Can an Average Developer Become a Superstar?

Can an Average Developer Become a Superstar?

It seems like every IT company is trying to find and hire the super developer. This is a mystical being capable of designing a complex system in the same amount of time it takes twelve average developers to order a pizza. Companies everywhere, but especially in the tech industry, are salivating when it comes to recruiting star performers in every discipline, from artificial intelligence and Big Data to mobile app development.

There's just one small problem, though: true genius is very rare to find.

In the search for super brains, companies forget that there is a mass of "pretty good" people out there. Should recruiters, therefore, abandon the search for hard-to-find tech geniuses altogether and instead build teams with lots of average tech professionals? The answer to this question depends on who you ask.

Most importantly, recruit people who fit the bill

The price of talent is justified by the return it produces.

Companies not only want great employees, they need them - but not for every job. Top performers only have a high ROI if they are well managed and in a job where high-potentials can also demonstrably make a difference.

Average employees are likely to be in somewhat lower demand, so they are not as likely to leave the job. High performers are expensive, are harder to find, and in many cases are harder to lead and manage.

Finding a superstar in software development is like looking for a golden needle in a haystack. Instead of wasting a lot of time searching through all that hay, could a company turn "average" employees into "high performers"? Sure, but of course that takes time and work.

If you're a good manager and have an employee who's suited for this type of job, you can turn an average employee into an outstanding employee.

It starts with finding someone who is excited about the job. We recommend hiring candidates with basic skills and great enthusiasm for the job, rather than a professional for whom the job is just a job. It is certainly more work in the short term, but in the long run, it pays off.

Every manager is a gardener

Turning an average employee into a better one is like gardening. Praise is like fertilizer and feedback, like pruning the plant to make it stronger.

Now that Millennials make up a growing percentage of new hires, companies need to rethink their employee evaluation models.

This performance evaluation is more frequent and causal. A well-known rule for good performance reviews is that they should be done every time you have a formal meeting. Meetings should be no less than once a week, even if it is only 5 minutes to thank an employee for a job well done.

At this point it should also be noted that the debate regarding Millennials, more often than not, is also overblown. All of these concerns fall away when companies simply focus on hiring the right person and talking to them about development opportunities and possible skill building

Money is no guarantee of motivation

Rewards, can encourage or restore motivation and engagement. However, they do not have to be mandatory monetary, but they do have to be meaningful.

While bonuses were a traditional motivator in the earlier corporate world, they are less important today. In today's world, most organizations, especially in software development have a flat organizational structure.

As a result, there are also fewer and fewer promotions, as there are fewer administrative tasks to complete. There are many motivators, including flexible working hours, home office, or for developers also especially important, continuing education. The key is a personalized offering that maximizes individual performance.

Even the most motivated employee, average or genius, will leave your company if their job doesn't make sense. A good tip to find out why an employee really quit is to do the exit interview again three to six months after the employee leaves.

An employee's performance often reflects on management, or the manager. Highly talented and always self-motivated employees are hard to find, usually highly compensated and difficult to retain. The better strategy is to improve management and leadership skills to develop average employees into high performers. This pays to do with all your employees, not just the ones you want to hire.

Spending time developing your people instead of looking for a needle in a haystack will pay off in the long run.

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