Give Me More Money, or The 4th Generation

Now is the 4th generation of engineers. This post can be particularly interesting to those who remember beginning of outsourcing in Ukraine.

Age of Dinosaurs, before 2002. The companies are very selective. Only the best, the promising and the talented are hired. The seniors are really seniors - they have serious 7+ years background, they freely operate with the classic computer science concepts, can write SRS and SAD without any trouble, their code is awesome. They work hard as they know that the work should be done. They inherited this habit from their parents. They do remember USSR, most probably they were members of Komsomol. Their education is strong though irrelevant to IT. They can think. They are paid low as supply is slightly higher than demand (correct to say the demand is relatively low). This is 1st generation of engineers.

The Beginning, years 2002-2004. The demand is increasing. 1st generation engineers are being hired with a bit lesser scrutiny, yet the companies still keep the grade - the senior must be the senior. New category of engineers popping up: good med level engineer who claims he/she is actually the senior. The technical interviewer (who is surely 1st generation one) easily proves to guy that he is not the senior. The guy turns color, admits, decreases salary expectations (sometimes, on the spot). If the med level is actually needed, then the guy is hired yet at little bit higher salary then a good med could claim or actually earns if already working in the company. This is the 2d generation.

Pit Stop or Disclaimer. 2d generation are actually nice guys - they can think, they can learn, they turn out to be a good team players, during the course of work they tend to adapt to the culture of 1st generation: "the work should be done".

The Development, years 2005-2008. The demand increases significantly, all real Seniors sit tight in their companies and got promoted to either technical leader or manager position. Pipeline of 2d generation engineers is being gradually exhausted. 3d generation comes to scene - "Seniors". It is becoming normal practice to claim senior status after couple years of full-time work after university study. At interview, they still say that interesting work is the first priority, yet they actually want to sit on 2 chairs simultaneously - very good money and interesting work. They know that they will be hired anyway. They are actually hired and are paid 3-4 times more then the real seniors back in 2002. They are entitled as "Advanced Med", which they accept as a compromise. Question "what is traceability" puts 3d generation engineer into catatonia. Yet, they heard about multithreading, design patterns and can distinguish the list from the map.

The Pause, year 2009. Thanx God, it is Crisis! Magically and instantaneously, 3d generation realizes the almost forgotten principle - the work should be done. The companies temporarily enjoy their original status - the place for someone to dedicate their talent, to work hard and to get compensated for the value they bring. There is no noise in the office; the rooms are dense with people working. Regular work schedule returns to normal 8-9 hours per day. You feel like you are back in 2002 (in exception to salaries, of course!).

Give Me More Money Age (GMMM), year 2010 and till the date. 1st generation is either working abroad or holds the senior management positions, sometimes they are high-paid consultants. 2d generation is leading the big teams, projects or, sometimes, programs. 3d generation engineers are all entitled as “seniors” or “principal engineers”, the most prominent ones are given the “technical/team lead” rank. Everybody is sick with squeezing more money from employer, yet in different way. 3d generation, who have the lowest imagination among those three, just blackmail the company: “either give me this bulk of bucks or I leave”. 2d generation, still having that stupid idea of “the work must be done” in subconsciousness, ask management: “what should I do to get career advance”. As 2d generation is smarter, they know that career advance means more money. 1st generation representatives are so rare that they are appreciated by default. Though they would be pleased with more money, they actually don’t need them. They are confused looking at 2d and 3d generation and, if infected by the virus and hold the appropriate position, raise salaries for others. They know that if they continue such raises, their supervisory compensation will be raised automatically in return.

As demand is far higher then supply, the hero of this story appears - the 4^th generation engineer (or simply “GMMMer”). GMMMers know that they should read the book to claim the professional knowledge in a technology. Thus, they read first 2 pages. They deeply believe that they are Seniors from the childhood. They know the market demand very well and easily fill their resumes will required buzzwords.  They don’t know about multithreading at all, they don’t know what is stack, they heard the statement “design patterns” but they don’t know them.  They don’t think any reasonable engineer should know such things, and look at you with a deep regret if you think opposite. They are well educated in social benefits and motivation topics. They know that:

• company is the place where you must have fun, get medical insurance, and sports and dinners
• they expect 10-15% salary increase each half a year
• they know that manager is a funny guy who must motivate them to do the work
• they tend to switch the company every year
• they actually don’t care much about the work as they know – the company will do everything to find them another project

I believe Black Eyes Peas wrote this song as a response to rapid evolution of Ukrainian IT labor market during last 10 years (it will have no effect on GMMMers though, they could just find this song pretty boring): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67xwjPF6kYo