As a business unit, we are constantly on the lookout for highly talented, enthusiastic, web obsessed developers, in all the countries where we operate. Highly skilled people who live, breathe and swim in the data stream that is the web. We are having a very hard time finding these people in South Africa.
Let me explain our position. Our team is spread across two countries at the moment – South Africa and Brazil. We recruit in both countries, and I am involved in the recruitment of developers, architects and other technically skilled people in both countries. In this post I specifically want to talk about our experience in South Africa.
Because of the nature of our team, which does research and development work, product development and a host of other activities, we need people who are able to think creatively, who can find work for their own hands and work independently, who have a deep understanding of technology and an ability to learn continuously. We want creative, analytical, independent, idea-producing team players who bleed binary and breathe HTTP. I realise that such paragons of technological excellence are hard to find, anywhere in the world – but we have found a few – you can find their names here. Our requirements are as much personality requirements as they are skills requirements.
So let us consider these things separately – the personality requirement, and the skills requirement. Skills first of all. Although we will employ people without a tertiary education, we prefer university graduates. Why? Simply because having a university degree guarantees that the candidate has been taught the rudimentary principles of analytical thinking. She may also have picked up some useful titbits of information as far as programming goes. University education often indicates a fairly broad exposure to technology – covering more than one kind of operating system, programming language, and basic skills in terms of the software development life cycle. Add a few years of experience to the mix – and a university graduate with a computer science (or related) background starts looking very attractive to us. In one sentence – great programmers, analytic thinkers, creative geniuses.
Next – personality. We want independent thinkers. Out of the box innovators. People who speak up, ask questions, and leave others blinded by the light. We want people who produce as many ideas as the produce code modules. People who are not intimidated by excellence. OK – you get the picture.
So – our situation in South Africa. Over the past couple of years, I have interviewed dozens of candidates. And we came up blank almost every time. Yes – we found some rock-stars, but they are extremely scarce. And yes – our standards are high. The problem is that the candidates we see tend to fall into one of four, sometimes overlapping, categories:
- Enterprise oriented. All they know is insurance/banking/retail.No initiative. No real joy in programming. The accountants of the software development world. (Or economists if you, dear reader, is an accountant – no offence intended).
- Script kiddies. Zero education, zero in-depth knowledge of programming (do you know what an interface is ? ….um, I have heard of them, but never used them….)
- In it for the money. These are the ones who went “into computers” because there is money to be made.
- Rock stars. This category does not overlap with any of the previous categories. And it is a virtually empty category in South Africa.
Which brings me to the question – WHY is this last category so empty? And believe me – I have been involved with a number of organisations, stretching from the Far East to Latin America, and many bits in-between – in certain (not all) countries there are a great many more rock stars. South African developers perform very poorly in our interviews – some because they do not meet the skills requirement, but the majority because they do not meet the personality criteria. The people we interview too often fall into one or more of the first three categories I listed above.
Why is this? Is there some sort of mystical cultural influence that pre-disposes South Africans to look for secure, routine, stable work? Is the web too alien for South Africans? Do South Africans not see “programming” as a profession?
My personal belief is that the average programmer in South Africa is pre-disposed towards Enterprise type work – both by training and inclination. And this is precisely because that type of work offers stability and routine, without being too taxing. Do not misunderstand me – I am not criticising this mode of work, although I am bemoaning the lack of suitably skilled programmers in South Africa: it makes my life a lot more difficult.
We would like feedback from our readers on this. John is busy creating a post that will explore this theme further. But in the meantime – let’s start the discussion. And if you believe you are the rock star we need…why don’t you d me on twitter, state your case, and we can set up an interview.
Look out for part 2, later this week.
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