Hire me for the things I do well now

One of the biggest BS we come across every now and then across the web is the following quote:

Don't hire people for what they do well today; hire them instead for what they will learn to do in the future.

I won't share any personal beliefs; instead, I'll share various opinions of some very gifted professionals I had the privilege to manage and collaborate with during the last decade, and you can judge accordingly.

# No-BS zone below

These are some answers I got as a Head or line-manager, and I am sharing them for you to process:

• I understand where you are coming from, but I don't want to learn another programming language or even switch to full-stack since I am old enough (around 35 years old) to repeat all the effort I made to master JavaScript during my twenties
• I refuse to learn how a web app gets deployed since I am a senior web developer, and this is the job of DevOps people, so I wouldn't say I'd like to deal with things outside my field
• My go-to technology is ReactJS, so I am not interested in splitting my time between ReactJS and VueJS since I rely a lot on ReactJS in my career, so I don't want to move away from my core skill. After all, I can easily find a job where ReactJS is needed, so let's keep it that way
• I feel great doing operations; my recent involvement in HR activities made me nervous since people are unpredictable, so I don't want to keep experimenting that way
• This managerial style that pushes me to make decisions on my own is new to me and makes me feel anxious and nervous since I prefer getting the final approval from my line manager and having such a reassurance on a daily basis. I have worked like this in the past, and it worked great, so this is what I want to keep doing
• I have been trying to adapt to my new duties as a senior person in this tech team for the last 2+ months, but this hasn't worked since the whole situation makes me nervous. I can't believe juniors dare to write comments across my pull requests or even keep debating after I give them a clear answer. This is so insulting and time-wasting for seniors like me to spend time with juniors. I miss the days when I was working with a small team of 1-2 maximum people, so I am resigning to move back to a smaller firm/team.
• I don't want to get this certification since certifications are useless nowadays for people of my experience level (more than 10 years)

# Conclusion

That said, it is understood that many people find it ideal to quote all this about the future, but experience tells a very different story.

People are scared, no matter if they are 25 or 45 years old and have 20 years of experience in the field. People want to feel secure and have the situation under control.

Experienced people, in particular, move with an agenda shaped over the years. They know what they like and what they don't. Learning new things, moving to a new domain, and mastering a new skill often are not their priorities. They know they can bring value with their existing skillset so they ask to be compensated very well for what they can do today. My skills are battle-tested, period. This is enough.

Now, we could say "yes, but entry-level people or juniors are not like that". This is a great point and totally different discussion. The main reason is that this quote doesn't apply that well to them since juniors don't tick the box regarding the first part, "Don't hire people for what they do well today." Obviously they do very few things well today.

Let's try to be a voice, not an echo across the web. Cheers!!