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Can the amount of projects be substituted for experience in tech? [duplicate]
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This question already has an answer here:
How can I overcome “years of experience†requirements when applying to positions?
21 answers
I know soft skills plays a critical role, but lets just focus on the technical skills itself for this question.
Let`s say a candidate had 10 projects completed, where these projects translate into the knowledge and skills that someone with 3 years of experience had, which of the 2 would an employer prefer?
Would projects make up for a candidate lack of technical experience in the workforce?
interviewing software-industry job-search work-experience
asked Oct 10 '15 at 17:37
jon220
31
marked as duplicate by Jan Doggen, jcmeloni, gnat, scaaahu, Lilienthal♦ Oct 14 '15 at 10:28
This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.
suggest improvements |Â
up vote
-1
down vote
favorite
This question already has an answer here:
How can I overcome “years of experience†requirements when applying to positions?
21 answers
I know soft skills plays a critical role, but lets just focus on the technical skills itself for this question.
Let`s say a candidate had 10 projects completed, where these projects translate into the knowledge and skills that someone with 3 years of experience had, which of the 2 would an employer prefer?
Would projects make up for a candidate lack of technical experience in the workforce?
interviewing software-industry job-search work-experience
asked Oct 10 '15 at 17:37
jon220
31
marked as duplicate by Jan Doggen, jcmeloni, gnat, scaaahu, Lilienthal♦ Oct 14 '15 at 10:28
This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.
1
I'm sorry but comparing "3 years experience" against "10 projects" with no further information, is impossible.
– Jan Doggen
Oct 10 '15 at 17:48
what type of further information would you be looking for?
– jon220
Oct 10 '15 at 17:49
1
We'd need a lot more context. For example, why do you have 10 projects rather than 3 years of experience? A small project is going to take a few months of development so 10 small projects would seem to require at least close to 3 years. Unless you are talking about very, very small "projects" or you are trying to use things that you did as part of coursework as "projects" or you are saying that you are an amazing developer that can do in a couple months what normal developers do over 3 years it's hard to figure out what you're really getting after.
– Justin Cave
Oct 10 '15 at 18:22
lets say those 10 projects are small project that were completed from the courses / track taken in online modern learning platform such as treehouse or codeschool
– jon220
Oct 10 '15 at 18:28
suggest improvements |Â
up vote
-1
down vote
favorite
up vote
-1
down vote
favorite
This question already has an answer here:
How can I overcome “years of experience†requirements when applying to positions?
21 answers
I know soft skills plays a critical role, but lets just focus on the technical skills itself for this question.
Let`s say a candidate had 10 projects completed, where these projects translate into the knowledge and skills that someone with 3 years of experience had, which of the 2 would an employer prefer?
Would projects make up for a candidate lack of technical experience in the workforce?
interviewing software-industry job-search work-experience
asked Oct 10 '15 at 17:37
jon220
31
This question already has an answer here:
How can I overcome “years of experience†requirements when applying to positions?
21 answers
I know soft skills plays a critical role, but lets just focus on the technical skills itself for this question.
Let`s say a candidate had 10 projects completed, where these projects translate into the knowledge and skills that someone with 3 years of experience had, which of the 2 would an employer prefer?
Would projects make up for a candidate lack of technical experience in the workforce?
This question already has an answer here:
How can I overcome “years of experience†requirements when applying to positions?
21 answers
interviewing software-industry job-search work-experience
asked Oct 10 '15 at 17:37
jon220
31
asked Oct 10 '15 at 17:37
jon220
31
asked Oct 10 '15 at 17:37
jon220
31
asked Oct 10 '15 at 17:37
jon220
31
31
marked as duplicate by Jan Doggen, jcmeloni, gnat, scaaahu, Lilienthal♦ Oct 14 '15 at 10:28
This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.
marked as duplicate by Jan Doggen, jcmeloni, gnat, scaaahu, Lilienthal♦ Oct 14 '15 at 10:28
This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.
1
I'm sorry but comparing "3 years experience" against "10 projects" with no further information, is impossible.
