Hello, Phil! First, tell us a bit about who you are and what you do.
My name is Phil Leggetter. I graduated from the University of Stirling back in 2001 with a degree in Software Engineering. Since then I’ve worked for a few companies including Caplin Systems, ESRI, Bigmouthmedia and Pusher. I presently have a permanent role back at Caplin Systems and run my own company, through which I do occasional realtime web consultancy work. I’m fortunate enough to be able to do this via remote working from my garden office in Clackmannanshire.
My last two roles have come under the title of “Developer Evangelist”. I create demos, write tutorials, author screencasts, run workshops, give talks at events, facilitate hackathons, write content for destinations such as Smashing Magazine, .net magazine, on my own blog and have recently co-authored a book (Realtime Web Apps). Companies such as Twilio class this role as marketing – and it probably is – but it’s a technical marketing role with a reasonable amount of development and a hint of product management.
I think my situation reflects a change for a lot of developers who have to be aware of much more than just technical details; they have to market themselves, their applications and in many cases they are the ones being enterprising and running the businesses.
When you first started as a developer, did you relish in contract work or were you always looking for a permanent position?
The market has changed a lot since 2001. Back then I was just pleased to get any job.
Now there’s much more demand for developers from large institutions to individuals looking to hire for technical solutions to problems they have. Not to mention that every company seems to want an “App”.
So the choices when coming out of University – or leaving high school – are contract jobs, permanent jobs or creating and running your own product or service. A lot of University graduates definitely have the skills to do the latter now.
Do you think that contract work is beneficial for developers, or should companies take more people on permanent contracts?
As above, I really think it depends on the individual. Some prefer the apparent security of a permanent role whilst others are confident enough to believe they’ll get contract after contract, along with the associated higher rates to compensate lack of company benefits (holidays, pension contributions etc.).
The problem that I see with permanent roles at the moment is that some of them don’t offer the flexibility and opportunities to learn that different contracting opportunities do. This can be even why developers who are in permanent roles can change their jobs reasonably frequently.
If companies are looking to attract developers into permanent roles then I feel they need to offer flexibility of role, working conditions, location, technology, and plenty of learning opportunities.
Do you feel that the industry is in a position of growth at the moment?
Yes, and it has been for at least the past two years. At almost every event I go to nearly every company will be hiring.
What important developments do you see coming up in software development and the industry?
Mobile and web are going to continue to grow. And more established industries are going to continue the adoption of these technologies along with more recently developed technology platforms. This won’t result in a 100% swing away from established development technologies like .NET and Java, but it will mean that the demand for Ruby and Node.js (JavaScript) developers – and for those with knowledge in open source stacks built on these – will increase in areas outside of the startup scene.
What skills do young developers need to be learning in order to enter a level playing field when starting work?
Based on my experience working for a London Startup for the past couple of years, young developers need to be able to demonstrate that they already know how to build applications. They should have a portfolio of apps and creations; probably in github. The real point here is that it proves they are genuinely interested in programming. The ability to demonstrate an ability to write well structured and tested code is increasingly important and a knowledge of agile working practices can also be very beneficial.
Larger “industry” companies probably put less emphasis on actual creations and still put a high value on certificates and accreditation; diplomas, degrees and awards. But being able to demonstrate you can write reasonable code and follow good practices will also be important.
No matter where you work I think it’s important to have a passion for what you do. Now is a great time to be a developer as you have the opportunity to take a role that will be enjoyable and challenging. I feel it’s a very different playing field from the one I saw when I got my first job.
What are any problems you can see arising that will need to be solved?
I’ve been surprised over the past few years by some very successful contractors that I know moving to permanent roles. However, these developers have both been over 30, have families and have taken highly influential roles within the companies they’ve joined. I do wonder if this is a trend which may result in contractors tending to be younger and permanent employees being older? The only problems with this is that I think there is benefit in having a range of ages within a team and company to ensure different views, experience, influences and ideas are expressed.
In the circles I’ve recently been in there’s no doubt that the good developers are also entrepreneurial. This tends to mean that contracting with a view to building their own company is a strong possibility. For a company to be able to hire these developers they need to offer compelling reasons; an interesting product or service, good working conditions and benefits, and potentially stock options.
With the economy still struggling in places it’s strange to be in the technology bubble where opportunities are aplenty. But, don’t take this for granted as things may change. For now: work hard, be creative, learn, share knowledge and build relationships.
Connect with Phil on Twitter, and remember you can find Enigma People Solutions on Twitter @enigmapeople!
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