A colleague emailed me this question today: “I'm looking for Agile and extreme programming jobs, and I keep seeing stuff like this. Are there really people searching for jobs described as having extreme workloads?” Here's what he saw:
“incumbent regularly works under deadlines and is capable of handling extreme workloads”
Ok, I have several reactions here.
- Clearly the tool to match keywords doesn't understand Agile and extreme programming. There are tons of other places where the tools don't work, but the searches people put in place are triggering these non-matches as matches.
- Why would anyone want a job where the organization is playing schedule chicken or some other schedule game?
- Why would a candidate want a job with an extreme workload?
I must be missing something.On the other hand, this ad will certain screen out reasonable people who recognized that regular deadlines and extreme worksloads are the mark of a death march environment. So, maybe it's not as stupid as I thought.
Thanks. I always enjoy your insights.
Your colleague is obviously a wimp.
The real men that this ad is aimed at would respond by ripping off their shirts and shouting “You think your job’s tough?! Hah! There ain’t no job I can’t handle! Lead me to it!”
Ads like this with their “are you tough enough for us?” attitude are a straightforward appeal to the macho.
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