– Jan Doggen
Oct 10 '15 at 17:48
what type of further information would you be looking for?
– jon220
Oct 10 '15 at 17:49
1
We'd need a lot more context. For example, why do you have 10 projects rather than 3 years of experience? A small project is going to take a few months of development so 10 small projects would seem to require at least close to 3 years. Unless you are talking about very, very small "projects" or you are trying to use things that you did as part of coursework as "projects" or you are saying that you are an amazing developer that can do in a couple months what normal developers do over 3 years it's hard to figure out what you're really getting after.
– Justin Cave
Oct 10 '15 at 18:22
lets say those 10 projects are small project that were completed from the courses / track taken in online modern learning platform such as treehouse or codeschool
– jon220
Oct 10 '15 at 18:28
suggest improvements |Â
1
I'm sorry but comparing "3 years experience" against "10 projects" with no further information, is impossible.
– Jan Doggen
Oct 10 '15 at 17:48
what type of further information would you be looking for?
– jon220
Oct 10 '15 at 17:49
1
We'd need a lot more context. For example, why do you have 10 projects rather than 3 years of experience? A small project is going to take a few months of development so 10 small projects would seem to require at least close to 3 years. Unless you are talking about very, very small "projects" or you are trying to use things that you did as part of coursework as "projects" or you are saying that you are an amazing developer that can do in a couple months what normal developers do over 3 years it's hard to figure out what you're really getting after.
– Justin Cave
Oct 10 '15 at 18:22
lets say those 10 projects are small project that were completed from the courses / track taken in online modern learning platform such as treehouse or codeschool
– jon220
Oct 10 '15 at 18:28
1
1
I'm sorry but comparing "3 years experience" against "10 projects" with no further information, is impossible.
– Jan Doggen
Oct 10 '15 at 17:48
I'm sorry but comparing "3 years experience" against "10 projects" with no further information, is impossible.
– Jan Doggen
Oct 10 '15 at 17:48
what type of further information would you be looking for?
– jon220
Oct 10 '15 at 17:49
what type of further information would you be looking for?
– jon220
Oct 10 '15 at 17:49
1
1
We'd need a lot more context. For example, why do you have 10 projects rather than 3 years of experience? A small project is going to take a few months of development so 10 small projects would seem to require at least close to 3 years. Unless you are talking about very, very small "projects" or you are trying to use things that you did as part of coursework as "projects" or you are saying that you are an amazing developer that can do in a couple months what normal developers do over 3 years it's hard to figure out what you're really getting after.
– Justin Cave
Oct 10 '15 at 18:22
We'd need a lot more context. For example, why do you have 10 projects rather than 3 years of experience? A small project is going to take a few months of development so 10 small projects would seem to require at least close to 3 years. Unless you are talking about very, very small "projects" or you are trying to use things that you did as part of coursework as "projects" or you are saying that you are an amazing developer that can do in a couple months what normal developers do over 3 years it's hard to figure out what you're really getting after.
– Justin Cave
Oct 10 '15 at 18:22
lets say those 10 projects are small project that were completed from the courses / track taken in online modern learning platform such as treehouse or codeschool
– jon220
Oct 10 '15 at 18:28
lets say those 10 projects are small project that were completed from the courses / track taken in online modern learning platform such as treehouse or codeschool
– jon220
Oct 10 '15 at 18:28
suggest improvements |Â
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
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up vote
0
down vote
accepted
Let`s say a candidate had 10 projects completed, where these projects
translate into the knowledge and skills that someone with 3 years of
experience had, which of the 2 would an employer prefer?
As a hiring manager, I care most about knowledge and skills, just about as much about overall depth of experience, somewhat about years of experience, and not at all about number of projects.
I would argue that 10 projects in 2 years or less may not be the same thing at all as 3 years of experience. For many folks that might amount to a few months of experience repeated 10 times. Your mileage may vary.
