Well stated and largely on target Jason. How to get this message to the HR people and top hiring authorities who now seem to require current knuckles down coding experience in their framework de jour? Deep and broad background across IT platforms and vendors, along with a solid understanding of data processing fundamentals should be a requirement for sure. But recent personal coding with C# or Pearl or ASM? If that is what the candidate has been doing, then he probably has not developed the broader skills required to facilitate among stakeholders, recognize and enforce best practices and motivate for creative and tightly integrated solutions. I've seen and repaired many many failed systems which were designed and constructed by pure techies with more allegiance to their favorite coding environments than to the big picture needs of the enterprise. If Senior hiring authorities and HR screeners wold only consider the qualifications you discussed, there would be way fewer expensive failed systems being implemented every day.