My Sept. 18 “Higher Hiring” column ignited a firestorm in my inbox. A fair number of readers agreed that today’s IT management is looking primarily
for techies with communications expertise, management chops, and business smarts — skills many old-school heads-down programmers
lack.
Others lit into me as a “shill for big business” whose column could have been written by “Obvious Man.” But the harshest words
were reserved for the anonymous CTO I quoted, who hadn’t been able to fill a developer position for six months. As one colorful
correspondent puts it: “Six months to find ANYBODY is the most ridiculous, asinine [BS] I have ever heard. … I could fire
you, find your replacement, and find your @*%#! programmer all in a day and a half … three days tops. … You are not hiring
a brain surgeon, nor the next Phil Collins.
“Have you sat down and run some hard numbers on what your hiring dawdling has cost your company so far? You dumb jackass …
no wonder you requested anonymity. … Do us all a favor and find another line of work.”
On the other hand, one hiring manager — after having interviewed too many “assembly-line, good ol’ boy” candidates — commiserated
with my frustrated CTO confidante. They have “no initiative, [don’t] know how to initiate, can’t make a decision unless [it]
is handed to [them],” he complains. “[The phrase] ‘IT pro with 20 years of experience’ means nothing if your mind, attitude,
and heart are calcified lumps of arrogance, selfishness, and apathy.” Ouch.
Passions run high here — not surprising in an industry rent by ceaseless change, rampant outsourcing, and an ongoing cash
crunch. It’s hard to imagine such disparate points of view ever converging, although thoughtful conversation and civil debate
may help.
Till then, keep the expletives and name-calling coming. My inbox awaits.
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(InfoWorld) - In the litigious world we live in, deploying a unified communications platform in your enterprise could...
