone is senior because s/he masters one particular technology or tool. And while that is a valid perspective, it is naive and not the expected one if the purpose of HR is to identify really talented developers. In fact, seniority cannot be measured by just a specific technology or tool, instead it must be measured by the foundation technical knowledge that a person possesses, including but not limited to: algorithm design, computing theory, compiler design, software development processes, and OO design skill, and other soft skills such as mentoring ability, and communication skills. (BTW, HR folks, OO is not just about encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism - who does not know that???)

In fact, I do not see much potential in a candidate who possesses 4 years of experience in Java programming and yet has never been exposed to any other programming languages (say, C/C++, Ruby, Perl, Python, Groovy, C#, VB.NET) and/or OO design principles. Such a candidate will not likely be able to adapt with the fast pace changing in technologies to maintain his/her competitive advantage. On the other hand, a person with solid foundation knowledge will easily pick a new tool or technology much faster and is able to survive with the changes in the software industry.

So unless you plan to do programming job for 3 or so years and then quit to do other business, learn the foundation. It will take a longer path, but the outcome is worthy.

I will have another post describing in details what I consider foundation knowledge as well as how one can acquire it.