Are you a boomer, zoomer or millennial? Today, more and more often on the pages of the media and in real life, you meet people who operate with a mass of intricate definitions, instantly placing you and those around you in the notorious generational cells. How does this compare with modern software development under the cut.
Generational theory, developed in 1991 by the American writer, historian and playwright William Strauss and his co-author Neil Howe, described recurring generational cycles in US history.
The authors of the theory define a “generation” as a community of people born in a single time period of about 20 years, or in the same phase of life: childhood, adolescence, maturity or old age.
The idea is that, being in the same time span, the human population is subject to similar social and historical influences, which are reflected in the common beliefs and behavior patterns. It is no coincidence that all kinds of "sixties", "buzzers", "boomers", "Xs" and other "millennials" are now in use.
The issue of intergenerational relations is becoming more acute, especially against the background of rising life expectancy and an increase in the retirement age in many countries.
Today more and more people of different generations are working together. Women of Balzac's age, and this is according to the classics 30-40 years (in modern reality - 40-50 years), hardly belong to the category of perishable living out their years, as well as men. And if two or three decades ago the definition of “IT specialist”, “computer specialist”, “hacker” referred to a greater extent to the younger generation, today people of all ages work in the industry. Now the date of birth in the passport means much less than professional skills.
Let's look at a short concentrate within the framework of the designated generational theory. Believe it or not - the decision is individual, for each person on the basis of his own common sense. After all, horoscopes and weather forecasts, oddly enough, still provide millions of traffic to various information resources, despite their low reliability.
It should be said in advance that the characteristic features are inherent in the bulk of people of certain generations. However, among them there are always many carriers of other traits, incl. a mix of features inherent in different generations. As well as chronological frames - they cannot be absolutely clear. The years are indicative and very conditional boundaries.
Silent Generation | 1925 - 1944
People from this chronological interval honor the laws, the opinion of other people and once again do not open their mouths without good reason. They are also very prudent about saving for a rainy day.
The Baby Boomer Generation | 1944 - 1967
Unlike the silent generation, boomers are fans of “scratching their tongues” and teaching the descendants of life. Despite the colossal changes since the days of communism, people of this time formed a strong opinion about the need to work for the good of society. And one of the most important stimulating factors for them is verbal praise, in the form of recognition of the usefulness of their efforts.
Generation X (x) | 1967 - 1984
They adhere to simple and conservative views on many issues, they tend to rely only on themselves.
The Xs are looking for stability and honor their time and finances. They are restrained, practical, weighing the pros and cons for a long time before making a decision.
Most representatives of this group choose one or two areas of activity and develop in them for the rest of their lives. Passing a long chain from a sales manager to a company director is just about them.
Generation Y or Millennials | 1984 - 2000
Generation living on the Internet 24/7. The search for their inner “I” distinguishes the “gamers” from their predecessors.
If they are interested in a long-term job or a one-time project, they will be very hardworking and ambitious. They will also try to use all their professional skills to achieve the desired result in the area they like. Overtime overtime, extraordinary thinking and a non-standard approach to solving various problems, everything will be - you just need to interest such people.
Generation Z (z) or buzzers | 2000 - 2015
Generation of Digital, Startups and Creative Entrepreneurship. For them, there are no templates and limitations, principles and stable views. Do as “high” and “high”. Don't give a damn about the consequences - the credo of life.
Representatives of this generation are characterized by the absence of a stable personal point of view on any of the important topics: politics, economics, relations between children and parents, global changes in the world, and so on.
Generation A (alpha) | c 2011
They are practical in almost everything, do not hesitate to ask "why?" In particular, they are worried about the question: how to use the acquired knowledge in everyday life. If they don't like the answer, it will be extremely problematic to explain the importance of this or that action.
Alphas are very fond of fashionable things, grew up surrounded by an endless number of toys, clothes and modern gadgets. They quickly lose interest in something, it is difficult to impress or make them happy.
Most sociologists say that the average generation change is 20 - 25 years. However, in the latter age groups, this gap is decreasing. This is due to the shortening of the time for the emergence of revolutionary technologies. According to the Singularity University of Silicon Valley, new disruptive technologies are emerging 2-3 times more often today than 100 years ago.
What's next?
Actually, where is the place for the stated topic of the article? Here exactly in this place.
At this historical stage, the so-called process of globalization of the labor force is observed.
