
IT talent shortage, or management failure?  - iamelgringo
http://weblog.infoworld.com/headhunter/archives/2007/06/it_talent_short.html
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paul
If there's this huge pool of untapped talent out there, then there must be a
huge opportunity for a new company to come in and hire them. The fact that so
many startups are struggling to find good people suggests that this isn't the
case.

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queensnake
I can only speak to #1, but dang, it's so true. I don't know what the F some
companies are doing, requiring C++, Java, JavaScript and 6 other technologies
(and mentioning eg ClearCase by name, WTF!). Is it that HR is deluged with
irrelevant resumes, and they think that by tightening the requirements they'll
get fewer? Or is it that, getting to 'wish into the void', they get a boost in
vicarious self-esteem by asking for their idea of 'only the best'? (I think
I've seen this once, is why this possibility occurred to me). But yeah, being
conscientious I don't submit myself when I see something /required/ that I
don't have. Then some recruiter will come along and say "Well, they're not so
serious about that". I agree that the HR layer doesn't suit IT.

One other peeve, companies that talk like they're so special: "You'll love us,
we're not like the rest, everyone sits on big red chairs here!". I don't know
why that bugs me, but I'd say save it for the interview / tour. At least
restrain it a bit in the job ad.

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ojbyrne
They forgot to mention the rampant age discrimination. Why would any
intelligent person go into a career where you basically become unemployable at
40?

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queensnake
As a recent over-40, I haven't hit anything yet, and I wonder how long it'll
be and how hard. Care to share your experience? It doesn't need to be an
essay, just, a couple examples.

I can only say, at this late stage I wish I'd gone into some physical
engineering instead, chemical or electrical, something with hard /science/. I
doubt I'll get to make such a transition, or well, would find it hard to
finance and might find it not worthwhile at this late stage. I suppose
robotics might be an avenue to explore, that'll get big before too long.

But back to the topic, I'll take any experience you have on what to expect.

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ojbyrne
It's hard for me to come up with examples that would be relevant to you and
that I can talk about, probably because it is illegal in the US (so they're
careful).

When I lived in Europe I would do a lot of telephone interviews, and in
general people were impressed, but invariably they would end with "We just
need one more thing - we need your date of birth for our records." I'd give
that and there would be no callback. Once I lied about my birth date (a friend
had told me that european laws allowed that). It resulted in the first offer I
got during that search.

The company I worked for (in Europe) at that time asked if they could put my
age down as 39 (I was 40 at the time) on their about page.

I can't really say that my latest experience was entirely about age, but it
was unpleasant. Google my name (Owen Byrne) and it will be obvious. I built a
fairly prominent website. Chances are you've heard of my "co-founders." but
not me.

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Tichy
So maybe "startup young" really is the wrong way to go? Would perhaps be
better to earn as much money as possible as an under 40 person, and then go
about startupping from 40 onwards?

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bayareaguy
If raising a family is important to you, your choices become more limited as
you get older. Biology is destiny.

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Tichy
In what way do choices become limited? Financial security becomes more
important, and less time is available? But are these really too impeding
factors?

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bayareaguy
Generally speaking, the longer you wait to have children the more difficult it
is :-)

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angstrom
It's a two way street. Some employees keep their heads down and don't speak up
about what's broken with the system or suggest better alternatives. They give
up and say "Why isn't management doing something different?" when they should
be notifying management that there is a problem. If management ignores it then
it's completely a management problem.

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sbraford
Management failure.

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BrandonM
Did you read the article? That's what the author was saying, and I think he
hit the nail on the head.

