Talent vs Tokens

Dilbert Comic Strip, August 31, 2000

There are two ways to assess potential hirees: you can try to assess their talent for the task or you can try to extrapolate from the their experience, from the tokens of success that they bring to the table. The higher up the chain you go, the further you get from the nice, safe, "if you have this qualification, you are appropriate" model and the less likely that the candidates will have exactly the right experience. There are many programmers, but few CTOs. There are many IT support staffers but few CIOs.

A big part of what makes cybersecurity so tricky is that hiring the right senior technology leader (CTO/CIO/CISO/CSO) is so tricky. A big part of what makes hiring technologists so tricky is that we fall heavily into the Talent camp, at least for the bulk of our careers. When technologists are looking for a job, having a provable talent is more important than having a credential. Our resumes don't have to glitter with qualifications, they have to be full of relevant experience.

But what is the relevant experience for a technologist to be promoted out of technical contributing and into management? There isn't any. By definition, at some point we have to move from writing code to writing performance reviews without experience in writing performance reviews. We get to write our first programs in school, but we have to write our first performance reviews on the job.

Alternatively, what is the relevant experience for a manager to start managing technology deployment or development? There isn't any. At some point you have to start managing technologists even if you are not a technologist yourself. You learn about management in school or early in your career, but you have to learn enough about technology on the job.

These kinds of transitions are scary because they are leaps of faith. Someone has to believe in you enough to give the chance to gain the experience that proves that you were a good choice in the first place.

Part of our approach at Pythia Cyber is "real world consulting." If you technology team is not up to building a cybersecurity program, we don't simply walk away, or tell you call us when you have more talent. We work with you to determine what skills are missing and which old dogs can learn new tricks.

We suggest that you avoid the temptation to seek only unicorns, people who are technically savvy, good leaders, good managers and good executives. Unicorns exist but you cannot rely on finding them whenever you need them.

Are technical certifications useless? No, because they tell you something even if they do not tell you everything you need to know. Is raw talent a guarantee of success? No, because talent is only part of the equation, a necessary-but-not-sufficient part of the equation.

Hiring good people is not easy. Hiring good senior people is hard. But knowing that you are looking for and what you need is a huge step forward and we can help you with that.