Modern software development involves the interaction of all generations of programmers at the same time. At the same time, the total number of technologically advanced specialists of all generations is also growing.
The specificity of the trend is given by the increase in the number of remote employees who are in touch 24/7. That is, the labor market has received qualified distributed teams ready for temporary or project employment. Moreover, due to the expansion of geography, even within the borders of one country, the cost of labor is reduced, if we talk in general, and not about unique specialists.
And this is happening against the background of the growing popularity of the approach to harmonious career and personal development among employees. Moreover, the key is not so much corporate business processes, although their role can hardly be overestimated, as the personal culture of production and consumption in general.
When choosing an employer, along with the presence of traditional material incentives, the company's flexibility in organizing work processes, the provision of remote work opportunities, the globality of tasks solved by business, and the possibility of personal self-realization also come to the fore today. This is extremely important, especially for junior developers. Such requests of employees are already creating considerable difficulties in internal corporate processes, requiring immediate changes in approaches to corporate culture for those who have not yet had time to reorganize.
Say a word about an honest employer ...
What should the employer do in this situation? First, in my opinion, it is worth considering the factors discussed above. Secondly, understanding the specifics of this or that generation, it is worth building teams optimally for their generational composition and the goals of current projects, determining the appropriate goal setting and the order of internal interaction.
We should also speak separately about working with Junior specialists. Every year more and more representatives of generations Z and even Alpha come to their ranks.
They very quickly run information through themselves and carry out its detailed analysis. Representatives of such generations quickly master new technologies and processes. But there is also a downside to the coin - it is hard for them to keep the information they receive in their head for a long time. They are infantile. Their thinking is fundamentally different from all predecessors: it is important not to memorize addresses, dates or names, but to know through which source it is better to find the necessary information, how to classify it and apply it in the future.
In the first place when working with this group of specialists, the mentoring approach in organizing training and work comes in handy.
Of course, the problems depend on the style of work of the management of different companies with people, on the level of specialists assembled into teams, on the degree of complexity of the tasks they face.
From the life of Parallels
If you take a company like Parallels, then everything here was initially built on a group of talented enthusiasts with burning eyes. However, as in many other startups. The company went through all the stages of the difficult path of forming an effective team. We had to fire good specialists who could not integrate and understand the goals and objectives of a specific collective software development, and integrate unique professionals who were not easy to work with.
However, at a fairly advanced level of development of the company, it became clear that a team can be formed for a long time from young guys who, already from their student years, can imbue the team spirit, acquire knowledge and skills sufficient to immediately after graduation or closer to graduation from the university without any transition periods to join in the general work. And then they will gradually turn into "their" best and irreplaceable. And what is very important - you can select those who correspond in their nature to the tasks and spirit of the company as a whole and the people of which it consists.
To do this, Parallels has an academic program that helps prepare specialists practically from the first years of study at the university.
Imagine young interns as part of an academic program interacting with the best developers of different generations. For them, such developers-mentors, especially at the beginning, are gurus who should be equal in everything. Then, as knowledge and skill grows, and mentors share their knowledge to the maximum, students become just colleagues at work, many problems begin to be solved on equal terms. In the process of communication, the values of the team are absorbed.
Periodic change of mentors from different generational strata forms in young people an understanding of different approaches and an internal consent to work with various specifics. Just as it is much easier for a polyglot to learn a new unknown language, compared to a person who knows only one, so in this case, as a result of the constant change of approaches to the work of different mentors, one gets used to such a situation.
At the same time, the position of a junior developer, with which students start, does not imply and does not create ambitions, rejection, but promotes adaptation. In contrast to the recruitment of an already formed developer from the open labor market with his well-established views, incl. with generational specifics, which may interfere with the smooth and soft acceptance of the peculiarities of the work of the current team.
Nothing is "implanted", everything happens naturally. All work of the academic program is based on the motivation of the participants themselves. There is a simple principle - you don't like it, you are free to change the educational task, mentor, you are free to leave. If you like the tasks, the people you interact with, and you show abilities that correspond to the desired ones, you will be provided with the maximum possible help, "sacred" knowledge will be transferred. Only an internally motivated developer is able to solve complex problems effectively in the interests of the company. Regardless of his generational affiliation.
If you take the opinion of the author of the article, where generational characteristics are also described, in particular, the requirements for the employer from the generation Z, then Parallels has long been consistent with them. In fact, a comfortable working environment meets the desires of all generations without exception.
