“You WANT to be pigeonholed. I'm #1 on Google because of being pigeonholed.”

http://www.philipmorganconsulting.com/blog/jonathan-stark-on-the-key-to

by philipmorg • 12 years ago

5 8 12 years ago

sdeveloper• 12 years ago

You don't understand what pigeonholing really means.

When programmers talk about pigeonholing it usually means they like Python and want to go at Python conferences where people talk about math, science and machine learning, but they are pigeonholed in Java EE and surrounded by people who only talk about POJOs and beans.

And to top it all off, Java experience is badly regarded in Python tech companies and long term pigeonholing usually cuts you off from the world you want to be in.

philipmorg3• 12 years ago

"they like Python and want to go at Python conferences"

What prevents them from doing this?

crazypyro• 12 years ago

Jobs that don't let (or help) developers go to conferences that appear to be of little immediate or long-term business value.

csixty43• 12 years ago

$1500 ticket prices and employers that won't pay unless it's directly related to the work you do?

csixty43• 12 years ago

I second sdeveloper's comment. This is about establishing authority, not being pigeonholed. Pigeonholing is something done to you regardless of what you do. Pigeonholing doesn't make you the #1 result on Google for a term. Pigeonholing tells you that because you're the #1 result for "French chef" in Google, you're not qualified to make tacos.

philipmorg3• 12 years ago

You're right, that part of the interview really was more about the fear of pigeonholing for the independent dev/consultant, not the actual results of pigeonholing for the FTE.

“You WANT to be pigeonholed. I'm #1 on Google because of being pigeonholed.”

Related Stories