DeveloperGap

Training. Continuous training.

a culture that encourages continues knowledge acquisition and sharing amongst different organizational groups.

@ab415 Yes! Purposeful training. Not just trawling Stack Overflow for random tips.

Giving developers enough time to learn, both about technical skills and the business problems they are working to help solve

@MassHaste +1 on Culture.

honestly I don't think there's a SINGLE approach. Focus on outcomes, remove barriers, and iterate.

need to give dev's time and resources to experiment as part of their job

@rseroter Agreed!

Excite developers by making it clear there is a strong path forward and marketable skills with the platform and tooling

Start with an honest assessment of your current state. (Blame-free, of course.)

@ab415 yes, but different than traditional. The "on the job" model (ie pairing at Pivotal) coupled with the more formal training is the best approach. devs need to understand how to apply what they have learned.

@vmtyler Completely agree. Stop assuming techies learn just in free time. Provide guilt-free windows to learn.

@spgreenberg +1 - training without practice is a futile endeavor

Use what works in kindergarten; never underestimate the value of a gold star sticker.

one of the other big gaps we see is data prowess - so collaboration processes are key to closing that gap

@spgreenberg I agree with @jmckenty - it requires all types of approaches. So, not just a single training model.

@MassHaste I hear those are a rare breed. Nice mic drop.

for ex: data scientists, data engineers, QA people & biz people using data - how to use, data quality, etc - culture of collaboration is the key

people learn by doing, focus on the outcome and let people do the work, the skills will come

@MassHaste @cloudfoundry and not being afraid to hire and train good talent, as opposed to searching in vain

@ab415 agreed. culture of learning. solving real problems. learning through collaboration.

. @Kennjason hire for the ability to learn, not the ability to do.

@edsai it's not easy or cheap, which is why it's not often heard about. But companies that see training-as-an-investment are usually the ones with best prepared workforce.

@jmckenty completely agree... technical skills have a window of value, and that window continues to decrease as the industry changes

People learn differently and no one way is proven best, so org must be open to many ways to 'enlighten' software developers

organizations that prioritize learning win big here. It's not easy to do that, though. @littleidea gave a nice talk about building continuous improvement-centric orgs https://www.youtube....

It really, really, really depends.

both

It's natural to start with something familiar, but that can also accidentally blind you to better things!

@MassHaste if you hired correctly (learners) then technologies are tools...

Picking a technology based on your available skills can be a little like a carpenter trying to use a hammer to paint a wall

evaluate the latest avail - if you limit to existing skills you rarely expand - sharp people are excited to learn and expand their knowledge - give them the opportunities and they will

Our CTO generally starts with what's the outcome you desire then maps the tech to the problem

I agree with @chipchilders. If you hire people that can learn, you can evaluate tech based on its merit rather than current skills of the org

@chipchilders @masshaste goes back to previous question, too as the best way to address gaps is by hiring learners (and letting them do so)

and don't hire people who chase shiny balls all the time or you won't get outcome-based decisions.

evaluate technologies that are leading edge, not bleeding edge. Don't rewrite your CMS in Haskell.

@jmckenty don't judge me

@jmckenty Sure?

@jmckenty To this point, sometimes we chase things JUST because they are new. Don't throw away what you know if it actually solves the problem in the best way.

everyone comes with perspective, no one has time to evaluate everything, find a healthy balance

@littleidea well that gets into the whole constraints are actually a good thing discussion

which also leads to the question of why we reinvent the wheel weekly. Because it's fun solving hard problems.

*no fun

@edsai Just because you can, does not mean you should.

you don't do your organization any favors when technology decisions are all anchored in the past

@rseroter see @spolsky on this http://www.joelonsof...

@ab415 yeah the mobile crowdchat site completely jacked a great point I was trying to make.

@edsai Blaming the technology? :)

@littleidea anchored no but based on lessons learned, yes. No need repeating stupid mistakes we made years ago.