Dev MVP
2016.07.27In terms of general cultural awareness MVP used to stand for “Most Valuable Player”.
In technology circles today, and in an ever-widening circle of meme adoption, that particular TLA now stands for “Minimum Viable Product”.
In other words: “What is the barest minimum functional offering we can possibly prep for production, in the shortest development cycle, using the fewest resources.”
I can see the appeal - The product perfection sought by many Type-A personalities has to be balanced out by the very brief window of opportunity to win over fickle consumers in an era dominated by ever-shortening attention spans. Beyond which, designers and builders of new technologies are notoriously susceptible to that “just one more thing…” affliction known as “Feature Creep”.
The rise of the Minimum Viable Product is an evolutionary survival strategy.
It’s good, I get it. Once upon a time we used to just call that a Beta Release.
But I’m not here to talk about PRODUCT MVPs, I’m here to talk about DEVELOPER MVPs.
Minimum Viable Programmers
Potentially qualified but professionally inexperienced graduates of specialized technology training programs, online academies, and coding bootcamps. Folks who, like me, have devoted considerable time and resources to learning and honing new skills with the intention of applying those skills professionally in a rapidly growing technology sector.
Responding to the reportedly growing market demand for trained developers, the numbers of bootcamps and online courses that provide such training are growing at least as rapidly as the tech sector they seek to serve.
That growth is also an evolutionary survival strategy. Supply expands to meet demand as long as the market supports it. With the growing numbers of training programs churning out a steady stream of program graduates the numbers of Developer MVPs seeking entry-level jobs in the market is steadily growing.
The Rise (and fall?) of the MVP
Newly-minted Minimum Viable Programmers, eager graduates of intensive targeted training programs, are being produced in record numbers. Happily armed with new developery skills and a ‘can-do’ attitude this legion of entry-level developers ventures out into the, supposedly high-demand marketplace only to find that, predictably, bootcamp grads are considered dime-a-dozen commodities.
To put it simply, the market is flooded with Dev MVPs. At the same time there appears to be a distinct backlash against hiring developers who don’t come pre-packaged with several years of professional experience.
Entry-level jobs are demanding 2-3 years minimum of in-production product coding experience before they will even consider applicants. CS degrees. “Deep understanding”, “proven track record”, dozens of tool proficiencies and languages and frameworks. These appear to be deliberate tactics to discourage eager Dev MVPs from ever applying to begin with.
Why IS that?
Pardon me tech industry, but where does one GAIN professional experience when the barriers that prevent even low-level entry into this industry are being raised higher daily?
Where are the companies and employers who are willing to invest in potential and help to shape capable, trained, EAGER beginners into well-qualified, confident, valuable ASSETS?
If indeed there is a growing shortage of technically apt workers1 how do companies justify shunning this growing sector of the candidate pool? How do companies anticipate they will close that gap when they keep turning away the willing foot-soldiers?
Where and how do employers expect to discover fully-vested senior engineers when they aren’t willing to put any time or effort into developing junior engineers? Why are companies readily willing to invest time and money in developing new PRODUCTS but those same companies are NOT willing to invest time and money in developing new DEVELOPERS?
We the Dev MVPs didn’t devote months of our lives and thousands of hard-earned dollars to learning these technical skills expecting to be handed a six-figure starting salary. We are dedicated novitiates, here to work and to learn and to improve. We have specifically CHOSEN this professional vocation and are working our tails off to do it well.
A call to arms
I invite engineering managers and hiring managers to consider this before dismissing Minimum Viable Programmer graduates of specialized training programs out of hand:
There is a REASON why products on their way to market often start out as a Minimum Viable Product. You want to give your idea shape and form and functionality as quickly as possible such that it can then be released into the wild to sink or swim. The best way to work the kinks out and make a test product into a GOOD product is to get something functional into production ASAP.
That is EXACTLY what Developer MVPs are! We have foundational logic, framework, and language skills, but limited professional coding experience. That DOESN’T mean we have no value! We simply need to get into production ASAP to work the kinks out. Hone our skills and be functionally vetted in practice. Sound familiar?
It’s time for the technical industry at large to begin to recognize that Dev MVPs, much as we may be Minimum Viable Programmers ARE ALSO Most Valuable Players for our potential and our tenacity. We have dedication to our craft and drive to learn and succeed. We are willing to work hard and grow our skills.
Much like investments in Product MVPs are expected to yield successful future products, investments in Dev MVPs SHOULD BE EXPECTED to yield successful future developers.
We are trained technologists. We are Beta Release Engineers. We are coding foot-soldiers.
We are WORTH the investment!
~AMP