👉 Agencies need to start prioritizing hiring entry level developers. 👈

It’s no secret that there are a surplus of entry level developers who are becoming disheartened with how difficult it is to find a job in the web industry. Months of job searching, 6 round interview processes, a take home challenge, pairing with a potential employer only to be passed over by someone with marginally more experience. It’s a frustrating time to try and find your way into our industry.

Capable agencies need to recognize the gold mine of talent that exists out there and start hiring these people. There’s a fear from a large portion of leadership teams that hiring a junior dev will cost too much. They fear that their high performers will have their time eaten up by these juniors, and productivity will go down. But [this] [is] [false].

It’s been shown that an effective mentorship program can increase job satisfaction, investment in the company, and ultimately productivity. The shared learning experiences by both mentor and mentee prove to be invaluable and help to foster a culture of continuous learning and collaboration.

There’s a few fundamental things that need to change in the industry for us to truly see the change we need to help reduce the massive backlog of talent that is going unused.

🔴 We need to stop prioritizing formal education or experience when hiring entry level developers.

🟢 Instead we need to start prioritizing enthusiasm in the field and an eagerness to learn. This is far more valuable than a bootcamp certificate. Prioritizing these soft skills will lead to employees willing to grind because you gave them a chance.

🔴 We need to stop writing job descriptions for juniors that include responsibilities that mid level developers wouldn’t even qualify for

🟢 Instead we need to start hiring based on the fundamentals of the web, and stop asking for juniors who know how to “hello world” fifteen different frameworks. Give me someone who has a solid understanding of HTML and Accessibility over someone who has obscure knowledge of a niche framework that was dictated to them by a bootcamp who churns through students just to collect their tuition.

🔴 We need to stop wasting human beings time by requiring them to complete a take home project to “assess their skills”

🟢 Instead we need to start talking to people about their process and how they approached their exisiting projects. Encourage them to explain how they solved a complex issue, or how they worked within a team to complete a project in a set amount of time. Look at something they’ve already worked hard to produce and stop trying to get some weird quasi free labor out of people who are in their fourth round of interviews with another company.

There’s a mutually beneficial way forward for agencies, startups and multi billion dollar companies alike, and it all boils down to reassessing how we foster talent within our industry. Start working towards reacquainting ourselves with the open, accessible, and equitable place that the web can be.

What is your company doing to help foster mentorship and collaboration? Share with the community the positives that you see in the world so we can bring awareness and appreciation for the positives that are out there!