Great developers are raised, not hired
I officially mentored someone at my previous company and helped him move from a support tech role into a software dev position. It was incredibly rewarding.<p>But to play devil&#x27;s advocate for a moment, isn&#x27;t there something of a natural disincentive to level up one&#x27;s employees in such a tight labor market? To follow the author&#x27;s analogy, by mentoring someone, we&#x27;re effectively &quot;adding a fish&quot; to the pond, and if someone else &quot;catches&quot; the fish, that effort is largely wasted. One might argue that if <i>everyone</i> put more fish in the pond, then we&#x27;d all be better off (true), but we have a standard collective action problem where the free riders benefit at the expense of the fish growers.<p>I see two (partial) ways out of this trap.<p>1. Pay more than everyone around you. (Obviously, not generally viable.)<p>2. Make the culture of your company so awesome that people will want to stay, even if you can&#x27;t pay the most. Make mentoring&#x2F;growth a central strategy <i>at every level</i> so people will see a path to grow.<p>I&#x27;d be curious to hear other possibilities.