This doesn't mean you can't apply for jobs which require 3 years of experience - it just means you don't meet that requirement.
answered Oct 10 '15 at 20:29
Joe Strazzere
223k104653921
Thank you for your input. What would you supplement to projects so that it can somehow make up for the lack of experience? Do you value online modern platforms such as codeschool or treehouse? If so, how do you assess them compared to traditional curriculum
– jon220
Oct 10 '15 at 20:39
thanks for your response. Hence, what would be the value of projects to you?
– jon220
Oct 10 '15 at 21:00
It is the type of projects and the depth of what you had to do in those projects that could overcome lack of years of experience. Once very large project where what you did was complex and, very importantly, exactly the kind of thing that I need for the position I am hiring for is better than 20 projects in the same time frame that were simple and not related to what I want you to do in this position.
– HLGEM
Oct 12 '15 at 18:25
suggest improvements |Â
up vote
2
down vote
Most of my experience with hiring has been to work on large programs. There was a qualitative difference from working on a program that one person can understand.
We did hire project-only new graduates, but expected to have to do a lot of training. All else being equal, I would have preferred a year or so of professional work on a large program to any number of small projects.
answered Oct 10 '15 at 21:14
Patricia Shanahan
16.2k53256
suggest improvements |Â
up vote
2
down vote
You can not quantify projects by counting them. Each project is different. A project can occupy each project member anywhere between a few person-hours and a few person-years. They can involve high technical competency and analytic skills, or just involve pushing papers or making mistakes other project members compensated for. The project result might have been a pinnacle of human ingenuity or a complete failure which accomplished nothing.
A figure of "completed 10 projects" is completely meaningless unless you know:
- What was the scope of each of these projects?
- What was the contribution to these projects by the candidate?
- What skills did the candidate apply in these projects?
- What were the results of the projects, and how much was the candidate responsible for them?
I'm not saying that holding a job for x years is a much better metric for competency. But it is at least one which is easy to measure, which explains its popularity in job descriptions. Most HR people are aware that it is not very meaningful, but it is at least some metric to communicate what skill level they are looking for. Not having the full x years of experience should not stop you from applying when you believe that you have skills which are on the same level as the average person after x years in the job.
answered Oct 11 '15 at 10:28
Philipp
20.3k34884
suggest improvements |Â
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
0
down vote
accepted
Let`s say a candidate had 10 projects completed, where these projects
translate into the knowledge and skills that someone with 3 years of
experience had, which of the 2 would an employer prefer?
As a hiring manager, I care most about knowledge and skills, just about as much about overall depth of experience, somewhat about years of experience, and not at all about number of projects.
I would argue that 10 projects in 2 years or less may not be the same thing at all as 3 years of experience. For many folks that might amount to a few months of experience repeated 10 times. Your mileage may vary.
This doesn't mean you can't apply for jobs which require 3 years of experience - it just means you don't meet that requirement.
answered Oct 10 '15 at 20:29
Joe Strazzere
223k104653921
Thank you for your input. What would you supplement to projects so that it can somehow make up for the lack of experience? Do you value online modern platforms such as codeschool or treehouse? If so, how do you assess them compared to traditional curriculum
– jon220
Oct 10 '15 at 20:39
thanks for your response. Hence, what would be the value of projects to you?
– jon220
Oct 10 '15 at 21:00
It is the type of projects and the depth of what you had to do in those projects that could overcome lack of years of experience. Once very large project where what you did was complex and, very importantly, exactly the kind of thing that I need for the position I am hiring for is better than 20 projects in the same time frame that were simple and not related to what I want you to do in this position.
– HLGEM
Oct 12 '15 at 18:25
suggest improvements |Â
up vote
0
down vote
accepted
Let`s say a candidate had 10 projects completed, where these projects
translate into the knowledge and skills that someone with 3 years of
experience had, which of the 2 would an employer prefer?
As a hiring manager, I care most about knowledge and skills, just about as much about overall depth of experience, somewhat about years of experience, and not at all about number of projects.
I would argue that 10 projects in 2 years or less may not be the same thing at all as 3 years of experience. For many folks that might amount to a few months of experience repeated 10 times. Your mileage may vary.
