Team development (1 Viewer)

Bee

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Hi,

Would you hire a programmer only for their programming skills? If not, what other skills will you be looking for.

Regards,
B
 

msp

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Bee said:
Hi,

Would you hire a programmer only for their programming skills? If not, what other skills will you be looking for.

Regards,
B

Ability to wash themselves, have a conversation that does not include any reference to Star Track or Star Wars. Really just being able to communicate and convert business requirements into code, oh yes and ability to wash themselves, (I know it may seem I have repeated myself but I know more that one programmer who did not process that skill.
 

Bee

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msp said:
Ability to wash themselves, have a conversation that does not include any reference to Star Track or Star Wars. Really just being able to communicate and convert business requirements into code, oh yes and ability to wash themselves, (I know it may seem I have repeated myself but I know more that one programmer who did not process that skill.
I don't understand what you meant by "wash themselves"?
How about from the programmers point of view?
 

Ron_dK

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Bee said:
I don't understand what you meant by "wash themselves"?

Take a shower at least once per month ? ;)
 

Brianwarnock

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rak said:
Take a shower at least once per month ? ;)

Aw come on , just once a month will do to coincide with a change of underware.

Brian
 

Ron_dK

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Bee said:
.... If not, what other skills will you be looking for.

Effective time management, stay within the allocated budget and listen to the client to ensure appropriate implementation of their requirements.
 

The_Doc_Man

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Hi, Bee. Yet another programming management issue? Well, here's my two cents' worth.

First: What LEVEL of programmer are we looking at? Junior, journeyman, senior, guru, demigod? Because the answer to YOUR question depends on the answer to MY question.

Junior programmers are supposed to be able to take direction and to generate some amount of relatively simple code. Often measured via LEFCGPD - lines of error-free code generated per day. Such persons don't need too many interpersonal skills (yet). However, having had some rather ... interesting ... parties working on projects in the past. That part about taking a bath is NOT necessarily tongue-in-cheek. The really geeky young coders often have yet to develop good personal hygeine. They need to be reminded that in order to NOT be a "lone wolf" programmer, folks need to be able to keep their lunches down while working in the same room as the junior programmer. And believe it or not, I've have a couple of kids who needed to be advised about such matters. Autonomy is not an issue for junior (or novice) coders.

Journeyman programmers should have more items in their arsenals, more experience on "how to" for lots of different things. They should be capable of taking direction and working with teams in a semi-autonomous manner. The idea is that to raise one's level, employment-wise, one must raise one's level of experience as well.

Communication skills are absolutely mandatory. For junior types, the ability to take and understand direction is a true requirement. For more senior types, the ability to give clear and concise directions becomes important.

The more senior a person you want, the more they must bring to the table. A senior programmer had better understand a lot of different ways of expressing the same concepts so as to choose the best fit for the task at hand. Some raw design skill needs to creep in here, too.

Yout must not forget that as projects get more complex, you will need folks to be the guiding hand for each facet of the messy projects. This is something a wet-behind-the-ears adolescent geek is unlikely to do right the first time. You need veteran programmers for many projects just because they CAN lead the young geeks.

So, what qualifications do you need? Programming is only the beginning.
 

Bee

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The_Doc_Man said:
Hi, Bee. Yet another programming management issue? Well, here's my two cents' worth.

First: What LEVEL of programmer are we looking at? Junior, journeyman, senior, guru, demigod? Because the answer to YOUR question depends on the answer to MY question.

Junior programmers are supposed to be able to take direction and to generate some amount of relatively simple code. Often measured via LEFCGPD - lines of error-free code generated per day. Such persons don't need too many interpersonal skills (yet). However, having had some rather ... interesting ... parties working on projects in the past. That part about taking a bath is NOT necessarily tongue-in-cheek. The really geeky young coders often have yet to develop good personal hygeine. They need to be reminded that in order to NOT be a "lone wolf" programmer, folks need to be able to keep their lunches down while working in the same room as the junior programmer. And believe it or not, I've have a couple of kids who needed to be advised about such matters. Autonomy is not an issue for junior (or novice) coders.

Journeyman programmers should have more items in their arsenals, more experience on "how to" for lots of different things. They should be capable of taking direction and working with teams in a semi-autonomous manner. The idea is that to raise one's level, employment-wise, one must raise one's level of experience as well.

Communication skills are absolutely mandatory. For junior types, the ability to take and understand direction is a true requirement. For more senior types, the ability to give clear and concise directions becomes important.

The more senior a person you want, the more they must bring to the table. A senior programmer had better understand a lot of different ways of expressing the same concepts so as to choose the best fit for the task at hand. Some raw design skill needs to creep in here, too.

Yout must not forget that as projects get more complex, you will need folks to be the guiding hand for each facet of the messy projects. This is something a wet-behind-the-ears adolescent geek is unlikely to do right the first time. You need veteran programmers for many projects just because they CAN lead the young geeks.

So, what qualifications do you need? Programming is only the beginning.
Interesting post The Doc Man. I did not understand the parts that talked about 'Autonomy ' though.
 

Matty

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I think he was just saying that some junior programmers don't care about not caring about their appearance. :)
 

Bee

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Matty said:
I think he was just saying that some junior programmers don't care about not caring about their appearance. :)
Alright, I see:)
Thank you.
 

The_Doc_Man

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Bee - autonomy has to do with the amount of guidance a person needs in order to get a job done.

Wet-behind-the-ears programmers don't FOCUS on the tasks given to them quite as well as more experienced programmers. The junior kidlets haven't yet figured out that if you get the job done faster (by focusing on it), you either (a) get promoted sooner and make more money, or (b) you get more time to "hang around" and be constructively lazy.

Autonomy is one of the keys to promotion because it is a lead-in to another key skill.

The really junior programmers don't have track records that allow you to fully trust them to get a job done correctly without continually checking up on their progress and on the quality of their code.

A journeyman programmer can be given a small individual task and an initial design at a concept level, and can then be trusted to do it within the standards applicable to the department/company.

A more senior programmer can be given a larger task and be trusted to come up with a reasonable design that will conform with standards. That person can also be trusted to be a team leader, providing the guidance needed to keep the junior types on the straight-and-narrow paths to their goals.

Therefore, "autonomy" should be taken as synonymous with "can be trusted to get the job done with minimum supervision."

A person who can never develop this level of autonomy is never going to get promoted. Why? Because they cost too much to keep around. When a senior person must frequently step in to see what the junior person is doing, you are adding the cost of the senior person's contact time to the cost of that junior person's work. The concept of "learning curve" always applies, but the longer the curve, the less economical the person exhibiting the curve. In this sense, "Ability to achieve autonomy" reflects the slope of the individual's learning curve.

Autonomy should NOT be confused with isolation. A person who works autonomously can work in isolation. A person who works in isolation is either autonomous or secretive. The latter is NOT a desirable trait. (What are they hiding, if the latter?)

Remember, the cost of an employee to his/her employer is not only the salary and overhead for benefits, etc, - but also the cost of supervising that given employee. The more supervision required, the higher the cost.
 

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