It’s no secret that finding and retaining top talent is a significant challenge for companies. As the demand for skilled developers continues to rise, many organizations struggle to attract and retain experienced developers. As a result, they may be tempted to settle for subpar talent, leading to poor project outcomes.

 

If you pay peanuts, you’ll get monkeys

The phrase “pay peanuts – get monkeys” is a common saying that highlights the importance of investing in quality resources to achieve the desired results. This phrase can be applied to various fields, including the tech industry, where the quality of the workforce directly impacts the success of a project.

However, a limited budget must not necessarily mean that you cannot hire a good developer. You may still be able to find someone who can solve your problem, but perhaps not full-time.

If you have, let’s say, 3000€ / month to spend, you might want to consider bringing in a freelancer for 500€/ day twice a week, instead of hiring a junior full-time.

 

 

Experienced developers are often freelancers

Some companies still believe that full-time, permanent employment is the only way to go.

If you do so, you may miss out on some great talent:

Many experienced developers choose to work as freelancers or contractors instead of being tied down to a single company. Freelancing provides them with the flexibility to work on multiple projects, choose their work hours, and negotiate their rates. This freedom also allows them to maintain a healthy work-life balance while still earning a handsome income. 

 

Good luck with finding onsite talent

Another way to make finding suitable talent very challenging is to require your team to work onsite. This will automatically restrict your search to the local area, which obviously limits the available talent pool. 

One reason why remote work is on the rise is simple math:

By increasing the search radius, companies can significantly expand the pool of potential candidates.

For example, if a company practically only searches for talent within a 10 km radius (for example by requiring presence in the office each day), they are limiting their search to a circle with a surface area of 314.16 km². By increasing the search radius to 50 km (for example by requiring 1 day in the office/ week), the surface area of the circle already increases to 7,853.98 km², which is over 25 times the initial search area. 

Now imagine stretching it to all time zones within the EMEA* region! 

*Europe, Middle East, Africa

 

5-legged sheep don’t exist – neither do system architects who want to be people managers

The list of requirements in some job descriptions reads like a wishlist sent to Santa Claus.

But just like Santa Claus or 5-legged sheep, candidates who tick 15-20 boxes on the list do not exist.

Many skills can be learned easily based on existing knowledge (a Symfony developer will easily learn Laravel), but some requirements simply don’t match! 

Finding a system architect who can also handle people management may prove very difficult. System architects are responsible for designing and implementing complex software systems, and their expertise is critical to the success of a project. However, not all system architects are cut out for people management, which requires a very different set of skills. 

It’s essential to acknowledge that not all skill sets are interchangeable, and it’s essential to find the right person for the right job.