Stop Using Years of Experience to Measure Software Devs
Photo by William Daigneault on Unsplash
The Secret Developer has realized something quite profound. Hopefully, this will be illuminating for some of the readership too, and perhaps even change something in the tech industry, if we can fully understand the problem and what to do about it (and this article should help with both of these).
“Age does not bring wisdom.
This also counts for skill in any tech field.
Please stop using years of experience to rate people and in job adverts.”
The Problems With A Years Yardstick
Years of experience have been used for a considerable amount of time to rate and compare developers (The Secret Developer would say years).
This is based on some presumptions, that on reflection have turned out to be myths:
All Years Are Equal
Time can be used for many different things. That is to say that there is a false equivalence of skill and experience.
“Your experience is only interesting to me if you are learning something. A developer with fewer years of experience can be more skilled than one with more years depending on what tech and challenge they have been exposed to.
This can even apply to soft skills, although I think we can all agree those are not valued in software development. Lack of soft skills even got my colleague fired.”
This is a revolution
The tech industry evolves quickly. What was relevant five years ago might be obsolete today, making the number of years less indicative of current skill sets so why use these years of experience to indicate the skill of a developer?
“So many developers are out of date. I just raised a PR to solve a threading issue because the developer is unsure of the API they are using. It’s 4 years old, but that ‘senior’ developer simply doesn’t keep up to date.
Giving out a job because of years of experience means you’re missing a crucial fact. It’s not about miles on the clock, it’s what you’re learning.”
The importance of soft skills
Focusing solely on years of experience can overlook crucial soft skills like adaptability, problem-solving, and teamwork.
“My friend got fired for their lack of soft skills. They are that important so why don’t we pay more attention to what we want and need in software developers?”
Bias
Using years as a benchmark can discourage younger developers who might bring fresh, innovative ideas to a project. Worse, it can lead to ageism, both against older developers assumed to be out-of-date, and younger ones presumed inexperienced.
“It’s another diversity thing where tech companies seem to favor homogenized workforces even though the evidence is clear that does not help software development.”
What We Should Do
The Secret Developer has already created an idealized recruitment framework. Do they have more to say about attempting to recruit staff avoiding the years of experience metric?
“I think this is all about attitude and expectations. When we see a developer with many years of experience we often doff our cap to them.
This isn’t the right approach. Sure you should listen to developers, but rate them on what they say and do. You can do this during interviews when you meet people at meetups, or wherever. If you have this open mind you’re likely to see people for who they are, make better recruitment choices, and listen to people.
Wouldn’t that be nice?”
Conclusion
Tech firms seem to like simple solutions. Should it be a surprise that rating developers on their years of experience are widely used?
“Tech firms short term and lazy? Where have I heard that one before?”