The number one trait I look for when hiring...

I have been interviewing a lot of people lately and one of the most important traits I look for when assessing a potential hire is intellectual curiosity.

I like to find out what potential candidates are curious about and how they go about learning. 98% of the time it goes something like this.

Me: Tell me how you stay curious and keep abreast of industry trends in your field ?

Candidate: I read a lot, I go to conferences and the odd meetup.

Me: Great. What was the last thing you read ? What did you learn from it ?

Candidate: Panic!

The question I have is: How much do you learn from reading or going to a conference ? I have been to 100’s of conferences. They are usually great networking events and they shape your thinking with themes to go research further . Sometimes they provide an excuse to just get out of the office, which is often needed to let the creative juices flow without distraction.

BUT, do you really learn ?

Don't get me wrong, anyone who reads, attends conferences or listens to podcasts is to be admired. You’re doing more than 90% of people out there. Furthermore, not all jobs or professions require a deep understanding of the subject matter.

Can the same be said for technical professions ? If you’re making decisions about software, architecture, cloud providers, security etc... is reading about it enough ?

The challenge we have in IT is the pace of change. So much changes so quickly all the time. In my opinion constant learning and education is not optional.

I interviewed several senior architects this week. At least 2 of them recounted disappointment that senior management in their organisation had overruled the engineering and architecture teams recommendations on product selection which ultimately ended very badly for those projects. How does that happen ? Did they read about a better product ? Or see a demo at a conference ?

Some of the seemingly trivial deep technical decision that go on every day in your organisation can have far reaching consequences and impact on cost, risk, stability and customer experience. Many of these decision are too often made by people who have read a bit, attended a conference or the odd meetup.

How can someone recommend to their organisation they shift to serverless lambda architecture on AWS or move to react native for mobile development if they have never actually had experience using and building on these platforms or frameworks ?

Passive vs Active learning

My personal opinion on this topic is that more IT professionals need to do more doing. Learning by doing is proven to increase understanding by 75% more than reading. Teaching what you learned then has a multiplier effect on your understanding.

The answer to the question of do I really understand something is: Could you teach it or give a presentation on the topic ?

I can see the villagers gathering their torches and pitchforks ready to attack. "You don't need to have built a docker application to make decisions on its benefits" I hear you say.

That’s very true. Depending on your role you might not need to know that level of detail BUT you better have hired someone who does truly understand the detail, someone you trust and ultimately someone you will then listen to and take their advice.

With all the learning resources available at our fingertips today I don’t believe anyone is too old or too senior to actually learn; and learn by doing or trying further honing your intellectual curiosity.

Linked in learning, YouTube and Udemy are great resources.

A couple of examples illustrate my point:

1. You can build a simple Lambda function in AWS with a free account https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOxO8mQsxb8
2. Learn about AI and Vision detection - AutoML Vision example https://cloud.google.com/vision/automl/docs/?_ga=2.173272803.-1927897318.1551061268

There will be 100’s of examples just like those above that relate to the next big decision you are overseeing.

Next time you’re faced with a decision, make a point to really understand it. Try some basic doing related to it! It won't make you an expert, but it will give you an appreciation for the complexity of some of the decision we ask our teams to make every day.

Having the intellectual curiosity to understand the nuances and detail behind the words will ultimately lend itself to better decision making.

Update: To demonstrate that I practice what I preach I recently published this article https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/simulating-wind-chris-venter/