Event Preview: Beating The Tech Talent Shortage
By Matt Pillar, chief editor
October 12, I’ll be on stage at ISV Insights : Philadelphia moderating panels about building a reseller channel and overcoming the tech talent shortage. The seats on the stage will be occupied by leading software execs ready to offer deep insight into how they’ve done both.
Go-to-market strategy is important, no doubt. Ensuring you’re staffing the development talent required to get a product ready for market is fundamental. It’s also very challenging. Good software developers aren’t exactly hurting for work – the unemployment rate for the profession hovers somewhere slightly north of one percent.
This week, I had a few minutes to catch up with talent acquisition specialist Jeff Harvey, who will be joining us on the panel—for a sneak preview of some thoughts he’ll be sharing at the event.
How important is it for you to hire and retain developers with skill sets that match the specific industry verticals you sell to?
Harvey: Extremely important. And, it’s not just having a basic knowledge of a skill set or programming language. The experience of delivering a highly sophisticated commercial software product to a business is invaluable. While universities and internships do a great job of exposing developers to languages and environments, they do not give future developers the same experience as being a major part of a high growth in demand team focused on not only on building great software but also a great company. The experience gained from meeting deadlines on a product roadmap allows engineers to experience the ups and downs of the software development lifecycle. It’s this experience that molds future greatness.
Have you ever recruited a talented developer away from another software company?
Harvey: I have and it’s hard. It first involves qualifying and understanding a person’s situation and overall happiness. The questions you need to be asking are “Are you offering them an environment where their talents, skills, and creativity can flourish? Does the culture of the company (and I am not talking about ping pong tables) offer them a chance to grow and enhance their skills, does it allow for true innovation?” Those are the reasons great developers make a move to a new opportunity. Money and benefits are always secondary to the truly qualified talent because they know it will come to them.
If you’d like to hear more from Harvey, and the 20 other experts we’ll welcome to the stage in Philadelphia on October 12, head over to www.isvinsightsevents.com/register-industry to register today. Other agenda topics include exit strategies, churn benchmarking, go-to-market, and pricing strategies. Registration is complimentary for active ISV/software developer executives. Questions about our ISV Insights conference in Philadelphia can be directed to Ben Huggler at buggler@vertmarkets.com.