[IxDA Discuss] Rockstars and Professional Development (was: Hiring Strategies)

[Chauncey Wilson]

Hiring Rock Stars (not sure if that is really the appropriate metaphor) is
one issue, but the other issue is that once a rock star is hired (and let's
assume that the rock star is a humble sort who does not decimate a team)
manager and other colleagues have to be careful not to refer to the person
as a rock star too much in front of the team.  Managers and colleagues can,
unconsciously in many cases, glorify the rock star and fail to notice other,
perhaps quieter, extremely good people who might even surpass the rock star
at some point in selected areas.  Something as simple as hearing "he/she is
really great" too often can result in subtle, but powerful messages of
favoritism ("they get to go to the design conference all the time while I
toil away doing cluster analysis on the data for the conference) and affect
team dynamics.

Chauncey






On 10/2/07, David Shaw <david.shaw6 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Will,
>
> Yes, I've seen that too.  Unfortunately, with the current state of the
> market how can someone hire rock stars when there are more jobs than
> candidates to fill the shoes.  That, and rockstars normally have egos
> that decimate the team they join (I've witnessed this) because no one
> wants to work with an arrogant person in a team environment.
>
> >From my experience, a company who doesn't contribute to professional
> development is not one worth working for.  Skills and technologies
> change too often, and without a company footing the bill to keep you
> current (to tackle future problems for said company), why would you
> want to work for such a company.  It's almost as if they're saying,
> "we don't care about you and your skills, we just want you to make
> money for us."  I don't buy into that.  It's a shared responsibility,
> and one that makes for a much happier employee.  One that doesn't need
> to do his/her continuing education during family time - one who'll be
> more passionate about coming to work for a company who cares.
>
> As for companies, every single company I have ever worked for has had
> some type of budget for training/development.  This from both small
> companies to the fortune 500's I've worked for.  I've never seen or
> heard of a company that explicitly says training is on your own.
>
> Just my 2 cents.
>
> David
>
> On Tue, 2 Oct 2007 05:19:42, Will Evans <wkevans4 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Dan wrote: "The desire to do great work, keep learning, and always
> > add value is what gets my interest."
> >
> > Given two candidates, one with a 10 in passion for IxD, 7 in skills -
> > the other with a 7 in passion and a 10 in skills, I would probably opt
> > for the more passionate candidate, assuming they are also passionate
> > about learning :-)
> >
> > Speaking of learning - has anyone noticed a shift over the past 10
> > years in many businesses in which hiring has shifted away from
> > growing great people, their knowledge, the development - to hiring
> > rockstars? It seems that I have noticed many more companies that are
> > unwilling to pay for continuing education, professional development,
> > training, etc. I can't think that my company is the only one that
> > explicitly does not pay for training or professional development and
> > believes that any an employee does should be done on their own time,
> > on their own dime.
> > Maybe we could start another thread on professional development and
> > training for people in the UX community. Which companies support it -
> > which ones don't...
> >
> > -Will
> >
> >
> > . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
> > Posted from the improved ixda.org
> > http://beta.ixda.org/discuss?post=20918
> >
> >
> > ________________________________________________________________
> > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
> > To post to this list ....... discuss at ixda.org
> > List Guidelines ............ http://beta.ixda.org/guidelines
> > List Help .................. http://beta.ixda.org/help
> > Unsubscribe ................ http://beta.ixda.org/unsubscribe
> > Questions .................. list at ixda.org
> > Home ....................... http://beta.ixda.org
> >
>
>
> --
>
> w: http://www.davidshaw.info
> ________________________________________________________________
> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
> To post to this list ....... discuss at ixda.org
> List Guidelines ............ http://beta.ixda.org/guidelines
> List Help .................. http://beta.ixda.org/help
> Unsubscribe ................ http://beta.ixda.org/unsubscribe
> Questions .................. list at ixda.org
> Home ....................... http://beta.ixda.org
>