What is your company doing locally right now?

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by yeahthatguy

A big observation I have and that for which is reflected in comments is that people are looking for rock stars/all stars instead of investing in someone and training them ...

Gurus will always be in demand. For many Silicon Valley companies what you say may have more validity. But in our companies case we hire the full spectrum including college interns. Also while all your observations may sound good in theory its never that simple in the real world. For example if a larger project comes up with a specific timeline and the project plan calls for x number of senior engineers and y number of mid level engineers not to mention the DBA, architect, project manager, etc... you have to act upon that. You can't delay the project waiting to homegrow your staff. It would be nice in a perfect world if companies could have a bunch of junior enigneers in training who could then be somehow promoted to more senior roles at the exact time they were needed. But unfortuantely that's just not reality. And having the extra resources available to be training all those juniors in waiting isn't always possible. Also if the junior ppl are any good they are already working on something important. They can't just be pulled off their current project to move to something new. That's not to say in our companies case at least we don't promte from within up through the ranks. It does happen, just not in this sort of magical way that when a new project gets handed to us we can fully staff it internally. So then we hire new ppl, US citizens only.

Derek

[yeahthatguy]

Originally Posted by MtnSurfer

Gurus will always be in demand. For many Silicon Valley companies what you say may have more validity. But in our companies case we hire the full spectrum including college interns. Also while all your observations may sound good in theory its never that simple in the real world. For example if a larger project comes up with a specific timeline and the project plan calls for x number of senior engineers and y number of mid level engineers not to mention the DBA, architect, project manager, etc... you have to act upon that. You can't delay the project waiting to homegrow your staff. It would be nice in a perfect world if companies could have a bunch of junior enigneers in training who could then be somehow promoted to more senior roles at the exact time they were needed. But unfortuantely that's just not reality. And having the extra resources available to be training all those juniors in waiting isn't always possible. Also if the junior ppl are any good they are already working on something important. They can't just be pulled off their current project to move to something new. That's not to say in our companies case at least we don't promte from within up through the ranks. It does happen, just not in this sort of magical way that when a new project gets handed to us we can fully staff it internally. So then we hire new ppl, US citizens only.

Derek

This is fair.. It's just the reality that while Gurus will always be in demand that they wont always be in supply. That being said, from past projects, DBAs and things central to Database design usually have a ubber Guru come in and charge $200-$300 an hour for their uber skill via a consultation. They do the design, setup the system, and move along to the next project.

In general though, there are more than enough people w/ the skillset in the U.S .. It's a matter IMO of companies putting in the time/resources to find them and whether they are willing to pay the 'guru' money for the gurus they seek .. The trend I see is that everyone wants someone w/ guru requirements (even though that's not what they need), they most definitely aren't paying guru money, nor are they looking hard enough.. and then get miffed when they can't find such a miracle and claim there isn't anyone w/ skill for the job.

I forgot to mention, my company has been laying off for some time (natural attrition and other forms of shrinking) and is stagnant on hiring (public tech company in the bay area)

[ilushka]

Originally Posted by MtnSurfer

Gurus will always be in demand. For many Silicon Valley companies what you say may have more validity. But in our companies case we hire the full spectrum including college interns. Also while all your observations may sound good in theory its never that simple in the real world. For example if a larger project comes up with a specific timeline and the project plan calls for x number of senior engineers and y number of mid level engineers not to mention the DBA, architect, project manager, etc... you have to act upon that. You can't delay the project waiting to homegrow your staff. It would be nice in a perfect world if companies could have a bunch of junior enigneers in training who could then be somehow promoted to more senior roles at the exact time they were needed. But unfortuantely that's just not reality. And having the extra resources available to be training all those juniors in waiting isn't always possible. Also if the junior ppl are any good they are already working on something important. They can't just be pulled off their current project to move to something new. That's not to say in our companies case at least we don't promte from within up through the ranks. It does happen, just not in this sort of magical way that when a new project gets handed to us we can fully staff it internally. So then we hire new ppl, US citizens only.

Derek

I agree, sometimes your project needs a specialist(s) "right now" and there is no time to deal with training junior developers. However, I think what yeahthatguy is talking about is actually more prevalent because I have seen positions with very narrow requirements at certain big companies not getting filled for years, literally. That's plenty of time to get someone "close enough" and train them to perfection.

