When is it too long for someone to return to a developmental role from other roles?
What would be the best way to bring people back to "their first love", that is, programming, from other roles, for example. sales, management, support, testing, etc.
This could be a problem given the current state of the economy.
I'm not talking about the CEO who last programmed ALGOL using punched cards, but someone who recently moved away from programming into a role they understand is not for them.
When is it too long "from programming" for someone to return the switch and make a useful contribution?
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I don't think travel time should be used to determine if a person is ready to return. I was a developer for a long time, moved to management and then to executive management, and finally decided that I had to get back to development. The key to my ability to do this was that while I was "away" I still followed the industry closely and I still did small projects to keep my skills (and my thirst for development) sharp.
So I was away for almost ten years and I went back to him and got a blast.
NTN,
Colby Africa
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I am afraid that the useless answer is that it is completely dependent on the person.
Just as I will never judge how long they have been in the industry, I also won’t judge how long they have been out of it - if they can be a helpful team member and contribute, then all that matters is ...
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If a person realizes that he is mistaken in a new non-programming position, then the "return" may work even after a while. He might even be a better developer than before, as he had some useful information somewhere else, perhaps on the bottom line.
If not, if he gets downgraded to a development monkey, then perhaps one minute is a long tool.
In general, this is a dynamic process. I have seen people change roles after 2 years, when at first they seemed to be fixated on programming and did not feel good doing "management", when later they could not develop normally, they liked the work they were doing now, and said, that they will never return.
And then, of course, this is the personality: The personality of the person and the personalities of the surrounding world: if someone from the group gets their leader, it may be more difficult to get back in line.
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I hope we have learned from the 2000 era, when many people from the humanitarian law fields were involved in IT to try and bridge the IT staff shortage. I am not saying that people from other fields cannot create great programmers, but I think they should at least have some logic / problem solving skills and some preparation.
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