Back last year, there was a job advert placed on the London.pm list. It caused a bit of a furore at the time, and I still can't see why. The company is exceptionally reputable in the Perl world, and features many distinguish London.pm'ers. So you can be pretty much guaranteed to be working alongside some very talented people. However, the job ad asked that 'the candidate should have released several useful CPAN modules'. Now personally I would have worded it slightly differently, to imply that the candidate should have contributed on an Open Source project, or be a CPAN author, but the original statement would still have me interested. Unfortunately it raised a few hairs on necks for some, as they took issue with the statement. The word 'should' implies that it's a nice to have, but it also gives a good clue as to the type of person they are looking. If every decent job advert was as insightful, it would make life a lot easier trying to find the right job in amongst the dross.
The other thing that impressed me about that statement, was the fact they were thinking about whether you can do the job. A couple of people ranted about having degrees, and while I have no experience of what University is like now, when I was at Coventry Polytechnic, the computer degree course was very much aimed at students who wanted to become analysts and technical arthitects, rather than regular coders and sysadmins. As such, when 3 of us got asked whether we'd like to transfer to the degree from the HND after the first year, I was the only one to decline. I love to code, I've been doing it for over 23 years now, and the thought of getting a job where I wasn't able to code didn't appeal. Now I'm fully aware that computing degrees have changed in the last 15 years, and there is much more mathematical theory and the like. But anyone like myself who sees 'Must have a degree' in a job advert, must balk at the blinkers employers put on themselves. There have been many great programmers I've worked with who haven't done a degree, and while I may not be a great programmer, I'd consider myself I decent programmer and certainly one worthy of applying for jobs that require a degree. And I guess that makes the difference. I apply for jobs that sound interesting and mean I get to work with people who I can learn from. I guess if you get so upset about a 'would like' statement in a job advert, then you need to ask yourself whether you are they type of the person the company are looking for? It's not just about your qualifications, it's whether you think you're good enough and fit the character they want.
The reason I bought this up, is that over Christmas I was introduced to a young lad who finished his degree last year and is still struggling to find a job. All credit to him, as he is willing to start at the bottom and learn. He has applied for several jobs where he's been turned down for being over qualified, and others where he doesn't have the experience. I would suspect if the right company gave him a chance, he'd shine. I really wish there was a company, like the one I haven't mention, here in the midlands. In fact I wish there were several, as it would mean all the quality staff get the chance to be even better. Although he hasn't been involved in the Open Source community he has been involved in projects where the code has been given away, and has the right attitude to programming IMO. He does it because he loves it. Generally, you get more from those type of people. Like the people who write really useful CPAN modules :)