I have encountered this a lot since I want to be a more of a generalist rather than specializing in a specific field for the next 30-40 years. I've been trying to get into a whole different area of software development from my current one, in which I have about 5 years of experience. I've done a few small projects out of my scope that I put on my resume, but during the interview I usually first get a bewildered look from the interviewer saying something like "Hmmm.... you have a very interesting resume" and then I'm told that even though I have an "impressive skillset" I just don't have enough experience in exactly what they are trying to do.

Some job openings I interviewed for in beginning of 2010 are still there.

-- ilya

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by ilushka

I agree, sometimes your project needs a specialist(s) "right now" and there is no time to deal with training junior developers. However, I think what yeahthatguy is talking about is actually more prevalent because I have seen positions with very narrow requirements at certain big companies not getting filled for years, literally. That's plenty of time to get someone "close enough" and train them to perfection.

Many times this comes down to management style and unrealistic expectations combined. We had a similar position which was open for ~ 1 year because one of the hiring managers could not be pleased. Finally he was removed from the picture and we now have filled the position.

I have encountered this a lot since I want to be a more of a generalist rather than specializing in a specific field for the next 30-40 years. I've been trying to get into a whole different area of software development from my current one, in which I have about 5 years of experience. I've done a few small projects out of my scope that I put on my resume, but during the interview I usually first get a bewildered look from the interviewer saying something like "Hmmm.... you have a very interesting resume" and then I'm told that even though I have an "impressive skillset" I just don't have enough experience in exactly what they are trying to do.

Some job openings I interviewed for in beginning of 2010 are still there.

-- ilya

Being a generalist can be both good and bad in IT. I'm am a bit of a generalist, although I also have senior level skills in certain key technologies such as Java and Oracle databases. But in terms of projects I have worked on everything from small dot com web projects to larger fortune 500 and DoD projects (embedded, stand alone, web based, etc...). So variety of tasks and products, most definately. But advanced skills in specific areas which are in high demand, yes also.

On the other hand I know guys who are great software engineers, very bright technically. But they got pigeon holed as legacy programmers which they worked on for years. Unfortunately all that experience doesn't apply directly to newer projects/positions based in Java or .Net for example. It doesn't mean they couldn't learn the new stuff. They simply haven't and so are in a catch 22 situation. In those cases a company has to do two things, take a big risk (some ppl work out some don't). Secondly they need to have the bandwidth to train someone Java, .Net, etc... Maybe there is time for that maybe not. That's why staying current in leading technologies is important no matter how general your skillset and experiences are.

Derek

[MtnSurfer]

Our company is going through yet another hiring wave. The Silicon Valley is picking up as well. If you have solid IT skills and interested PM me.

[BRinSM]

i work in software in LA and it seems like we have a hard time finding qualified talent. the company is HQ'd in the bay area and i hear the same concerns from my coworkers up north. we are almost to the point of desperation. we are not even looking for allstars as someone else had mentioned, we just neep people who know how to do a certain job. i would highly recommend a tech degree to anyone out there looking at college majors that will guarantee them a job upon graduation.

[Roaddog]

We are short handed but not hiring

[mayorhaggar]

Originally Posted by yeahthatguy

A big observation I have and that for which is reflected in comments is that people are looking for rock stars/all stars instead of investing in someone and training them .. True enough, rock stars/all stars already have jobs .. Are quite comfortable in them, and tend not to throw away years of proof'd value at a particular company to start a new at another. Right now, I would think for a lot of people who are at mid/senior level .. they have families and bills to worry about. So, I would think they aren't going to jump ship to a smaller company, an industry that is in peril, or take unnecessary risk....

I find that employers in the Bay Area is really bad about training and promoting people from within. Companies have the attitude that they can just hire from outside for anything. Maybe it's a hangover from the 90's and early 00's when there was more demand for labor, but it's dumb now when you see so many companies complaining that they can't find the perfect uber-employee who knows everything about their company and can start doing the job at 110% from the first day without any training. Guess what, you already have a bunch of people working there who know everything about the company and understand the place, so promote and educate some of the lower-level staff then replace their entry-level-ish positions with new college grads.

I think there's an expectation that once someone is at a firm, after a few years they'll just find a new and better job somewhere else, so you don't even have to bother with promotions or decent raises because you don't care about them. But with the crappy economy people want to stay longer at companies and they aren't going to instantly get a new job offer, so they're going to stick around longer. That works if you are ok with the same employers doing the same crappy job for decades at a time, but don't come whining to us about how you can't find a perfect new IT chief when you have systems administrators who have been working there for 10 years and understand everything about the place because they built the network and are involved in everything the firm does.

I think you get this attitude anywhere in the US now with the crappy economy but I've seen it during good and bad economic years in the Bay Area.