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[The] main problem here is that software development is not an individual sport. Assessing technical traits means that we are looking at candidates as individuals. At the same time, we will put them in a team context and the project's success will depend on their teamwork. A person's resume or LinkedIn profile says close to nothing about their team skills.
What's more, we know quite a lot about what makes teams effective. Anita Woolley's research on collective intelligence [DOI: 10.1126/science.1193147] [DX] provides extremely valuable insight on the topic. First of all, how do we define collective intelligence? It's basically the skill of a group to solve complex problems. Well, it sounds like the definition of everyday work for software development teams if you ask me.
Why is collective intelligence so important? Exploiting collective intelligence, as opposed to going with the opinion of the smartest person in a room, is a winning strategy. To put in Anita Woolley's words: "Collective intelligence was much more predictive in terms of succeeding in complex tasks than average individual intelligence or maximal individual intelligence."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 24 2017, @04:42PM (3 children)
but then there's the team, and no one wants to write code using any new features.
Imagine coming in wanting to use Java 8 code features, but using old Java 3 features, because the team can't/won't stop for a day or two and try. And the smart people on the team are beat down enough that they've given up too...
Not picking on Java. Could be Python 2 vs Python 3. .Net 1.x vs even .Net 2. and so many other platforms and languages...
SQL Server 2016 running as SQL Server 2005 (or 2000) compatability mode, for no specific (enterprise app would be specific reason) good reason...
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Sunday September 24 2017, @04:44PM
The only times I haven't upgraded to a new version is when things break and it isn't worth the time/effort to fix it.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 25 2017, @02:50PM
3 years ago, I would have responded differently to your post. After experiencing a "legacy minded" team for the first time in my career, you are very, very right. When a team is stuck in the past using old technology and techniques, it is almost impossible to do anything "new". Bringing in a helpful rock star to help, doesn't really help. The team drags their feet and fights every step forward. They just won't adopt anything new because the old stuff worked at some time in the past. And because it's a group, thinking as a group, in a very harmoneous way, they don't change.
The collective intelligence of a group like this is surprising low. They can't adapt. They can't move forward. A single dev could make more progress than the entire team. Easily.
So, there are counter examples to the "team is always smarter than a single person" mantra.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday October 01 2017, @09:12AM
Python 3 fucking sucks. Python 2 for the win.
It's not about bleeding-edge features as much as it is support. And Python3 support sucks shit.
There are reasons for sticking with the old versions. Good reasons.