My Employer Wants T-shaped Developers. Here’s How They Encourage It
Software engineers are often told they need to be T-shaped.
Like an Iron Maiden XXL T-shirt, but even less cool.
So, there’s a problem here. Generally speaking, developers are incentivized to become experts in their own extremely narrow field, and this gains salary increases as they build expertise.
When my current employer asked for all developers to become T-shaped I felt it would be a great idea.
I felt excited to know the support and guidance that we would receive in order to become more rounded developers.
My Working Experience
The distant past
I remember a past interview. They mentioned that they would help developers to study more about software engineering around their role. Then they said jokingly:
Obviously not something like a backend developer learning about the front end (haha)
A BE developer who is interested in the front-end? Don’t blow our minds.
The present
I would expect a company that would want developers to become T-shaped to provide support to employees.
Let’s see what my particular company attempted to give loyal workers:
Paid training
Mentoring
Coaching
Paid support from consultants
Opportunities to get on-the-job training and code outside your usual duties
The answers to these?
no
no
no
no
no
No alarms and no surprises.
Nothing Ever Changes
I don’t think anything is changing in the tech industry. Short-term thinking and an unwillingness to spend money on staff development continue.
I do sometimes wonder why I’m surprised.
Conclusion
Success comes from being great at what you do. There isn’t anything wrong with learning new stuff about your job, be it going deep or finding out about adjacent technologies.
Just don’t expect your employer to help you.