If you self-identify as a "Python Developer" rather than just a developer, my experience is you probably have a pretty brittle skillset. The stuff you need to know to be a good developer isn't at all dependent on knowing Python... I love Django and have used it for years, for instance, but whenever I see "Django Developer" it's hard not to read it as "Web Developer Who Doesn't Know Any SQL".
However, I know of at least 3 companies in Seattle hiring for a "Senior Django Developer" or "Back-End Python Engineer" or some other long string of modifiers like that right now. They're all small companies, so I don't think you can blame it on HR cluelessness. It seems to be strongly a Seattle thing -- jobs for developers who only know one type of development work, using only one language or framework or whatever. So the real question to me is why are there so many Seattle companies trying to hire a very specific skillset instead of hiring the best developer they can find? Is that what you have to do in this town? Is it just a symptom of the non-Microsoft development world not being very competitive or very big in Seattle? Are there actually good people who self-identify as a "Python Developer" instead of a developer who happens to know Python? I'm sure there are but personally I can't imagine considering a position like that -- too much org chart smell. Good, multitalented people want to work with other good, multitalented people. Nobody wants to work with the kind of developer who has the Python language spec memorized but can't actually get things done, or thinks that because they know framework X or language Y they don't have to know other fundamentals. Or uses a particular tool because they don't know how to do things another way, rather than using it because it's the best tool. Yet the vast majority of Python-related job postings I've seen in Seattle lately have looked like they're intentionally trying to find people with very narrow experience and brittle skillsets. --Casey On Wed, Nov 23, 2011 at 2:45 PM, Mike Orr <[email protected]> wrote: > Semi-related to Jeff's question, I have a question for business > leaders/employers. I've heard from a few quarters recently that it's > hard to find experienced Python programmers: most of them have > existing jobs they don't want to leave, and so projects go unfulfilled > because managers can't find experienced ("senior") Python programmers > to do them. (Of course, often the jobs require other specialized > skills alongside Python, so that narrows it further.) I've heard that > this is mainly Google's fault: that Google has been hiring so many > Python programmers it has caused a hole in the industry. I've also > heard that "we" (the Python community) should do something about this > -- i.e. get more CS types to learn Python in college -- otherwise > employers will start turning away from Python because they can't find > enough programmers. > > How much of this is true? Have you been able to find Python people > easily or with a moderate amount of effort? If not, what can or should > we, SeaPIG, do about it? > > -- > Mike Orr <[email protected]> >