This doesn't mean you can't apply for jobs which require 3 years of experience - it just means you don't meet that requirement.
answered Oct 10 '15 at 20:29
Joe Strazzere
223k104653921
Thank you for your input. What would you supplement to projects so that it can somehow make up for the lack of experience? Do you value online modern platforms such as codeschool or treehouse? If so, how do you assess them compared to traditional curriculum
– jon220
Oct 10 '15 at 20:39
thanks for your response. Hence, what would be the value of projects to you?
– jon220
Oct 10 '15 at 21:00
It is the type of projects and the depth of what you had to do in those projects that could overcome lack of years of experience. Once very large project where what you did was complex and, very importantly, exactly the kind of thing that I need for the position I am hiring for is better than 20 projects in the same time frame that were simple and not related to what I want you to do in this position.
– HLGEM
Oct 12 '15 at 18:25
suggest improvements |Â
up vote
0
down vote
accepted
up vote
0
down vote
accepted
Let`s say a candidate had 10 projects completed, where these projects
translate into the knowledge and skills that someone with 3 years of
experience had, which of the 2 would an employer prefer?
As a hiring manager, I care most about knowledge and skills, just about as much about overall depth of experience, somewhat about years of experience, and not at all about number of projects.
I would argue that 10 projects in 2 years or less may not be the same thing at all as 3 years of experience. For many folks that might amount to a few months of experience repeated 10 times. Your mileage may vary.
This doesn't mean you can't apply for jobs which require 3 years of experience - it just means you don't meet that requirement.
answered Oct 10 '15 at 20:29
Joe Strazzere
223k104653921
Let`s say a candidate had 10 projects completed, where these projects
translate into the knowledge and skills that someone with 3 years of
experience had, which of the 2 would an employer prefer?
As a hiring manager, I care most about knowledge and skills, just about as much about overall depth of experience, somewhat about years of experience, and not at all about number of projects.
I would argue that 10 projects in 2 years or less may not be the same thing at all as 3 years of experience. For many folks that might amount to a few months of experience repeated 10 times. Your mileage may vary.
This doesn't mean you can't apply for jobs which require 3 years of experience - it just means you don't meet that requirement.
answered Oct 10 '15 at 20:29
Joe Strazzere
223k104653921
edited Oct 10 '15 at 21:03
answered Oct 10 '15 at 20:29
Joe Strazzere
223k104653921
answered Oct 10 '15 at 20:29
Joe Strazzere
223k104653921
answered Oct 10 '15 at 20:29
Joe Strazzere
223k104653921
223k104653921
Thank you for your input. What would you supplement to projects so that it can somehow make up for the lack of experience? Do you value online modern platforms such as codeschool or treehouse? If so, how do you assess them compared to traditional curriculum
– jon220
Oct 10 '15 at 20:39
thanks for your response. Hence, what would be the value of projects to you?
– jon220
Oct 10 '15 at 21:00
It is the type of projects and the depth of what you had to do in those projects that could overcome lack of years of experience. Once very large project where what you did was complex and, very importantly, exactly the kind of thing that I need for the position I am hiring for is better than 20 projects in the same time frame that were simple and not related to what I want you to do in this position.
– HLGEM
Oct 12 '15 at 18:25
suggest improvements |Â
Thank you for your input. What would you supplement to projects so that it can somehow make up for the lack of experience? Do you value online modern platforms such as codeschool or treehouse? If so, how do you assess them compared to traditional curriculum
– jon220
Oct 10 '15 at 20:39
thanks for your response. Hence, what would be the value of projects to you?
– jon220
Oct 10 '15 at 21:00
It is the type of projects and the depth of what you had to do in those projects that could overcome lack of years of experience. Once very large project where what you did was complex and, very importantly, exactly the kind of thing that I need for the position I am hiring for is better than 20 projects in the same time frame that were simple and not related to what I want you to do in this position.
– HLGEM
Oct 12 '15 at 18:25
Thank you for your input. What would you supplement to projects so that it can somehow make up for the lack of experience? Do you value online modern platforms such as codeschool or treehouse? If so, how do you assess them compared to traditional curriculum
– jon220
Oct 10 '15 at 20:39
Thank you for your input. What would you supplement to projects so that it can somehow make up for the lack of experience? Do you value online modern platforms such as codeschool or treehouse? If so, how do you assess them compared to traditional curriculum
– jon220
Oct 10 '15 at 20:39
thanks for your response. Hence, what would be the value of projects to you?
