Making the Leap from Developer to Development Recruiter

The development landscape is nothing short of immense. From PHP to Java, SQL to Oracle, AngularJS to ReactJS – the different languages and technologies (not to mention the different versions of each) are incredibly vast.

On top of that, this already vast landscape is ever-changing. Such is the pace of this change, it can be difficult for a developer actively working in the industry to keep up with the latest trends and figure out the best path to facilitate personal and company growth. So you can imagine how hard it is for those who sit somewhat on the industry’s periphery – including human resources staff and external recruiters – to determine the right fit for a development team.

I started out my working life (not all that long ago) in web development, mainly working with ASP.NET (using VB.NET) and developing WordPress sites. I’ve always been interested in technology and development, and have always loved to read and discover what’s new in that world. However, as a lot of developers will understand, it’s one thing to be interested in new technologies and trends; it’s quite another to be in a position where you can introduce them into your projects. Despite being quite innovative, the sites and applications my team and I worked on were written using outdated technologies. The reality? All we could do was work to catch up.

After four years in the industry, I decided to move away from being a web developer and entered the world of IT recruitment with Rowben Consulting. One of the things I love about this role is the company’s focus on team specialisations. It’s given me a rare chance to be a specialist within the development space and put my skills to work in a completely different way. In speaking with companies and individual developers on a daily basis, I get to see the development trends and shifts that I could previously only read about actually manifesting in the development world. In recruiting talent to give effect to these new technologies, I get to be at the forefront of the industry. Meanwhile, my direct industry experience helps me to really understand the skill-set required by a top-notch developer and identify the right talent.

This year will be no exception to the development trend of constant evolution. I'm looking forward to working with companies and developers in 2017 to help build the best teams to go into this new year of change and growth. It’ll be exciting to see where it leads.

Jordan Farbridge – 2017