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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-GB link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>It’s worth also looking at what other professions do. Few lawyers would insist on you having a degree in law. Similarly for accountants etc. In fact many people in those professions would prefer that if you’re going to do a degree you do something in a different field. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>In an interview for my first ever job as a programmer the director who headed the division told me that in his view classically-trained musicians make the best software engineers. I can’t remember the details now but it sounded very plausible at the time. So interesting to see your comments, Rory.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> Chat [mailto:chat-bounces@lists.lrug.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Rory Sinclair<br><b>Sent:</b> 06 June 2014 11:32<br><b>To:</b> Scott Matthewman<br><b>Cc:</b> London Ruby Users Group<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [LRUG] [JOBS] Looking for a Ruby developer<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"'>Hi Scott,<o:p></o:p></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"'>I think the point everyone is trying to make - with varying degrees of subtlety - is that your original ad stipulated a degree in CS, SE or related subject, which Bronwyn and yourself then contradicted. I think the take-away is to omit that from job ads in future, if you genuinely feel that such a thing isn’t an absolute prerequisite.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"'>To make sure I wasn’t being a Massive Hypocrite, I just checked our own job ads - we stipulate ‘degree educated’, since we prefer people who have been to university, though we don’t require that degree to be in anything specific. (In fact, our most senior engineer has a degree in Music). In light of recent discussions, we may remove this stipulation entirely, however, or reword it to make it clear that a degree would be seen as a plus, not a requirement.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"'>Best of luck with the hiring!<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"'>Regards<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>-- <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Rory Sinclair<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Head of Technology<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>ASMALLWORLD<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div><p><span style='color:#A0A0A8'>On Friday, 6 June 2014 at 10:18, Scott Matthewman wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></p><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 8.0pt;margin-left:0cm;margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt'><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Can I just say that, as Lead Developer here at evvnt, I promise to *never* hold anyone's university qualifications, lack thereof or otherwise, against them should they be awesome enough to come join our team.<o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Unless they diss my taste in music. Then the gloves are off. :-)<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Seriously, if anybody's interested and wants to find out a little more about our dev platform and how it's growing in more detail, I had hoped to be at Monday's LRUG meeting. Unfortunately I have a scheduling conflict which means I can't now make it, but I'm accessible both at this email address and at <a href="mailto:scott@evvnt.com">scott@evvnt.com</a> instead.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Cheers<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Scott<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><br clear=all><o:p></o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><b>Scott Matthewman</b><o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><a href="mailto:scott@matthewman.net" target="_blank">scott@matthewman.net</a><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://matthewman.net" target="_blank">matthewman.net</a><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://twitter.com/scottm" target="_blank">Twitter (@scottm)</a> | <a href="http://facebook.com/scott.matthewman" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://uk.linkedin.com/in/scottmatthewman/" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>On Thu, Jun 5, 2014 at 5:56 PM, Matthew Ford <<a href="mailto:matt@bitzesty.com" target="_blank">matt@bitzesty.com</a>> wrote:<br><br><o:p></o:p></p><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>> " so I can't say why people, in general, have it as a requirement on job adverts." </span><o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Perhaps you should write your own ads then rather than copying others *cough cough*</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>-Matt<o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><br>_______________________________________________<br>Chat mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Chat@lists.lrug.org">Chat@lists.lrug.org</a><br><a href="http://lists.lrug.org/listinfo.cgi/chat-lrug.org" target="_blank">http://lists.lrug.org/listinfo.cgi/chat-lrug.org</a><o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal>_______________________________________________<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Chat mailing list<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><a href="mailto:Chat@lists.lrug.org">Chat@lists.lrug.org</a><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://lists.lrug.org/listinfo.cgi/chat-lrug.org">http://lists.lrug.org/listinfo.cgi/chat-lrug.org</a><o:p></o:p></p></div></div></div></blockquote><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></body></html>