Job interviews ... who are you looking for?

There is a shortage in software engineers...that's what they say... so in theory if you know your craft you should not be worried...the'll hire you.

A job interview is like a hurdle race, you have to sprint and jump over a ton of hurdles (tiny fences) and if you manage to do that they'll track the time. The fastest one to get to cross the finish line wins.

They have an open position and try to hire the best fitting person for that job. but the requirements are not clearly stated...they are looking for junior/medior/senior developers....with knowledge in a list of things... the more boxes you check the better they rank you...and that's it.


Some of us, don't care about titles...don't care about listing every piece of tech we touched in our CV...we just do our job...we stay humble and create great things...

I am not an expert in Spring, nor in Hibernate or Java EE, so if you are looking for a senior in these fields...no luck for me there...in your eyes I am an inexperienced...equal to a newbie who learned to code from Youtube.

...but when I say that I understand the concepts behind Spring...I mean it...and the same applies to the other frameworks....because I've seen so many things that nothing surprises me anymore....I learned to look behind the curtain...away from the stage light...where the corps are hidden...in the closet.

I don't just do things...I need to understand things...before I do them...I am a craftsman...



Who are you looking for? Experienced leaders or just doers?

Experienced people understand faster than newbies...as they have the context of the past...and will lift you up...they will not only fix your bugs...they'll fix you products...on the long term...and will teach the craft to the newbies...if you allow them....and create culture....but this takes time.

Start looking behind the curtain...called CV.

Uh I feel old...

I consider myself a Software Craftsman. one that focuses on the problem and tries to solve it with the best tool it has at his disposal, and with which he can confidently provide quality.
This means that I don't shy away from using older technologies as long as those solve the problem and are reasonably mature to serve until it is needed...and being used to look at the big picture I can leverage using any framework for the task.

The problem is that the world has grown in a different way.
The abundance of frameworks has shaped the IT landscape and the job requirements of Today. Nowadays one who knows how to use (program in) a framework has advantage over anyone having a broader knowledge and significantly more experience in delivering and maintaining software.
And this is because companies expect the newcomer to quickly become productive (in complying with the framework). They need a Java / Spring boot developer, a Javascript / React developer, an Angular developer...

...but what if you have no experience with the particular framework, you already lost. Nobody cares if are capable to learn and work with that framework...if you don't know it, you are not our guy. We don't have time to wait for you to learn...we don't feel that you are the best candidate for us.

I don't get it.
When you take your car to the repair shop, you want someone who knows what he/she is doing, right? ...is good in his craft...is confident..because he has been through thing, fixed some cars.
...or would you trust a newbie with fancy/shiny tools and clean shirt instead?