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An open letter to Synergy developer hiring managers

By , Posted on May 2, 2019 at 12:58 pm

Dear Hiring Manager,

Congrats on your new Synergy developer hire! Recruiting isn’t easy, but now that you’ve found the right person for the job, the real hard work begins. The onboarding period should be used for training your new hire and setting their expectations about the job. This time is crucial, not only to ensure a smooth transition for your team, but also to make your new employee feel welcome. So where do you start?

Tell your Synergex account executive about your new hire

New Synergy developers in the DevPartner program are entitled to a welcome box full of goodies. This box contains educational materials like laminated cheat sheets as well as some fun Synergex-branded items. Don’t forget to mention the new hire’s T-shirt size when you reach out.

Download and modify the suggested 90-day plan

At Synergex, we use 90-day plans for all of our new hires. They are a key part of our onboarding strategy. We’ve created a template plan for you to download and modify from our education library. At the very least, we suggest grabbing the link for the new hire onboarding playlist on YouTube that is referenced in the plan and reviewing the other materials available in library.

Send your new hire to a Synergy DBL Language Essentials class

The best way to learn Synergy DBL is to take this class. Many developers prefer hands-on learning, and in this class, students will build a simple application in Synergy. You can either send developers to our headquarters for the standard five-day training or request a custom class at your location. If a class at HQ isn’t being advertised when you need one, that’s ok! Reach out to classes@synergex.com and we’ll see what we can do.

Have your new hire subscribe, join, or follow us on various platforms

We don’t like to bombard our customers with emails, so connecting with us on sites like YouTube and GitHub is the best way to stay in the know about new educational content. The Synergex Community is also the place for Synergy developers to get advice from their peers and make suggestions for Synergy/DE enhancements. Bookmarking our online documentation is also a great idea!

Call support early and often

Our support team is incredible, and their services are free with your Synergy DevPartner subscription. Encourage new hires to call in (toll-free from the US and Canada 800.366.3472 or +1.916.635.7300 for all other countries) or email (support@synergex.com) with any Synergy-related problems they may encounter. Our support team is made up of engineers who are more than capable of troubleshooting issues and helping you track down bugs in your codebase. They are also happy to report any product bugs you may encounter directly to our development team.

Attend a Synergy DevPartner conference

Our conferences provide a dedicated time to learn and immerse yourself in the latest and greatest in the Synergy/DE ecosystem. It’s free for DevPartner subscribers, and it’s a unique opportunity for your new developers to get face-to-face interaction with their Synergy developer peers and the Synergex team.

If you need help identifying any additional educational materials, please reach out to us! Congratulations again on your new Synergy developer, and best of luck with the onboarding process.

Sincerely,

The Synergex Education Team

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And you thought hiring good Synergy programmers was hard…

By William Mooney, Posted on July 31, 2015 at 2:05 pm

“Hiring good programmers is hard.” I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard this phrase during the past 30+ years I’ve been in this business. And, from my experience and research, I agree. A few customers have also told me that good Synergy programmers are harder to find than others, but over the years I’ve found that it doesn’t matter whether you’re looking for developers experienced in Synergy DBL, C#, Java, VB.NET, or any other language… hiring good programmers is just hard. The exception, of course, is the gaming industry, where a plethora of young talented programmers are excited to spend countless hours writing games for almost no money. Sort of reminds me of the early programmers who wrote business application solutions back in the day!

So, how do you find a good Synergy developer? Well, for starters, don’t limit your pool to developers experienced in Synergy. Find a great programmer and make him/her a master in the language you use. Any good programmer can learn Synergy, or C#, or Java, etc. But not every programmer who knows Synergy or C# or Java is or will become a great programmer. Seek out developers who have current modern day developer skills such as OO, .NET, etc. If they don’t already know Synergy, they’ll pick it up quickly and will appreciate that it is a modern OO language that runs on virtually all platforms, including mobile, and is fully integrated with Visual Studio. Then, send your new developers to a Synergex class, have PSG come on-site to get them up to speed, and (of course) send them to the annual Synergy DevPartner conference.

Tip: Consider domain knowledge specific to your industry. You are much better off hiring a good developer who is knowledgeable in your particular vertical market and teaching him/her DBL than vice versa.

Also, open the door to hiring developers with programming experience (vs. just having a computer science degree). When you look back at the early years of our industry there were very few universities offering programming degrees—most of the original developers of what are now world class enterprise applications had no formal education on programming. These developers had raw talent and enthusiasm to solve problems and create solutions. (Some of you reading this blog are likely those original developers!) This too is how Synergex started. In fact, many of our top talent never received formal education in programming. That said, I’m not recommending that you seek developers without formal degrees but I am encouraging you to focus on smart, eager developers whom you can train and educate to be part of your next generation of leaders. Here at Synergex we’ve developed and use a variety of third-party tests that can help vet sharp young talent—this talent has made a big impact on our development team. We would be happy to share the tools we use.

So you’ve advertised for a talented, trainable, language-agnostic developer, interviewed your candidates to confirm a good fit with your culture, vetted out analytical aptitude, and are convinced that your candidate will be a great addition to your team… What if the candidate turns the tables on you and asks, “Why would I want to program in Synergy DBL?” What do you say?

I recommend that you have this question answered in their minds long before they have the opportunity to ask it. Make sure your candidates all understand the value of Synergy DBL and the exciting opportunities they will have to work with these modern development tools. Let them know that skills they will gain using Synergy DBL will provide a lifetime of employment opportunities any place in the world they want to live and work.

Congratulations on hiring your next great programmer!

References:

http://www.roberthalf.com/technology/blog/why-a-good-java-developer-is-hard-to-find

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-so-hard-hire-technical-people-chloe-mills

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/career-advice/life-at-work/i-want-to-be-a-video-game-developer-what-will-my-salary-be/article22029750/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2013/06/05/are-programmers-in-cc-more-preferred-at-google-than-programmers-in-java/

http://spin.atomicobject.com/2015/07/15/language-doesnt-matter/

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/career-management/how-entry-level-developers-are-being-squeezed-out-of-the-job-field-and-what-they-can-do-about-it/

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I’m baaack…

By Don Fillion, Posted on August 27, 2009 at 4:28 pm

A few of you may remember me from my days with various software companies, where for many years I developed vertical market software. We may have rubbed elbows at an SPC, or met more recently while I was a Synergex PSG Consultant. After a really quick year or so in that role, I have now moved into a managerial position with Synergex, so, this is now Don Fillion, Director of Professional Services, kicking off PSG’s contribution to the blogosphere, the Synergy/DE PSG Blog!

As you are probably aware, we have some pretty fine consultants in the Professional Services Group: masters at working with customers to apply the technology Synergex develops. This blog is really their forum, a place for them to expound on their thoughts concerning software application development in the land of Synergy/DE (and beyond…!)—and hopefully pass along some insight gained during their various engagements. But it’s your place too, as we hope posts will engender some lively discussion.

So, welcome! If you have ideas or suggestions about future posts, or you would just like to discuss the latest technology trends and how they impact you, please feel free to email me at don.fillion@synergex.com. I look forward to working with you!

Don Fillion

PS… As I was researching weblogs, I came across some pretty cool sites. One of the best was LIFEHACKER – tips and downloads for getting things done. It’s kind of a toolbox and discussion forum for modern (techie) life. Check it out!

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