Cashđ°Grab Coding is Wrong
Photo by Elimende Inagella on Unsplash
I think software engineers should enjoy making software, and this should be the foundation of our employment (not to the extent of passion for your job).
That isnât what is happening in the world of software development, and I believe this is damaging. The salaries in software development mean that the industry can attract the brightest and the best, but this isnât necessarily the outcome.
This article discusses what is happening, and what we should do about it.
High Salaries are Not Bringing Quality
Over decades software engineering has brought very healthy salaries, and this has ensured a constant supply of talent in the industry.
However, it has also brought people into software development who should never have entered the industry or who have entered the profession for the wrong reasons.
Here are my experiences of software developers chasing dollar salaries rather than the love of coding.
My Experiences
Not Working Outside the Office
I used to work with a software engineer who used to work in land surveying (Iâm not entirely sure what that is, but it doesnât really matter). They used to get their work completed, and I believe that they might have made a great software engineer.
Yet although theyâd undergone a career change, they were not that interested in learning. I remember they confided in me during a conversation about dependency management that âI donât code outside of work timeâ.
While I agree software engineers should not give their whole lives to programming and software engineering this personal habit during a technical discussion seemed completely out of place.
I heard much about this particular programmerâs attitudes towards technical solutions, and it seems they were always happy to scrape by with the minimum effort in their job and were happy with the fact they could work from home and the salary.
I did not have an interesting conversation about dependency management. My colleague didnât have much to add to technical conversations in the time I spent with the company and didnât have much energy during the time I spent working there.
The concern: minimum effort developers
This is a trend Iâve spotted with many software developers recently. They want to work but donât want to give anything over the minimum effort to get their job done.
A Look To Retirement
Socially I had a chat with one of my colleagues. They revealed their life plan, and it was the idea that they wanted to retire by the time they are 40.
In most professional disciplines competency doesnât require reaching a certain age, but it does require much practice. I donât believe in the debunked 10,000 hours to reach mastery, but actually think around 10 years would be sufficient to become a competent software developer.
The concern: developers looking for a way out
Iâve noticed a good number of software developers are looking to exit the industry early. This can be for retirement, for other careers or to just simply do something else.
A Training Shortcut
I know one new mother who is thinking of going to a code camp. They havenât considered what programming is (they donât really know anything about the industry), but theyâve seen the high salaries on offer and the fact they can work from home.
They felt taking a course could get them on a track to a decent salary (and fast). There is no problem with that!
I have noticed that software developers start to know ever less about math than ever before, and other software engineering issues. Simultaneously software developers have less formal education than ever meaning they donât have the theoretical underpinnings to be able to tackle more challenging problems.
The concern: code camps help to skip formal education, a necessary part of software development
Job Hoppers
I know a few developers who might spend a couple of years maximum at any job. They know they can get a salary hike by simply changing job.
This in itself isnât an issue. However, they act like each job is only a temporary arrangement, so they never truly get stuck into the big issues and have a real investment in the success of their work. This means that their work is not of the quality you might expect, but they become successful in comparison to those who stay at a job and develop competency in their codebase.
The concern: developers with talent will move from company to company and not
What We Should Do About It
Over the years Iâve developed a few ways
Incentivize Good Employees to Stay
There are ways to incentivize your best employees to stay in position rather than moving to the next best opportunity as quickly as possible.
This makes more sense than paying ever higher salaries to employees coming into job positions.
The solution: value your existing employees over new hires
Interviews
Iâve written about the ideal software development hiring process.
We should also ensure that interviewers do things like read the resume of candidates. It canât be that hard (can it)?
The solution: improve the interview process for software developers
Professional Standards
Iâve written before about actually using the existing software engineering Body of Knowledge. Software engineers would know what they need to know to excel in their careers.
The solution: require job candidates to be a member of a professional organization
Professional Development
I donât know about you, but the opportunities for any professional development in my software development career have been few and far between.
Across 5 jobs this is the total training Iâve received:
A two-hour course for our team about a specific technology.
A day of training from a third-party about how to use their product that Iâd never used and never did use.
A subscription to a set of videos for a technology we donât use.
Thatâs it. I have to say that none of it has helped me to do my job and has actually taken time away from me being able to do my day-to-day job.
The solution: provide a personalised professional development program that will help employees to do their job and improve in their career
Conclusion
Going for money in itself is not a bad thing. If you want the best software developers outbidding other companies is a good way to secure their services.
However, developing a breed of software developer who chases the money over and above anything else is not a good way of developing a healthy industry.
We need to look into doing better and being betterâââItâs about time.