Posted by rloving78 on August 3, 2015 at 2:39pm
We've been trying to fill this position since May. Talented senior Drupal experts are so hard to recruit. Why is that?
https://jobs.drupal.org/general-dynamics-health-solutions/job/10384
Why is it difficult to find a Drupal Manager?
Comments
The j.d.o listing's title is
The j.d.o listing's title is 'Principle Programmer.' It then goes on to list a bunch of job duties, none of which are 'programming' until the last three bullet points.
The listing really wants one person for four roles: Software architect, project leader, devops/QA engineer, security expert. You'd think General Dynamics could afford to hire at least two people for these four roles... :-)
This listing says, in essence: We want someone who will lead the Drupal-oriented team, do all the architecting, make all the decisions, and leverage whatever skills the team has, but you're disqualified if you don't know gitzilla. Also you must have certifications we won't bother to list here.
So it's vague. And because it's vague, it must be considered as set up for failure, because no one at the org knows what their expectations are for the new hire, and thus no one knows what the expectations are for the Drupal-oriented project(s).
So therefore no one applies, because who wants that?
Solution: Decide on the one important role and send out a listing for that one role. Probably project manager. Give a ballpark pay range so people can figure out if the responsibility is worth it to them. List the types of projects with some degree of specificity because that information helps people imagine what they'll be doing day in and day out.
Then give the project manager the latitude to approve the listings for the next hires that will make up their team.
HTH.
You're asking for Jesus to walk in the door
Casting a wide net, hoping for Jesus:
I've counseled friends to apply to job postings like these, that ask for the kitchen sink and the moon, because someone who has 50% or more will be assessed as a potential human-development project the company might want to take on and train for the rest.
Flexibility:
But this job is for the government, which most people will conclude has zero flexibility in its hiring criteria (both qualifications and pay). So that alone will scare away all but exact matches.
Oil and water don't mix:
The ability to walk-on-water set of requirements contains too great a mix of management and technical tasks. People are typically one or the other, not both (maybe was one and is now the other). Very few people have the strong mix of hard and soft skills required here. Having done the traveling consulting thing requiring customer facing skills and technical skills, I can say that I would never want to be managing a team and being in the weeds like you are asking- at the same time!
Mile23 parroting section:
Expanding on Mile23's point about multiple positions in one...
Database and front end work is highly specialized and takes different mental processes to think in sets. I'm more a database guy, and most of the developers I've worked with that don't deep dive into SQL have to stretch to come up with the complicated SQL statements I love to dive into, much less translate a SQL problem into a solution using a database abstraction layer.
Front end work is crazy deep (CSS cross browser and mobile issues, etc.), so as a database guy, I've given up trying to be an expert on front end stuff. There is just too much to learn in both camps to be even half-way good at either.
Ditto with QA. QA is an art form. You want a specialist. I'll go out on a limb and say that unless you have a penchant for QA you find doing QA, well, arduous. Look at the QA Driven Development topic and the fact that it's been talked about for decades and still isn't universally used. QA a Kool-aid of a different sort.
Security certification. Again, another HUGE specialty that is a full time job to stay on top of. If your certification is current (very much less valuable if not), then I wonder how much time you can really allocate to other skills.
System Design is yet another specialty. I've written lots of specs. It's a full time job when in the full throws. And if as I suspect in gov't work you need to maintain the specs as the scope creeps and the API's churn, you're looking at a full time job keeping documents current.
Oh, and you want a math wizard?
Need to prioritize:
Most smart people can work through most issues, but will be inefficient in areas they are not solid at. You have to decide which responsibilities are more important, and your listing needs to indicate where you are willing to compromise on requirements, biasing one (management, database, front-end, security) over the other. You really do need to create multiple positions for all of this.
Where's the beef?:
There is no way someone who has even half the requirements met would be lacking for work, so without enticements (high dollars, treats in the workplace, flexible hours, work-from-home, great culture, advancement opportunities, hiring bonus and/or killer government pension - wait you said contract? - foged aboud it) why bother inquiring?
Talent pool in vicinity:
Finally, the location forces a draw on a smaller pool of talent (Tacoma, WA and just north of Tacoma, maybe up into Kent, BIG maybe on Renton which draws to Seattle, and then down south to Olympia). Given the traffic nightmares on I-5 heading South especially near the base, it is an extra ask for a Seattle person.
SS
The job description is...
...seriously specific. With all those requirements, I'm not surprised at the limited response. Windows IIS and Linux, PHP and Java, analysis and architecture... this listing isn't for a human, it's for a Unicorn.
Concur with other commenters
You're asking for an almost completely implausible combination of skills.
Plus: I'm pretty sure the position title is wrong. The text says "Principal Programmer", which makes sense, but the title is listed as "Principle Programmer", which doesn't make sense and as a detail-oriented person, doesn't give a good impression of the organization. In the same way that you'd be especially skeptical of a resume with typos, I'm skeptical of a job posting with typos.
What's in it for me?
The job posting is just a list of all the things you want and doesn't talk about what you're offering.
What kind of pay range are you budgeting for this position? What about vacation, health insurance, commuting allowance, etc.? Would I receive an allowance for continuing education and certifications? Would I get an office, a cubicle, or just a seat at a big communal table? Is telecommuting an option? Is it a fun place to work? Is it a nice office? Is there a concern for work/life balance or are we looking at 60+ hour weeks? What does a typical week look like? (The sense I get is about 50% meetings, 25% planning/writing, 20% server administration, and 5% coding -- is that about right?)
It sounds like you're looking for a successful, senior-level person who probably has a good job already. How can you entice them to leave that job and come work with you?
Is it a fun place to work?
It's a giant defense contractor. I think it's safe to assume no. ;)
As someone who wears many hats...
I agree 100% with all the comments in this thread. I tend to wear many hats in our small firm. I manage projects and am very client-facing in my day-to-day communications. However, I do not have a computer science degree. My degree was in enviro science from UW, but I have picked up on Drupal (online course and work experince) and have become very engaged with development. Though, I really enjoy the project management side, but if you were to ask me to manage git repo, web servers, write SQL statements, etc... I'd be looking for a job that paid me $150K and I doubt a government contract is going to pay one person that salary.
I've seen this time and time again. Job postings that are so specific and want a "unicorn" (as rositis said above) that it is a wonder how any companies hire people. We have some senior developers and junior developers alike. We've brought on junior developers who have a good base set of skills, then we are willing to train them. Since Drupal has the steep learning curve, it can be difficult to find employees that have all the skills needed and wrap that with a pretty bow.
I can see having the project leader (or Drupal scrum master) manage projects and also do some of the QA (as I tend to do), but if it is a large Drupal project and a government contract, probably best to have one person only do the QA. As others have said, QA is arduous and VERY time consuming. We tend to use Behat behavior-driven development framework. But, during the planning, even drawing up those scenarios can be time consuming, even though the testing process is automated.
Also, government jobs are a pain to even get an interview with. I don't know why anyone would want to jump through all those hoops. I gave up years ago after I painfully realized this. I agree with all of the others on this posting: break up the posting into separate roles and go from there. You'll have much better luck finding the right person who has those specific skills to fit that particular role.
Good luck!
-Don
Don Dill
Client Services/Project Manager, Freelock
Web Sites That Make Your Organization Run Better
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don@freelock.com
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