Why do you need junior specialists?
Before talking about why to work with newbies, I’ll tell you why companies need them. There are several reasons (= problems in the market).
1/ Software Development services are getting too expensive. The average salary of specialists is high, as well as the costs of simple tasks. Someone has to do simple tasks. Giving such tasks to developers whose earnings as high as $75,000 is foolishly.
If a simple task costs 30$ is solved by a person with hourly rate $35, something went wrong. Therefore, you cannot do without juniors — they reduce the costs.
2/ Personnel shortage. It becomes more and more acute every year. There is always a huge lack of digital specialists. The companies hire cheaper ones, and when they grow up, the best minds are continually bid away. Juniors are covering the need for cheap developers.
3/ Cultivating strong specialists. Many representatives of different companies say that it is easier to raise a specialist internally than to find a developer on the market.
When I was looking for a team lead, I was so desperate that I thought: “It’s easier to give birth to a child and make him into a team lead.”
Juniors are an investment
All my teams have juniors — guys who are just learning how to work. Even when the team consists of super-competent people, only focused on the result, I still keep 1–2 juniors there.
The point is that working with newbies is an investment. Well, the chance that this investment will pay off is 5–10%. If it works out, a junior would become a fairly strong developer. In this case, I’ll get a competent employee without a lot of time and money. The main thing is not to forget to offer competitive salary and benefits.
The question I ask myself when interviewing juniors: “Do I believe that this person can pay off this investment?”.