– jon220
Oct 10 '15 at 21:00
thanks for your response. Hence, what would be the value of projects to you?
– jon220
Oct 10 '15 at 21:00
It is the type of projects and the depth of what you had to do in those projects that could overcome lack of years of experience. Once very large project where what you did was complex and, very importantly, exactly the kind of thing that I need for the position I am hiring for is better than 20 projects in the same time frame that were simple and not related to what I want you to do in this position.
– HLGEM
Oct 12 '15 at 18:25
It is the type of projects and the depth of what you had to do in those projects that could overcome lack of years of experience. Once very large project where what you did was complex and, very importantly, exactly the kind of thing that I need for the position I am hiring for is better than 20 projects in the same time frame that were simple and not related to what I want you to do in this position.
– HLGEM
Oct 12 '15 at 18:25
suggest improvements |Â
up vote
2
down vote
Most of my experience with hiring has been to work on large programs. There was a qualitative difference from working on a program that one person can understand.
We did hire project-only new graduates, but expected to have to do a lot of training. All else being equal, I would have preferred a year or so of professional work on a large program to any number of small projects.
answered Oct 10 '15 at 21:14
Patricia Shanahan
16.2k53256
suggest improvements |Â
up vote
2
down vote
Most of my experience with hiring has been to work on large programs. There was a qualitative difference from working on a program that one person can understand.
We did hire project-only new graduates, but expected to have to do a lot of training. All else being equal, I would have preferred a year or so of professional work on a large program to any number of small projects.
answered Oct 10 '15 at 21:14
Patricia Shanahan
16.2k53256
suggest improvements |Â
up vote
2
down vote
up vote
2
down vote
Most of my experience with hiring has been to work on large programs. There was a qualitative difference from working on a program that one person can understand.
We did hire project-only new graduates, but expected to have to do a lot of training. All else being equal, I would have preferred a year or so of professional work on a large program to any number of small projects.
answered Oct 10 '15 at 21:14
Patricia Shanahan
16.2k53256
Most of my experience with hiring has been to work on large programs. There was a qualitative difference from working on a program that one person can understand.
We did hire project-only new graduates, but expected to have to do a lot of training. All else being equal, I would have preferred a year or so of professional work on a large program to any number of small projects.
answered Oct 10 '15 at 21:14
Patricia Shanahan
16.2k53256
answered Oct 10 '15 at 21:14
Patricia Shanahan
16.2k53256
answered Oct 10 '15 at 21:14
Patricia Shanahan
16.2k53256
answered Oct 10 '15 at 21:14
Patricia Shanahan
16.2k53256
16.2k53256
suggest improvements |Â
suggest improvements |Â
up vote
2
down vote
You can not quantify projects by counting them. Each project is different. A project can occupy each project member anywhere between a few person-hours and a few person-years. They can involve high technical competency and analytic skills, or just involve pushing papers or making mistakes other project members compensated for. The project result might have been a pinnacle of human ingenuity or a complete failure which accomplished nothing.
A figure of "completed 10 projects" is completely meaningless unless you know:
- What was the scope of each of these projects?
- What was the contribution to these projects by the candidate?
- What skills did the candidate apply in these projects?
- What were the results of the projects, and how much was the candidate responsible for them?
I'm not saying that holding a job for x years is a much better metric for competency. But it is at least one which is easy to measure, which explains its popularity in job descriptions. Most HR people are aware that it is not very meaningful, but it is at least some metric to communicate what skill level they are looking for. Not having the full x years of experience should not stop you from applying when you believe that you have skills which are on the same level as the average person after x years in the job.
answered Oct 11 '15 at 10:28
Philipp
20.3k34884
suggest improvements |Â
up vote
2
down vote
You can not quantify projects by counting them. Each project is different. A project can occupy each project member anywhere between a few person-hours and a few person-years. They can involve high technical competency and analytic skills, or just involve pushing papers or making mistakes other project members compensated for. The project result might have been a pinnacle of human ingenuity or a complete failure which accomplished nothing.
