But what good is talent without experience? And what good is experience without talent? Finding the balance is very difficult. I see loads of companies looking to hire experienced people. You get the question all the time from friends, your boss or family: “I’m looking for a very experienced developer, do you know anyone?”. Experienced developers are usually not available, so I suggest hiring newly educated people. “No way, they’re no good!”. But why???
I don’t understand why so many companies close their eyes, and do the ordinary. And what is the ordinary, anyway? In my opinion it is the exact opposite of innovation. Innovation can be achieved when you disappear from your daily routines and best practices – turn off your brain and try something really stupid. But most experienced people are too obsessed with their own pride that they will never be able to do that. They write off the unknown before it’s even thought of, let alone tried! Who the heck came up with the idea of placing barrels of water, in front of all the junctions on the highway? I don’t know – but to me this is pure innovation. Solving problems in a new, simple and cheap manner… We need people who has no experience, and hold the ability to ask the stupid questions, and come up with new ideas. We need virgins – as I read in David Platt’s book, called Why Software Sucks.
In my opinion, companies neglecting to hire newly educated people, are cannibalizing the entire educational eco-system! Their current staff needs fresh thoughts and new ways of doing their every day tasks in order to learn. If they don’t learn, your company doesn’t learn, nor evolve. You grow old, and die like a dinosaur. Experienced, but rather stupid and primitive.
Not only do companies avoid hiring newly educated people. Furthermore, they “box” employees. By “boxing” I mean making boundaries, and restricting people to their area of responsibility and expertise. People are different, and therefore all people don’t necessarily play well with office hours, or open space office environments. I’ve discovered that I work best in new and changing environments, like in the train with lots of people, at the airport waiting for my flight or in a hotel room. Will the ever evolving mobile computer and 3G internet connection enable this to work on a daily basis? Could you work five days a week on your way from New York to London – to Tokyo and to San Francisco? Now you’re thinking I’m being either stupid or naive? But isn’t that what innovation is about?
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