Specialists only need apply
Having an extremely wide range of skills and experience should be an advantage and a differentiator in the employment marketplace. But, much to the contrary, it’s making it much more difficult to find good fits in the employment arena.
It seems like I would be having much more success if I had only focused on one technology stack during my career. All of the recruiters and job descriptions have become keyword driven. So, basically having experience in many different languages, operating systems, programming environments and problem domains _hurts_ your chances of getting the interview. Because they’ll go for the guy that can say he spent the last five years only doing J2EE every single time.
I would assert that being so poorly rounded would be a disadvantage in the marketplace, as almost no job is really that focused. Developers need to be adaptable and quick to learn new technologies, be able to recognize he value in them, and adapt to new problem spaces and toolkits. If you’ve spent the last five years ignoring everything but J2EE or C#.NET, you probably aren’t the adaptable type. You probably cling to your one skillset with an iron grip. That’s not they type of developer I’d want to add to my team.
During the last five years, I’ve delivered code in a dozen languages, on Windows, Linux, UNIX, and Macintosh platforms. I’ve built and maintained computer hardware and done systems administration. I’ve designed, built and administrated SQL databases in several RDBMS systems, commercial and otherwise. I’ve built custom continuous integration and deployment systems. I’ve built a software test lab from scratch. I’ve integrated tools in various languages that most wouldn’t have thought would work together. I’ve solved tricky problems that most single-stack developers couldn’t fix. I’ve delivered solutions in a wide variety of problem domains from simple Employee Time Tracking ware to detailed Remote Sensing software, to RF Engineering visualizations. It’s frustrating when a potential employer calls up and simply asks “How many years of J2EE have you done?” So, I honestly answer, “Well, one, but…..”, and they instantly pass on you. This just keeps on happenning, and honestly, I don’t understand how some of these people so easily write you off.
I’m glad I’ve taken the path that I have. I know now that I can tackle almost any technical domain and acheive success. But, how on earth do you convince a potential employer that it’s true? It’s becoming fairly frustrating to see how my breadth of experience seems to be a hinderance in the job market, when really, it’s my chief strength. It’s something employers should value, but they just don’t seem to.
