In the past 3 weeks I’ve had conversations with 1 CTO and 2 VPs Engineering who told me the same thing, with emphasis.

It’s hard enough to compete for great software talent - it’s even harder when you are making air conditioners, cameras and communications equipment. But that’s not even the hardest part. The hardest part is recruiting great software engineers and product managers to come to a company like theirs and write the really mundane infrastructure software for provisioning and updating hardware for connected devices.

While their friends are working on big data, AI/ML, Web3 and advanced security algorithms, you’re trying to convince a group of bright developers to build a new FOTA tool and remote diagnostics software for a cellular gateway running a custom RTOS that the last team built. Due to supply chain and traditional planning cadences, the development cycles in many physical product industries is long. So the other downside is that their hard work won’t see the light of day for months or years. Literally.

The turnover is maddening. We have a customer that has had three product managers on the same solution just in 9 months. Deadlines are missed and they are scrambling over quality issues that exacerbate missed windows of opportunity.

There is a shortage of great talent and they want meaningful, career-advancing work. Let experts who invested years and millions of dollars in DeviceOps software solve that problem and do those jobs. Use your budgets and limited hiring capacity to attract great developers and product managers to do the cutting edge work that truly makes a difference in your business, and their lives.

Stay Connected!

- Michael

Our Connected World is a new creation of (hopefully) relevant, insightful and perhaps funny content that I share weekly (fingers-crossed). It is written for anyone interested in the Connected Product Economy. I always welcome feedback and an opportunity to engage. Write anytime to michael@edgeiq.io. And please forward this to anyone you think may be interested.