Recruiting for privilege

Recently I was in a conversation with a few friends, the topic being a challenge we all face, recruiting to high growth technology organizations. It’s a broad, complex messy subject and really, we didn’t solve any problems. But one thing that came up forced me to pause, think and realize how I myself have changed over the last few years.

“Is it reasonable to expect that a (jr) developer or tester spend time educating themselves in their spare time?”

I have to confess that for most of my working life my answer to this would have been “Hell yeah”. Truthfully I didn’t view those not spending much of their time away from working “honing their craft” as serious, professional, dedicated. Code is not only art and craft, it’s a way of life.

It’s the same underlying assumption that made us collectively delude ourselves into memes like “GitHub is the only CV you need”.

We can call this “The Real Programmer” delusion. Because that’s how I’ve come to view it. Now let me be perfectly clear, I’m still one of these people. I study, create, tinker, practice.. I write code for fun, enjoyment and to hone my skills. I do so on my free time. It’s a hobby that gives me much joy.

THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH WRITING CODE OUTSIDE OF WORK.

But I no longer consider it, by far, a reasonable expectation in a hiring context.

What changed?

I came to realize that a expectation of sustained free labour was a horrible criterion. It dawned on me that it’s ideas like this one that’s responsible for much of the mess we’re in. I’ve now come to view that view as symptomatic for the brokenness of tech.

So what do I think follow from that expectation?

It excludes anyone not in various ways privileged enough to have substantial free time that can be spent practicing or contributing, for free. That excludes a whole lot of people that aren’t young and from fairly well off backgrounds. It excludes those with other hobbies and/or families. It’s an expectation that essentially forces emotional and household labour to be taken up by a significant other.

What seems like selecting for “passion” ends up being selecting for privilege. Also to use “passion” as the instrument to say I’ll pay you for 8 hours but I expect you to put in 12 … well that’s just underhanded.

Now, those that have the possibility and drive to put in the extra hours will have an advantage. Given they invest the time wisely they’re likely to rise quicker, achieve more and get further or arrive at some given proficiency earlier.

But we can’t build sustainable and reasonable cultures on the expectation of that. We need to face up to the reality of a working day, if properly structured can contain much of the learning opportunities we all need to move forward and learn. And by moving the responsibility for that learning to happen back to where it belong we all stand to benefit.

Our work is knowledge work. Our job is learning. We need to embed opportunities to learn in the way we develop software, the ways we collaborate and make it a natural part of our day.

That’s the only way we can begin fixing the issues we’re facing. From diversity to burn-out. The real kicker? It benefits us all, even if you’re like me, one of those people that has “taken self-improvement” into your own hands. Think how great we could all become if our potential was grown not every evening, but every *day*.

But Passion!?

So how about passion then? And what about those “8–17” or “nine-to-five” folks? Isn’t putting in the extra effort, going the extra mile, the true sign of passion?

No.

I’m just as passionate about my profession as I ever was and I’m convinced there’s more than enough room in 8 hours to both develop and grow. To truly, deliberately practice is a gruelling activity, it’s not fun and it’s not something you can do over prolonged periods. It requires rest & recuperation, it requires a fresh mind.

At least, that’s what the science says and my experience thankfully aligns. In order for me to wake up and go to work bringing my A-game. To be able to dig in and truly figure stuff out rather than going by rote. I need to be rested, I need to have balance.

I think that’s true for most people.

What the meme of the midnight oil burning, all-night-pushing ever productive coder ought to signal, apart from being a reflection of our love for lone hero mythology, is that many environments are not conducive to learning, does not provide a challenge. It’s also virtue signalling, it’s taking what’s actually a joyous delight and trying to frame it as something moral.

Because let’s be honest. Most of us that code in the evenings do so for pleasure, for the want to create. It’s seldom deliberate, intent filled, practice session. This is analogous the difference between playing music because you enjoy it and real practice. It’s the difference between training for performance vs exercise for health and enjoyment.

If we truly want to recruit for passion we ought to focus on the will and inclination, the habit and drive, to get up each morning discontent with how things are pouring energy into changing things and improving. Given a reasonable environment, 8 hours ought to be more than enough to walk away exhausted. True passion then prioritize self-care, knowing that it’s consistent effort over time that matters. Not that spikes of furious effort and heroics aren’t useful. They are, and at times they’re necessary. But passion gets up each morning, goes to work and realizes that the journey continues tomorrow. Passion arrives rested. Passion takes the long view.

Recruiting for “hacks the night” is selecting for “people like me”, and while sharing hobbies is a great way to have something to converse about it’s a folly to believe it’s anything else than the comfort of being surrounded by those “like you”.