The Skill issue, the industry shame

I was reading Jason’s blog when I came across this post. I could not agree more.

Way too many times I bump into problems that can be traced directly to the idea that you can hire just anyone, with any skill level and they will perform to the expected level of professionalism. This is pure bulls#%&!

Some time ago (just before the bubble burst in 1999) a company I was familiar with was hiring QA people just because they knew how to boot Windows. Yeah right! Way to go!

We also see the same with people putting together teams that behave like a set of individuals all pushing in different directions because “anyone” can be a manager! Stop believing in magic. You don’t get a high performing team if you don’t have a proper leader in the team (the leadership can be shared BTW, no need for a “hero”, in fact that’s sometimes worse). Start coaching the team and them make them understand how to work together!

If we put these two things together: hiring coders and testers that have no skill, and promoting people to leadership position that have no leadership skills what do you get? You got it: our software industry!

Can you believe it! This type of behavior and belief is rampant in our industry. Small wonder that we will be seeing lots of people being laid off in the near future…

PS: if you are smart and really good at what you do (testing or coding), you are better of these days starting your own consulting company, charging bucket loads of money and getting out of there once you are fed up with the local incompetence!