God Isn’t An Application Developer
I’ve been looking around at jobs available all over North America, and one thing in particular has stood out as a glaring problem.
No one has any clue what they want let alone how to ask for it.
I came across this issue as a Systems Admin once, too. Gone are the days when you had a Server Administrator, Webmaster, Network Admin, Network Engineer, Network Cabler, Database Administrator et cetera. In my last position, I was all of these things and more, and was paid about half of any one of them should pay.
What I’ve been seeing in job ads more and more is Job-posters asking for the world. Must-haves: Masters Degree in Computer Science, Oracle, MySQL, Java, ColdFusion, CSS, XML, ActionScript, Flash, Flex, PHP JavaScript, experience with Robust Web 2.0 and must know frameworks for each operative language.
First off let me shoot down the Computer Science Degree. I have worked with many people in the government who carry such degrees, yet they manage to not know how to work their computer. They know just enough to get through their day in their career of choice, but beyond that, they are lost.
Secondly, I was always under the impression programmers made for terrible designers 99% of the time. One exception, of course, being my good friend dColumbus over at dColumbus.net, who is something of a rare hybrid. But in most other cases, why are job posters expecting a one-man panacea? And how often is one person an expert in more than two languages besides maybe HTML and SQL? In truth, more and more it seems job posters are expecting some form of deity to program their applications for them. And they expect this coding god to do it on the cheap.
Then finally there is the disturbing trend of using buzz words like “robust” and “web 2.0” which basically mean nothing. I mean yes they mean something in some circles and possibly in the dictionary, but as far as a job posting goes, it means nothing.
It reminds me of grade school when everyone wanted to be like the cool kids, so they started using words like them without understanding what they meant. Or like in Austin Powers when Dr. Evil said “I’m Hip. I’m with it” and proceeded to butcher The Macarena.
I am right there with you!
Couldn’t agree with you more, man. The stuff they ask for is just unrealistic.
On the other hand, should that stop any one of us from sending a job application? I don’t think it should. I like to think of it as a game they tend to play to keep the people out who have a low self esteem, and only get people to apply who are confident they can do (part) of the things they ask for (and are willing to learn the stuff they can’t).
The only thing that can stop me from applying is the salary or the work. And, of course, the people you have to work with. But you don´t get to know them ´till you go there to see for yourself, right?