How can I help a software developer gain skills *outside* of software development?
Our company is a small SaaS shop with a small team of in-house software developers.
We take professional growth very seriously. I talk to each of the developers that I manage about personal learning objectives and push each one of them to continue to study and improve themselves. We even have a (modest) budget to purchase books and video courses to help employees stay sharp.
However, whenever I bring up professional development with one of our software developers, she insists that she would like to develop skills in areas outside of programming. She has asked that we allow her to work on graphic design and marketing projects during work hours in addition to her duties as a developer. I have tried to explain that we hired her to do one kind job and not other random tasks to no avail.
Since she is a fairly productive employee this isn't really a reason to let her go. I can't see how we would be able to have her work as a programmer and a designer simultaneously.
What, if anything, can I do to help this employee find what she's looking for?
software-industry career-development human-resources manager career-switch
asked 10 mins ago
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Our company is a small SaaS shop with a small team of in-house software developers.
We take professional growth very seriously. I talk to each of the developers that I manage about personal learning objectives and push each one of them to continue to study and improve themselves. We even have a (modest) budget to purchase books and video courses to help employees stay sharp.
However, whenever I bring up professional development with one of our software developers, she insists that she would like to develop skills in areas outside of programming. She has asked that we allow her to work on graphic design and marketing projects during work hours in addition to her duties as a developer. I have tried to explain that we hired her to do one kind job and not other random tasks to no avail.
Since she is a fairly productive employee this isn't really a reason to let her go. I can't see how we would be able to have her work as a programmer and a designer simultaneously.
What, if anything, can I do to help this employee find what she's looking for?
software-industry career-development human-resources manager career-switch
asked 10 mins ago
e9845873e9845873
1
New contributor
e9845873 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
Our company is a small SaaS shop with a small team of in-house software developers.
We take professional growth very seriously. I talk to each of the developers that I manage about personal learning objectives and push each one of them to continue to study and improve themselves. We even have a (modest) budget to purchase books and video courses to help employees stay sharp.
However, whenever I bring up professional development with one of our software developers, she insists that she would like to develop skills in areas outside of programming. She has asked that we allow her to work on graphic design and marketing projects during work hours in addition to her duties as a developer. I have tried to explain that we hired her to do one kind job and not other random tasks to no avail.
Since she is a fairly productive employee this isn't really a reason to let her go. I can't see how we would be able to have her work as a programmer and a designer simultaneously.
What, if anything, can I do to help this employee find what she's looking for?
software-industry career-development human-resources manager career-switch
asked 10 mins ago
e9845873e9845873
1
New contributor
e9845873 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Our company is a small SaaS shop with a small team of in-house software developers.
We take professional growth very seriously. I talk to each of the developers that I manage about personal learning objectives and push each one of them to continue to study and improve themselves. We even have a (modest) budget to purchase books and video courses to help employees stay sharp.
However, whenever I bring up professional development with one of our software developers, she insists that she would like to develop skills in areas outside of programming. She has asked that we allow her to work on graphic design and marketing projects during work hours in addition to her duties as a developer. I have tried to explain that we hired her to do one kind job and not other random tasks to no avail.
Since she is a fairly productive employee this isn't really a reason to let her go. I can't see how we would be able to have her work as a programmer and a designer simultaneously.
What, if anything, can I do to help this employee find what she's looking for?
software-industry career-development human-resources manager career-switch
software-industry career-development human-resources manager career-switch
asked 10 mins ago
e9845873e9845873
1
New contributor
e9845873 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 10 mins ago
e9845873e9845873
1
New contributor
e9845873 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 10 mins ago
e9845873e9845873
1
New contributor
e9845873 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 10 mins ago
e9845873e9845873
1
asked 10 mins ago
e9845873e9845873
1
1
New contributor
e9845873 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
e9845873 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
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Check out our Code of Conduct.
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whenever I bring up professional development with one of our software developers
So, don't bring it up, she's not interested in doing things that directly benefit her existing role and therefore potentially the company, so rather than talk to a brick wall, focus on those who are.
I train people in things I don't need them to do, but in the full knowledge that they will leave and apply those skills elsewhere. It's not a potential danger, it will happen. So in terms of retaining staff it's not good for the company. I do it for other reasons and don't want to retain those staff.
answered 6 mins ago
KilisiKilisi
114k62250439
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whenever I bring up professional development with one of our software developers
So, don't bring it up, she's not interested in doing things that directly benefit her existing role and therefore potentially the company, so rather than talk to a brick wall, focus on those who are.
I train people in things I don't need them to do, but in the full knowledge that they will leave and apply those skills elsewhere. It's not a potential danger, it will happen. So in terms of retaining staff it's not good for the company. I do it for other reasons and don't want to retain those staff.
answered 6 mins ago
KilisiKilisi
114k62250439
add a comment |
whenever I bring up professional development with one of our software developers
So, don't bring it up, she's not interested in doing things that directly benefit her existing role and therefore potentially the company, so rather than talk to a brick wall, focus on those who are.
I train people in things I don't need them to do, but in the full knowledge that they will leave and apply those skills elsewhere. It's not a potential danger, it will happen. So in terms of retaining staff it's not good for the company. I do it for other reasons and don't want to retain those staff.
answered 6 mins ago
KilisiKilisi
114k62250439
add a comment |
whenever I bring up professional development with one of our software developers
So, don't bring it up, she's not interested in doing things that directly benefit her existing role and therefore potentially the company, so rather than talk to a brick wall, focus on those who are.
I train people in things I don't need them to do, but in the full knowledge that they will leave and apply those skills elsewhere. It's not a potential danger, it will happen. So in terms of retaining staff it's not good for the company. I do it for other reasons and don't want to retain those staff.
answered 6 mins ago
KilisiKilisi
114k62250439
whenever I bring up professional development with one of our software developers
So, don't bring it up, she's not interested in doing things that directly benefit her existing role and therefore potentially the company, so rather than talk to a brick wall, focus on those who are.
I train people in things I don't need them to do, but in the full knowledge that they will leave and apply those skills elsewhere. It's not a potential danger, it will happen. So in terms of retaining staff it's not good for the company. I do it for other reasons and don't want to retain those staff.
answered 6 mins ago
KilisiKilisi
114k62250439
answered 6 mins ago
KilisiKilisi
114k62250439
answered 6 mins ago
KilisiKilisi
114k62250439
answered 6 mins ago
KilisiKilisi
114k62250439
114k62250439
add a comment |
add a comment |
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