I worked for Booz Allen Hamilton a couple of years ago. They are truely one of the greatest companies to work for. One of the things that really attracted me to the company was that they were known to be thought leaders. They hired the best and provided the best advice to their customers. Unfortunately they got caught by the tech bubble and couldn't figure out how to stay in the same position.
They couldn't figure out how to find the "great brains" of technology. In the past it was easy, go to the top Ivy League schools and you hire the top in the class. That works well in the business world where much of the product is based on relationships and advice. In this new technology world, there are real deliveries that don't depend on a certain education or knowing certain people. It depends on imagination, logic, ingenuity, hardwork, courage and building a good team. I bet if you look at B-school documentation, you will find 4 of those in there, but they lack the emphasis on imagination. This job takes 35% imagination, 35% logic, 20% skill, 10% hardwork. Humorously, logic and imagination are rarely found together in one person, which is what makes developers so valuable.
Today, to find the good developers that are also good consultants, you have to find out if they have the ability to communicate effectively, if they have the ability to write code, are they crafty enough to do it in an effective (meaning repeatable and maintainable) manner and if they have the ability to learn new things rapidly. Companies are no longer able to go to one source to find the talent that they need. They actually have to search long and hard to find what they need.
Posted by carl at October 17, 2004 11:47 AM
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