We don’t hire commodity workers

Last night at the aimWest Innovation panel a great statement was mentioned by one of the panelists that stuck in my mind. “We don’t hire commodity workers.” That short, one sentence, line provides a great deal of insight into the culture, direction and fortitude of the company, department and team members. Not just top down, but even the expectation placed on fellow coworkers.

In today’s environment, especially within the tech arena, there’s a large demand for talented people. The gotcha is it’s not a demand for someone who can just take a spec and write some code, or someone who just pulls a cable from point A to B. For teams to be effective all members have to hold the skill set to communicate, think analytically, question and deliver.

The day of the one trick poney is done. Companies want collaboration, collaboration doesn’t work with commodity talent.