Friday, August 17, 2012

How much is experience worth?


During the Facebook IPO in May, UBS lost more than $350 million as a results of a glitch in their systems that re-sent buy orders and accumulated 40 million shares that would have to be sold at a loss.

As a software developer, it's not difficult to imagine the type of glitch that might cause such an issue. Something as small as comparing a value to null or improper error handling can cost a company hundreds of millions of dollars, which begs the question, how important are the architects and developers creating these systems?

It's easy to understand the importance of experience when building something as physically monumental as a sky scraper. People's lives depend on the quality of design and workmanship. Unfortunately, many companies don't see their enterprise software in the same light. They balk over the cost of senior talent and begrudge resources for quality control, then end up spending much more in damage control when systems fail.

How can we nurture a corporate culture that recognizes the value of experienced talent and proactive quality control?

0 comments:

Post a Comment

With so many attempts to post spam in comments, I'm forced to approve each one before it is visible. Please be patient as I may not get to it right away.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.