A figure of "completed 10 projects" is completely meaningless unless you know:
- What was the scope of each of these projects?
- What was the contribution to these projects by the candidate?
- What skills did the candidate apply in these projects?
- What were the results of the projects, and how much was the candidate responsible for them?
I'm not saying that holding a job for x years is a much better metric for competency. But it is at least one which is easy to measure, which explains its popularity in job descriptions. Most HR people are aware that it is not very meaningful, but it is at least some metric to communicate what skill level they are looking for. Not having the full x years of experience should not stop you from applying when you believe that you have skills which are on the same level as the average person after x years in the job.
answered Oct 11 '15 at 10:28
Philipp
20.3k34884
suggest improvements |Â
up vote
2
down vote
up vote
2
down vote
You can not quantify projects by counting them. Each project is different. A project can occupy each project member anywhere between a few person-hours and a few person-years. They can involve high technical competency and analytic skills, or just involve pushing papers or making mistakes other project members compensated for. The project result might have been a pinnacle of human ingenuity or a complete failure which accomplished nothing.
A figure of "completed 10 projects" is completely meaningless unless you know:
- What was the scope of each of these projects?
- What was the contribution to these projects by the candidate?
- What skills did the candidate apply in these projects?
- What were the results of the projects, and how much was the candidate responsible for them?
I'm not saying that holding a job for x years is a much better metric for competency. But it is at least one which is easy to measure, which explains its popularity in job descriptions. Most HR people are aware that it is not very meaningful, but it is at least some metric to communicate what skill level they are looking for. Not having the full x years of experience should not stop you from applying when you believe that you have skills which are on the same level as the average person after x years in the job.
answered Oct 11 '15 at 10:28
Philipp
20.3k34884
You can not quantify projects by counting them. Each project is different. A project can occupy each project member anywhere between a few person-hours and a few person-years. They can involve high technical competency and analytic skills, or just involve pushing papers or making mistakes other project members compensated for. The project result might have been a pinnacle of human ingenuity or a complete failure which accomplished nothing.
A figure of "completed 10 projects" is completely meaningless unless you know:
- What was the scope of each of these projects?
- What was the contribution to these projects by the candidate?
- What skills did the candidate apply in these projects?
- What were the results of the projects, and how much was the candidate responsible for them?
I'm not saying that holding a job for x years is a much better metric for competency. But it is at least one which is easy to measure, which explains its popularity in job descriptions. Most HR people are aware that it is not very meaningful, but it is at least some metric to communicate what skill level they are looking for. Not having the full x years of experience should not stop you from applying when you believe that you have skills which are on the same level as the average person after x years in the job.
answered Oct 11 '15 at 10:28
Philipp
20.3k34884
edited Oct 11 '15 at 10:52
answered Oct 11 '15 at 10:28
Philipp
20.3k34884
answered Oct 11 '15 at 10:28
Philipp
20.3k34884
answered Oct 11 '15 at 10:28
Philipp
20.3k34884
20.3k34884
suggest improvements |Â
suggest improvements |Â
1
I'm sorry but comparing "3 years experience" against "10 projects" with no further information, is impossible.
– Jan Doggen
Oct 10 '15 at 17:48
what type of further information would you be looking for?
– jon220
Oct 10 '15 at 17:49
1
We'd need a lot more context. For example, why do you have 10 projects rather than 3 years of experience? A small project is going to take a few months of development so 10 small projects would seem to require at least close to 3 years. Unless you are talking about very, very small "projects" or you are trying to use things that you did as part of coursework as "projects" or you are saying that you are an amazing developer that can do in a couple months what normal developers do over 3 years it's hard to figure out what you're really getting after.
– Justin Cave
Oct 10 '15 at 18:22
lets say those 10 projects are small project that were completed from the courses / track taken in online modern learning platform such as treehouse or codeschool
– jon220
Oct 10 '15 at 18:28