There's an old saying that applies to every software developer: the more you know, the more you grow. And this also applies to the companies they work for.
To compete, today's companies must be agile. There is simply no way to avoid it. Businesses must be able to pivot quickly. Otherwise, the competition will leave them in the dust. But it's not just about competition with other companies. Technology is in a constant state of evolution. Gone are the days when your company could simply deploy standard client-based applications and be done with it.
Now you need web apps, mobile apps, scalable containers, IoT, edge computing, Big Data – each of which requires special skills. Without this flexibility, your company cannot adapt. If you can't adapt, you won't be successful.
To achieve any level of agility, you need programmers capable of creating the software needed to extend your backend and the services you offer. You might think that all you need to do is hire software engineers who are proficient in Java or JavaScript or Python or Ruby or .NET . The truth, however, is that you will need more than one language to get the job done.
Because of this, you probably assume that you will need to hire a team of Java developers, a team of JavaScript developers, a team of Python developers, a team of Ruby developers, and a team of .NET developers. That would certainly be one approach.
Or you can encourage your programmers to broaden their skills beyond a single language. Why would you want to do this? Wouldn't hiring a master of a single language be a more productive approach than hiring an engineer with less proficiency in multiple languages?
But what about the programmer who has a high degree of understanding of a language, but also knows other languages? Let's take a look at how having multilingual programmers (programmers who know more than one language) can benefit your company.
Earning Potential
This may seem a little counterintuitive. After all, we are talking about the programmers you hire for your company. Why would you encourage your engineers to do something that would make them more attractive hires for other companies?
The answer is simple: having the best programmers allows you to attract new customers or expand your services. You can hire suitable new programmers, or you can expand the earning potential of your current engineers. Where is the benefit in this? Sure, you might end up having to offer pay raises to these developers, but it shows that you're more than willing to invest in them.
So don't just encourage your current staff to expand their skills, but be willing to help pay for that training. Every time you invest in these employees, you increase their loyalty to you. The advantage here is that they can, in turn, do more for your company.
More skill = more options
Your CTO may be eager to dive into the realm of Kubernetes and containers. If you don't have developers with these skills, you won't succeed in this challenging task. You can hire a developer with this skill or train your current developers for the task. As these developers increase their skill set, your company will have more options and be able to advance its technology far beyond its current status.
If you don't encourage your programmers to broaden their skills, your business will get stuck in a rut, and that's no place for any company right now. In fact, as technology continues to advance, it becomes increasingly complex. Your developers are forced to put together pieces that were not previously needed. You are dealing with different APIs with different requirements and different languages, frameworks to build various types of applications. With just one language under control, these developers will have a hard time making things happen.
Languages come and go
This is a difficult reality to face. A programming language can be trendy one minute and no longer used the next. If you have a software engineer who falls victim to this, they can quickly become irrelevant and unusable. You don't want that.
Instead, you want programmers who are not only future-proofed against fads, but who are also able to adapt and learn new languages quickly. With a team of programmers who can make these changes, there's nothing your company can't do.
Reputation, reputation, reputation
If your company outsources programming to other businesses, you want to be known as a company that can do anything. If you are labeled as a one-trick pony, not only will you lose business, but you will also have trouble gaining new customers.
However, if customers see you as a company capable of succeeding at any task, your business will grow. With programmers who have expanded their skills beyond a single language, you can bet your company's reputation will serve as a beacon to steer customers in your direction.
Troubleshooting and fundamentals
If your programmers only know one language, they may have trouble solving every problem that arises. Given how quickly companies evolve now and how challenging the technologies that power them have become, you can bet that the obstacles your engineers will face could be daunting. When you hire programmers who know more than one language or encourage your software engineers to expand their skills, their ability to solve increasingly complex problems increases greatly.
You want programmers who are able to approach a problem from multiple angles, not just one. With this in place, you can rest assured that the issue will not only be resolved, but also in a timely and reliable manner.
Additionally, each time a programmer learns a new language, they reinforce the fundamentals, which means they will be better able to solve the problems at hand.
Conclusion
There's an old saying that applies here: the more you know, the more you grow. With each language your engineers learn, not only do their skills increase, but your company's potential for growth increases exponentially. Therefore, encourage your programmers to diversify with new languages. This is the best win-win you will find.
Source: BairesDev
