Who not to hire
Jeremy D. Miller made an interesting
comment on a
post by
Slava Imeshev. Slava breaks down the steps to take when starting a new software project. The sixth and final step is: do not hire people without Computer Sience education. Funny thing is that I discussed the exact same thing with a colleague today. While he has a degree in Music I have a degree in both Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science. I wholeheartedly agree with Jeremy, which was more or less our own conclusion earlier today: the common trait of all strong developers is passion and enthusiasm for software development. It's definitely not about being a CS major or certifications. Today I have also read an article from my sponsor in which the author states: that the modern consultant should shift his focus to business- and process knowledge. Of course the consultant still needs information technology specific knowledge.
Martin Fowler calls this
CustomerAffinity. Martin explains CustomerAffinity as the interest and closeness that the developers have in the business problem that software is addressing, and in the people who live in that business world. So I opt for changing the sixth step: do not hire people who not have customer affinity.