Discussion on:

Train your experienced developers in newer technologies

Many older programmers WANT to learn the newer technologies and are frustrated at not being able to break into them due to the assumptions and labeling of the decision makers. At the time we started, COBOL/mainframe etc WAS cutting edge. New technology was, and still is, being embraced. The assumption among management seems to be that the young pups are more agile and flexible, and that the older (but not old) dogs are soon ready for pasture. Big mistake!

I am retired about 17 years (early) from GE/Honeywell OS and application developement.Recently getting to know "little computers", I have seen so much of the same developement problems in the various OS's (windows,Apple, Linux) that we solved on "big iron" years ago. The technology has leaped ahead at an astounding rate but the same mistakes seem to be apparent in that inexperienced developers are making(bug fixes and security holes everyday)the same old mistakes. Granted, things have grown considerably but we have more automated tools for design and verification than in the past days of assembly language, COBOL, FORTRAN, and "C". We keed a lot of the good experience not 3 years repeated 3 times.Managers have a bank of talent to use---use it wisely!

Some of the 'Pups' as you call us, are actually better suited to the current environment. Older people resist change, that's a psychological fact, I still can't convince my grand mother to use the bloody remote! I'm 21 and working in a software developing company and guess what?! I'm doing web development as you expected, but in my team I have a guy, who's 43 and has a lot of experience, but he has to report to me, because I know more about the technology we are using and that makes him very, very angry. He could easily become team leader, if he spent a few weeks pounding the books, but he'd rather sit and give me dirty looks and ask for my advice. He's not the only one like that... He doesn't even read techrepublic ! hehehe

When a company puts a "Pup" in a leadership role they are stating that "technology" is the trump card and that the issues of communication and business goal integration with technical projects are not important. What usually happens with this kind of leadership is a project that misses the mark and does not meet the end users needs or the business objectives. What the "Pup" may have in basic book technical knowledge is quickly overshadowed by rework, misdirected features "that is a cool feature lets put it in" along with uncontrolled scope and cost. When a more experienced person who understands that technology for technology's sake is not leadership and that how a project meets business goals and can provide a return on the money and time invested is in charge then projects are usually more successful and the business benefits. I would be very hesitant to work in any company that puts people who have only technical knowldege and not well developed communication skills in leadership roles.

It should ALWAYS be business and communications experience that place people in management. Personally I think a number of dot coms bombed because the people in the decision seats were excellent at code and tech but not in management and communication. I have seen good tech people gone bad in management...a shame to waste skills. Put people where they will shine the best. Not in ego but in skills.

I agree in general that technology is only one of the horses. You absolutely need business experience to head any project/dept./etc. which is primarily only acquired by the passage of time. Concomitantly, technology is rapidly changing from requiring a 'techno nerd' to keep the LAN up to extremely fault tolerant, self-healing hardware. Back to the issue at hand....would either employee want to be trained in COBOL?

Are leaders born or made? This is one of the first debates you discuss in Business Communications... Some are made, some are born, some are a combination of the two...

I've got a BA(MIS) at 20, graduated top of my class at school, was the president of a society at my university for 2 consequtive years, was one of the twenty students chosen as our university's Leadership Team, I attended a few leadership semenars and I've got some communication skills, believe me...

I fluently speak English, Russian and I know some French and Greek... I have friends all over the world, thus I am good at communicating with poeple from other cultures. I believe that my communication skills are better than some adults I know...

Some time passed since I made that post and guess what! I am still the team leader and our team's project success rate is the highest in the company...

Painting people of any group with the same brush is "discrimination" and reprehensible. Did you ever think that at 21 you do not have the people skils to be a manager? A long time ago a very wise and very old gentleman told me that "We see ouselves as being very good at what we do, at how we look and think, others because they have (or should have) the same view of themselves see us as being incompetent, ugly and stupid. Our only hope is that we all are somewhere near the middle of these extreems". I have tried to keep this in mind at all times through my life. I am 57 years old and a Director of Information Systems, can I keep up to the new technology? No, and neither can any of the young guns that I hire and guide through their day, there is just too much to know, we learn and use what we need for the job at hand. There is still a place for older workers, they just need to find it, and a good manager will help (that is a manager's job), their world experience is too valuable to waste.

Yes, there are some older people who will not change and that can be a problem. Your 43 year old subordinate has some choices to make. However, remember that older workers do have experience and some of them are flexible. Heck, I know a 25 year old that I can hardly get to touch a computer!!!

Oh, the arrogance of youth.

Your comments don't even merit a reply. Maybe if you got the "chip" off your shoulder and thought "TEAM" you might learn something about leadership.

I wrote my first program in 1963. Over the years, I have learned and used more programming languages than I care to remember. Java, for example is just another language. I have seen young people incapable of picking up new things. Whatever your age,it depends on you whether you are stereotyped or not.

It appears that many companies (and some local governments) are no longer worrying about training or job security for IT workers. For them, the easy way out is to send the work over to India, where it gets done for 1/4 the cost without having to concer themselves about worker welfare. Does CIO mean "Call India Over"?