Tech Stack is an Integral Part of Any Job Description for Efficient/Effective Recruiting

Along with tech stack, daily tools of the trade are key as well.

Background

It has come up in the past, but as of late, this topic keeps coming up in recent conversations. So, I decided to post my thoughts about it.

In addition to knowing, for a fact, of others that have been through this, I have first-hand experience with the INefficiency of not including the used tech stack and daily tools of the trade with initial discussions or within job descriptions. I was recruited, phone screened, interviewed and hired as a #NodeJs consultant and developer. My being partly to blame, the daily tools of the trade were never covered, and I ended up having to use a Windows machine during my tenure.

To be fair, I have used Windows machines for more than several years in the past, and I loved the experience and truly value it. I have, however, been exclusive to MacBook Pros for several years, and did not want to change back--at least not yet, if ever. Needless to say, my developer experience (#devX) was not the best.

So, what's the big deal?

If tech stack and dev tools are not clarified early on, it is too easy get through the hiring process and ultimately end up wasting precious time, money, and effort for all parties involved.

How so? Basically, onboarding gets unduly stretched, #devX suffers, and a slippery slope of issues can arise.

So, what causes this and how can they be avoided? Please read on...

Productive Tech & Dev Habits

Especially if habits, shortcut keys, operating system (OS) navigation have been well-formed in one platform or tech stack, new hires, notably mid to senior level devs, experience a substantial hiccup in getting acclimated to the project at hand. Less experienced devs would typically be learning most things to begin with, but I would venture to say that even then, they encounter bumps in the road.

Development & Debugging Habits/Skills

As an example, albeit getting back into the old Windows habits is something that we all can do, there will be an obvious "delay" in having to slow down a bit to allow these habits to re-form. Onboarding, therefore suffers some, and hitting the ground running goes out the window. Worst case, an incoming dev has never even worked in the new stack or OS, which substantially adds time to acclimate.

Jack of All Trades, Master of One (or a Few, in Cycles)

Furthermore, if specific dev tools are required in any particular role, jumping to a different tech stack or OS will not only increase onboarding time but could potentially stifle a developer's expertise fortification.

To elaborate, one of the things I get asked by entry level devs is, on what technology/language would I recommend that they focus, given there are so many out there and change daily--literally. I tell them that, in this lightning-fast industry, they need to learn the art of being a "jack of all trades, but a master of one or a few, in cycles". That is to say, in our industry it is important to delve into as many relevant languages & technologies as possible, but always have a focus on one (or a few); for me, this has been #NodeJs for the past several years. I can speak to my allusion to "...in cycles" by also mentioning that previous to #NodeJs, I was focused on ASP.NET/C# for a number of years before that, while delving some into others like Ruby/Rails, Python, etc.

All That Said

I realize that, in reality, tech stacks fluctuate. That is okay. The portion I am addressing in this post is the core tech stack. I agree with @AirStackApp that, "A company's #TechStack is like its central nervous system!" We should be clear about our #techstack; and if we are clear on it, we should be readily able to convey to those we intend on hiring to help us build, maintain, and enhance it!

I know that sometimes job descriptions are written to welcome talented candidates that might have a similar skillset, and an alternate route is to level them up quickly, again, as long as the skillset is similar (e.g. have used AngularJS and applying for a ReactJs role). If this is the case, the slight delay in onboarding is planned for and expected. I would, nevertheless, clearly specify what the designated tech stack and dev tools are, as soon as possible. That way, candidates have a clear roadmap to follow.

Along the same lines, hiring sometimes includes plans to bring in less senior candidates with the expectation that they would grow into the role. Again, just like the above point--which is more for seniors--the expectation is managed and so there would be minimal friction, as long as the designated tech stack and dev tools are known.

Last outlier I want to mention is that sometimes roles can be fluid and planned for change. For example, a role to migrate from .NET to #NodeJs would ultimately be a #NodeJs role. The initial skillset that would be required, however, is .NET. Just wanted to mention that as I have seen that as well. I was on a Delphi to .NET migration team way back in the day.

Recommendations

Recruiting Parties

Having been on the recruiting side of the fence many times, I can appreciate the effort it takes to find that unicorn for your team. I have the following suggestions:

• Ensure that official job descriptions (JD) clearly and distinctly specify the tech stack and day-to-day tools that a particular role will use.
• If the JD does not include it, find out and add an addendum to the JD, even if just within your notes. The key is to communicate it to candidates as early on as possible.
• During initial discussions, reiterate the tech stack and dev tools. Repetitive tactics are important because even if candidates take notes, they will invariably miss a thing here and there.
• Hiring companies, please make use of tools like StackShare to transparently communicate how you work, way ahead of time (highly secure firms aside of course).
• Third party recruiters, make sure that your hiring clients give you the above, whether in a JD, verbally, or in email and the like.
• Ensure that the candidate and designated team members interact (even if virtually), as early on as possible, so that they can hash out any questions or concerns about the role, in terms of the tech stack and dev tools, straight from the horses mouths.

Job Seekers

From "the other side of the table", job seekers basically do the same, just from your perspective.

• Look for tech stack and dev tools within the JD.
• If the JD does not include them, ask the recruiter or professional network colleague about it.
• Reiterate during initial talks to ensure "things have" not "changed" or were mis-represented in the JD.
• If the recruiter to which you are talking does not know, have them find out as soon possible.
• Try to see if the hiring company has a public profile on sites like StackShare. This has the added benefit of doing some research on their #techstack to speak even more intelligently about the work during an interview!
• Push the point of being able to interact with the actual team members with whom you would be working!

Summary

In this 21st century, where job searches are facilitated by machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) paving the way to automated recruiting and job seeking, I think it is safe to say that providing ML systems with and zeroing in on data about tech stack and day-to-day tools is a safe bet, to avoid wasted time, effort, money, and not to mention the potential for bad blood and burned bridges!

Obviously, this is less--but still--impactful for short contracts and substantially detrimental to long contracts and permanent roles. It is, nevertheless and in my opinion, an integral part of recruiting new talent.

Let's make sure we do our recruiting/job-seeking homework, peeps!

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I look forward to reading others' thoughts on this! Please also find my professional site at collaborare.net, blog at blog.javascriptstack.net, and my periodic tweets @monico_moreno!