Prerequisites for being a good programmer
May 10, 2004 7:53 pm Critical Thinking Viewed: 789 times
Having spent some real quality time in school, I am now back in the real world. These days, most of the time is spent scanning job sites, hitting the “Submit Resume” button, fending off “recruiter” spams, the odd call from smug contractors and all the usual routine. Invariably, at the end of the day, I end up totally drained. However, you do come across some amusing moments and some interesting observations.
Since my background is in IT, it is the IT jobs that I am looking for (well…duh!). In a month or so that I have been seriously looking for job, I am simply amazed at the number of IT jobs available. More specifically, jobs requiring a J2EE, web application developer background. How on earth is there a job scarcity for tech (programmers/developers) folks if all the jobs listed are real? Maybe I don’t have my numbers right. Maybe. Or it might have something to do with the “required skills” most of these jobs ask for. Some of the examples of “required skills” seem to be a listing of all the IT tools that have hit the market since 1970s! Okay, I am exaggerating a bit here.
…11 years of experience in J2EE programming…10 years of experience in Web application development…Expert in C, C++, Perl, Java, J2EE, ASP.NET, …
To a discerning person, the anomaly in the “required skills” mentioned above is obvious. Or is it? Man, do I need to brush up my skill or what?? Maybe I got to go back and add a few more programming languages and development platforms to my skill set. Maybe I underestimated the market? Maybe I overestimated my skills? Maybe. Or is it what they refer to as a buyers market? Maybe.
And then, my brother forwarded this post to me on Laurent Bossavit’s blog and it, well, helped me shrug off bit of the tiredness that has set in. The posting is an interesting take on programmer’s writing skills. Rather, the lack of it. Guess that’s why the “required skills” are so overloaded! Or should they add the “…write a one-page essay…” as a prerequisite for programmers before even allowing them to get down to the “required skills” section? Now, that would be cruel!
- Rajesh