Are Software Developers the Football Stars of the Tech World?

As the World Cup gets into full swing in Brazil this week, we ask “Are software developers the football stars of the tech world?”

When looking for talent you want the biggest and the best; correct? The football fans in the office have noticed a striking similarity between the demands of the tech world for developer talent and the demands for champion footballers from the football world.

Galactico superteams or super rich football clubs offer high salaries to secure the top talent to play for their teams and win the leagues. In a similar fashion big corporate companies are pushing up the price for software developers by offering top salaries to secure this increasingly scarce talent. This problem derives from the skills gap where companies are faced with taking on talent which is under invested in, requiring training and development in order for them to grow. Instead they find a quick fix, fill their immediate vacancies and complete their projects by paying premium price for a ready made developer to come in and do the job. We have found that many companies would rather recruit talent which has already been trained up by somebody else than invest in the long term development of talent.

The problem with pinching talent from one another is that very often it is the company who offers the highest salary tends to win the battle for the talent. Large corporate companies who can offer large salaries and benefits packages to candidates can easily promote their team as the most beneficial to their career. Not to mention bigger budgets to market their recruitment process and attract candidates.

Much like the English Premiership where the superstar teams can hoover up all the football talent, but is the biggest always the best? Does it necessarily guarantee success or career satisfaction?

Is the grass always greener on the other pitch? For Footballers and for developers – is moving for money always going to be all its cracked up to be?

My question is if you’re a talented developer are you content to be a well-paid bit-part player – making appearances from “the bench” or do you want to be the team’s star player? How do you find a balance of which team to play for? Similarly, once you’ve “signed” for one of the “big clubs”, where do you go from there?

Will working for the biggest and most well known company mean that your individual contributions and talents are going to be celebrated and recognised? Or will these be swallowed up and underappreciated? Working for the larger corporate is like playing for the superstar team meaning that you may not necessarily get to be the ‘star’ player and have your winning contribution recognised.

On the flip side to this, developers who have the opportunity to join small start up teams can benefit the same way football players would joining a smaller team. I can’t necessarily speak for footballers but for developers what we have found is that it isn’t money that drives them to seek out new challenges, but the opportunity to continue learning and developing their career. The opportunity to widen their experience and the excitement of creating something wonderful with code is what really motivates them.  Companies who want this talent try to buy it by offering the highest salary but this isn’t going to feed their curiosity or keep developers around for long.  They must offer much more and this is where start ups are unrivalled. The opportunity for growth, focussed training and development and the chance to shine can be much greater in the smaller, agile and innovative start ups. It is here that career progression can be achieved, learning opportunities are much greater and your contributions can really make a difference.

In many larger firms we have seen management struggle to reward and encourage their employees. If they have already paid them so much to begin with, a pay rise is not going to seem very significant. They must offer other tangible benefits of working at their company to entice developers and reinforce employee growth and development in the same way start ups can.

Are you a developer in today’s competitive industry? How do you achieve a balance of finding the right team to play for?

We’d love to hear your thoughts on what matters most to you when you’re looking for a new role, or what would tempt you. Is it all about money? Or is training, career progression, the quality of project, or something else, the main draw?

Speaking of draw – email us with your thoughts – hello@enigmapeople.com and the lucky winner gets a mystery prize!

Let’s play! Brazil Names – If you played for Brazil what would your name be?

For the latest software developer vacancies, news and updates follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter@enigmapeople

6 Ways a Recruiter Can Help Your Job Search

So a recent survey tell us that most of us are happy in our jobs, however for a third of those surveyed, a new job would still be very welcome. With the economy picking up pace and nearly half of UK of technology firms looking to hire additional staff over the next year, now is the perfect time to be thinking about your options.

If you are wondering how a recruiter can help you in your job search, here are 6 of the most important reasons:

1. Market Information and Industry Knowledge

Recruiters can offer expert advice on the jobs market, trends and other knowledge a candidate wouldn’t necessarily know. They can give impartial advice on roles and companies, as well as the most common lies to look out for in job descriptions.

