Ninjas, Rock Stars and Gurus need not apply.

Software is like jazz.  You better have "chops"

Being a technology professional is a mixed bag.  You are part of a social and technological wave helping to transform the world.  At the same time you are involved in petty arguments, massive egos, job insecurity and the nagging feeling that your labors are making someone else very wealthy.  You are also a rare commodity and receive plenty of anonymous job offers from people hoping to fill roles.  You also get to interact with recruiters who behave like talent agents trying to get you the next big gig, for a percentage.  This week I saw a job posting for a company looking for a “web ninja.”  It made me think about what I was going to look for when I start hiring.

The world of technology is very Darwinian.  An individual either knows how to code or they do not.  Many times I use a term for jazz music and say that a developer has “chops.”  This is because it is not easy to take a nebulous idea and transform it into working, testable code.  These individuals are rare and hard to find.  It took me the first five years of my development career to develop chops as a software developer.  Then the market changed and I had to learn how to code all over again and develop “chops” in that skill set.  It is an on-going process of learning and relearning how to do your job.  Being unable to change and adapt will doom you to irrelevance and unemployment.

This is why I found the job posting for a “web ninja” so amusing.  Some employers are so desperate for talent with chops that they will do anything and everything to make their work seem “cool” and cutting edge.  The reality in technology is that most of the work is pretty mundane.  You are helping square peg systems communicate with round hole systems.  You are moving data from point A to point B.  Finally, many of the people who use your systems are not looking for the next big innovation but rather something which works good enough.

As a software developer and entrepreneur, I am not looking for ninjas, rock stars, or gurus.  I am looking for people who can work together in a team and have chops.  These are people who are not experts but are willing to learn.  These are people willing to mentor junior developers so that they can grow to their level of expertise.  These are folks willing to stand over the shoulder of a peer so they can together fix a gnarly bug.  In other words, I am looking for professionals who get the work done with quite assertiveness and a sense of craft.

A ninja will not document code or write unit tests.  I also suspect they will use the most complicated path from point A to point B.  Rock stars will refuse to change code after a code review and insist they receive all the attention when the project succeeds.  I will not see them take responsibility when code fails.  Finally, a guru has such a specialized skill set that they cannot see other ways of solving problems.  It is the old adage that if your only tool is a hammer everything else starts looking like a nail.  This is one of the few times I will agree with Robert Heinlein, “Specialization is for insects.”  A guru is nothing more than a technological insect.

So you can keep your gurus, rock stars, and ninjas.  I will settle for something a little less flashy and more efficient.

Until next time.