How useful would it be for a recruiter?In martial arts there are a minimum number of trainings, not years of practicing, to be evaluated for a higher level. I saw some exceptions but there are rare.In software, maybe this would be valuable to express experience in particular technologies such as OO, OR/Mappers or specific DBMS.
Can programmer experience be expressed in hours of coded like hours of flight for a pilot?
experience;recruiting
Once you clear 10,000 hours it's all relativeFrom Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, it can be shown that 10,000 hours of continuous active learning (about 10 years at 20 hours per week) is required to become an expert in a particular skill.I'd say that the rule is transportable to programming, even allowing for changes in frameworks and techniques. I'm thinking exposure to design patterns, methodologies and so on.If you then follow the Dreyfus model of skill acquisition then it seems that the following may hold true (I'm just filling in numbers as I feel - there's no citation):Novice (0-1,000 hours)Advanced beginner (1,000-4,000 hours) - most commonCompetent (4,000 - 6,000 hours)Proficient (6,000-10,000 hours) - longest periodExpert (10,000+ hours) So to enable you to filter your candidates, perhaps apply these values to each of the levels of experience you require in your top skills (allowing for general overlap due to exposure, e.g. a Spring expert will surely have competent XML).Now, comes the tricky part - just how are you going to prove that they're telling the truth? Perhaps it's time to break out Fizz Buzz and Guess a number.