2. Salary Information

Recruiters understand what’s available in the marketplace for your skill set, what salary levels should be and can also advise that salaries advertised are not always necessarily what can be expected.

This is an important factor when considering roles and when it comes to an offer, recruiters can negotiate salary and benefits on your behalf.

Having said that, it is important to understand that salary is not the end all and be all when considering a new role and we advise that the whole package – opportunity, career progression and training & development should always be considered also.

3. Streamlining CV’s/ Cover Letters

Recruiters can expertly assess your CV and advise you on how to best sell yourself to your potential new employer. The Enigma Guide to writing your CV is your step by step guide to what works and how to get yourself noticed by recruiters and by the clients you wish to work with.

People often underestimate the importance of cover letters and Enigma People Solutions Director David Mains firmly believes that a good cover letter is the number one way to differentiate yourself. Skills Development Scotland website has some of our very helpful cover letter advice on their My World of Work website.

4. Interview Tips and Techniques

Not sure how to conduct yourself at an interview or you feel your interview skills are a little rusty? A recruiter can help put you at ease and ensure you come across as professional and as confident as possible. Recruiters often know which hiring manager will be conducting the interview and are best placed to give you advice on how to impress. We have put together a list of essential interview tips to get you started…

5. Unadvertised Vacancies

Clients who advertise their vacancies through recruiters very often limit where else these vacancies are advertised. That means recruiters have exclusive access to roles you other wise wouldn’t know of or be able to find. As a matter of fact, a recent survey of software developers (the highest salary earners in the UK) revealed that recruiters are the number one way they learned about new opportunities and that nothing ranks higher than recruiters for new job information.

6. Match Making

Like I have said before – choosing the right recruitment consultancy is like choosing a dating agency.

Finding your perfect match becomes a breeze, no more wasting your time searching high and low to make your dreams come true. Whether you are looking for a new permanent move or a contract, you can place your trust in professional capable hands and allow recruiters to match your skills, experiences and personality with your perfect role with the perfect employer.

Enigma People Solutions has been recruiting since 2004 and winning the following awards along the way:

Nominated Best Small Recruitment Company 2012

Runner-Up Best Small Recruitment Company 2013

Nominated Best Small Recruitment Company 2014

IT Recruitment Agency of The Year 2008 & 09

Recruitment Company of the Year 2009

Executive Search Agency of the Year 2010

Nominated – Best Small Recruitment Agency 2013

Best Niche Agency 2012

Best Regional Agency 2012

Recruitment Consultancy of the Year 2012

If you are looking for a new job in the technology sector then get it touch! To keep up to date with the latest industry news and company updates follow Enigma People Solutions on LinkedIn and Twitter @enigmapeople.com

The Enigma Weekly Roundup| 2nd May 2014

We bring you the best technology, business and digital news from the past 7 days:

• Thank you, Basic: Developers Remember 50 Years of Creative Coding
• UK Tech Sector Eyes Hiring Spree in 2014
• Cisco Invests in UK Internet of Things Startup Evrythng
• LinkedIn Shares Fall on Weak Outlook
• The 25 Tech Companies Hiring The Most Right Now
• Over Half of Software Developers Think They’ll Be Millionaires
• Google Shifts Talent Away From Google+ Platform and Focuses on Android 
• Amazon’s Competitors Start to Take Developers Seriously
• Samsung Galaxy K Zoom Announced Featuring Professional-Grade Camera
• Digital Marketing Budgets to Rise by 10% in 2014
• Snapchat Adds IM and video calls
• Facebook Launches Anonymous Login So You Can Try Apps Without Giving Up Your Data
• Candidates Hired With ‘Passive Recruitment’ Methods Stay in Role 21% Longer
• Google+ Boss Vic Gundotra Quits After Eight Years
• Cyber Attacks Cost UK’s Large Organisations Average £1m Per Attack
• Life in 3D Symposium @ Edinburgh Uni on 7th May

For the latest news and updates follow Enigma People Solutions on LinkedIn and Twitter @enigmapeople.com

[INTERVIEW] Phil Leggetter on Developing, Contracting and Evangelising

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!