Why to avoid jobs who want a language specific Software Engineer.

In the last decade, job posting services have morphed into a big business. So many startups and enterprise level companies have advance services that can help you find jobs. I remember the days when you would go to the classified section of your local newspaper in hopes that there would be jobs that matched your experience and let alone your desire. (yes even programming jobs) Now fast forward to 2018, there is no shortage of services that will get you job interviews as long as you place the correct buzz words in your resume/profile.

If you are in the market for hunting for a new job as a software engineer, I would recommend avoiding jobs that ask for a language specific software engineer.

Here are two rambles on why I believe its best to go after the jobs that require more from you than knowing technologies:

Experience in one language keeps your toolbox slim

In my experience working with various teams, good software engineers are good regardless of the language used. Poor software engineers are poor regardless of the language used. Nobody is a great Java programmer and a poor JavaScript programmer. In addition, a really good programmer should be able to learn any new language easily. This is because a really good software enggineer understands and appreciates the concepts of quality programming, not just the syntactic and semantic idiosyncrasies of some programming language.

So when a company is only looking for a .net, java, or C programmer, it starts looking like they really are only trying to fill a position and not really looking for someone who can become part of a team let alone contribute to projects powered by innovation.

One thing that amazes me is that there are still tech jobs out there where they are looking for proficient engineers for certain languages. (With the exception of Google, Amazon, Facebook, Uber, and any scary algorithm/pattern testing companies)

Challenging yourself is the best thing you can do for yourself

Find jobs that will challenge you into learning how to be better at other roles. Jobs that deny you because you lack certain skills will help you learn that in order to grow, you have to continue your learning path on your time as well. Our trade doesn't stop at our 9 to 5, its an art and it is something we need to apply in all aspects of our lives.