It is very correct, for most companies, said in another article , where the author examines an example of the use of generational characteristics in solving a specific problem: “A simple example: it is necessary to prepare a large project in which analytical information and infographics will be present. Who should you give the implementation of the project to? A simple conclusion suggests itself: Generation Y or, in the near future, 3-5 years - Generation Z. They are more familiar with modern technologies and get the job done faster. "
For the majority, what about Parallels? Thanks to the gradual "ingrowth" of young people into the company within the framework of the academic program, team leaders and more senior managers have the opportunity to rely not so much on the characteristics of generations as on individual abilities, regardless of such characteristics. Indeed, in the process of “ingrowing” the Juns, the “generation” fades into the background, and professionalism and the desire to achieve team goals in the best possible way remain in the first place.
After all, all team members are high pros, regardless of age. The best students were selected. The older generations have already shared their knowledge with them, developed the necessary skills. And young people, in turn, passed on to them something new that they learned from the learning process, from their own, albeit small, but often new and useful experience.
The process of a mentor's work with a student is a reciprocal action. Mentors influence students, just as bright young people influence their mentors. They make them refresh their knowledge, adapt to youth views and characteristics. As a result, generational characteristics are smoothed out to a very large extent, and professionalism grows.
The article, which caused a heated discussion on Habré, describes the confrontation between managers and developers, as well as a classification of the developers themselves and describes the complexities of their different types of interaction. One can argue about the accuracy of the classification presented, but hardly anyone can argue that there are no problems at all. So, according to Parallels experience, the presence of an academic program tuned to select the best and their smooth implantation into the body of the company allows solving such problems. Or rather, prevent.
How it works?
To work, you need to have several prerequisites.
1. Understanding of the management that it is needed, its willingness to invest and give mentors an opportunity to spend time on interns. Moreover, managers must communicate to everyone that this is an important and necessary part of the job. The most important condition. Often, leaders proclaim their readiness, but in fact they do not allocate either money or time, as a result, nothing will work.
2. There must be a dedicated person with an understanding of all university processes and experience in higher education. Such a person should only be engaged in the training of young personnel in universities for the company, interaction with universities. If someone is assigned additional responsibilities, the process dies (most often they entrust someone from young HR-s - an unviable option). After all, everyone has a lot of basic work.
3. The company must have key technical leaders (at least one, but key), whose responsibilities include interaction with the organizer of the academic program. Developers only respond adequately to their leaders, that's the reason.
4. It is necessary to build a constant interaction between management, academic program, key technicians and HR-s to ensure effectiveness.
5. All employees of the company are notified that participation in the academic program is supported by management and is encouraged both morally and financially (not necessarily, but such forms as teaching courses in universities, for example, should have obvious financial rewards).
6. Students must receive a supplement for work under the company's academic program.
It would seem nothing complicated. However, there are few places where everything is implemented in this way. Hence the usual ineffectiveness of uncoordinated efforts.
At Parallels, the entire program is based on individual work - the most productive,
as already shown by considerable experience. Each student gets their own mentor. A mentor can have several students. But a student has one mentor for a certain period of time. Everyone receives an individual task, which is constantly monitored and discussed at least once a week.
Students receive grants, additional payment to the scholarship. You can't do without it. The guys want to eat, to solve some material issues. If there is no additional payment, they will go to work in other places, and this will destroy concentration and interaction.
From words to facts
Parallels has been actively implementing the academic program since the end of 2016. Now about 11 percent of the developers in the company are juniors who came from universities. Some of them are still studying. Of all the students hired in the past three years, about 30 percent have left. The rest are actively and efficiently working. They became part of the company, imbued with its spirit, its corporate culture.
The problem of generations in development teams is almost non-existent. The atmosphere is friendly, built on mutual assistance and constant interaction. Team leaders themselves raised specialists from students, made a decision on hiring them. And everyone understands perfectly well that in the absence of an academic program, the situation could have been exactly the opposite, almost standard for IT companies, where this problem is quite vividly present.
Thus, one of the ways to effectively solve the problem of interaction between different generations of developers is to cultivate loyal highly professional employees who are able to integrate into the work of existing teams without an adaptation period - creating and maintaining a program of interaction with universities.
Of course, such programs are within the power of large companies with sufficient human and material resources. But the big ones also need to solve personnel problems. And not all companies do this with sufficient satisfaction. Therefore, this article appeared - to share a positive experience.