Why you do not want rockstars as software developers
If you ever make the mistake and go on LinkedIn…wait, that sounded wrong. Lemme try that again.
Ahem…if you ever go on LinkedIn because you’re in search of a new job as a software developer, you may encounter certain companies that say they’re looking for their next rockstar developer in *insert language here*.
I used to be a software developer. I have since turned to music as my main focus and believe me when I say the LAST thing you need in your company is a traditional rockstar.
I grew up listening to a lot of rock music, ranging from older stuff like Led Zeppelin, The Who, Pink Floyd, Queen to somewhat newer stuff back then such as Guns’N’Roses, Metallica, U2, etc. In time, I also grew to love Rise Against and Avenged Sevenfold as bands. And one thing I always liked to do is my research with regards to how these people operated.
Drugs aside, which is a big no-no to any corporation (at least I assume it is), there’s a whole myriad of reasons you wouldn’t want someone like Robert Plant, Axl Rose, or Ozzy or whatever as your employee…
First off, while extremely good at what they do, and while I do admire them for what they have achieved, both musically and…ahem…physically, if any of the rumors regarding these people are true, they’d be a nightmare to manage. Because the minute these people are not the center of attention, the hissy fits are almost guaranteed.
Axl Rose was infamous for this, what with his constant being late at concerts, belittling his band members, all of this culminating with the band literally having to run away from a concert because of some mishaps.
I think it was Keith Moon of The Who who, allegedly, when an employee of the hotel they were staying at, came up and complained about the noise he was making, took a dynamite stick, lit it up, put it in the toilet of his hotel bathroom…and then told that employee that was noise, not his music.
I think it was also Keith Moon who drank some form of horse tranquilizer for some reason. I forget why.
While I am not condoning such activities and would never partake in them, I can’t help but marvel in a somewhat weird admiration at what these people did.
But back to the topic at hand…
When people think rockstars, I don’t know what type of people they imagine, but even though they may have tamed in recent years, these are the people you say you want in your neat office building (or remote office, but we all know people will go back to the office once this is over).
There’s a place where everyone belongs. People from rock and metal bands will not fit into the office no matter how much you try. They might think they do, but they will never be the office person you want them to be. They’ll always want to go do their own thing after work, they’ll never care for what you do or what you know…they’ll just want to come in, do some work, get out, and back to their music.
So please, recruiters…stop this nonsense. Take it from someone who knows both worlds and how they work. You do not want rockstars in your teams, however tame they might be. Rockstars do not function well in sports-team-like environments (because in the end, that’s what a company is, no matter how much you try to convince people that they’re a family…but that’s another rant for another day).
