Comment by blobbers

I think it's time to start separating what is a software developer.

Is a software developer someone willing to learn new languages and uses software to solve problems? Or is a software developer someone who knows latest.js and writes front end code or someone who writes C code to makes the LEDs on the machine blink.

There are two opposing hiring methods: * hire for positional skills * hire people not positions.

At a smaller scale, maybe you need to to just be a flexible person who can do anything. But how many start ups are going to hire a 35 year old C programmer to do js front end, or type coffee script? Yes that's 35 year old may have learned a lot of lessons along the way, but at their stage in life they're also going to likely cost you more and in all likelihood have more responsibilities outside of work.

Myself, I'm a generalist. I have programmed all levels of the stack. Consequently though, I can't claim deep mastery of many specific areas that a lot of "skill" positions require. On the hire "people" not positions, perhaps I can fulfill those roles but in doing so, as I become more senior I leave a lot of my skills sitting in the toolbelt to do a narrow software task (at a mega corp) and my lifestyle isn't well suited for the grind of startups (many many hours). Sometimes feels a bit of a catch-22