It’s always great news when you are about to get a new hire or even more of them. That’s usually a sign that your company or business is growing. Now, there’s a catch to it: should you go exclusively for seniors in the industry, or give an opportunity to someone with less experience?

Software development is no stranger to this scenario. There’s a lot of rookies out there hoping for a chance to prove themselves, as well as senior programmers happily waiting to deny them the opportunity. 

Hiring someone with many years of expertise in the field seems rational and logical. On the other hand, giving a chance to someone with less experience - has a lot of upsides. In this article, we will focus on developers, but the points we’ll go through can apply to other areas as well. 

Junior and Medior Developers are Easier to Recruit

The process is faster, too. Every day the number of potential candidates is growing. They keep learning through formal and informal education, or in some cases even both. There’s endless potential and the amount of information available for free on the internet. 

These people won’t be too picky about your offer and terms of hiring, in comparison to the senior devs. You can expect the latter to have several job offers, as well as high expectations when it comes to salary and other perks. In other words, the selection process with more experienced programmers will probably be time-consuming and without a guarantee that you’ll hire them. 

Adaptability 

Whether your company has five or five hundred employees,there’s likely a unique style of coding present. In both cases there’s a huge advantage if they can adapt to their colleagues’ code quickly, understand and modify it. Where are we heading with this? 

Well, senior developers usually have a style that they’ve created on their own or adapted to it at the previous workplace. It’s a habit that can disrupt your team and take a lot of time to change. Junior and medior programmers are a much better choice in this situation, as they will quickly absorb any modifications and implementations you might require. 

Passion

Next, we can talk about motivation and passion. Let’s stride away from programming for a bit and take an example from sports. Imagine that you are a football manager with a task to get a new CF (center forward) player for your team. You go scouting and watching games, ending up with two choices: 

• A professional player close to retirement - Thirty years old, played for a lot of famous football teams. Two times Champions League winner, scores one goal per match on average. Not really a team player, likes to go solo for finishers. The compensation he asks for is high, but he didn’t give an impression of someone being enthusiastic about the transfer and giving it all out. Rather, it seems like he’s there just for the money. 

• A humble rising star -  Nineteen years old, scores one goal per match on average but has a lot of assists. It looks like he has a very strong bond with his teammates and leaves his heart on the field. He’s hungry for improvement and wants to work hard on it, which he can’t do in his current team because he’s outgrown it. You can see in his movements and the way he talks that he’s really in love with football. 

So, which one do you think would be a better choice for your team? The same can apply to acquiring junior and medior developers for your company. They will bring great enthusiasm and simultaneously a positive refreshment with your current employees. The seniors? They’ll most likely act almighty and want things done their way, with a minimal contribution. Of course, this isn’t a rule without exception, there’s a lot of great senior developers out there.

Pros and Cons of Hiring a Junior/Medior Developer

Now that we have covered the essentials, let’s try to sum up everything in this standoff and add a few honorable mentions. 

Pros 

• Easier to recruit and for the selection process in general 

• They will adapt to your coding style and the rest of the team quicker and with less effort in comparison to the senior devs

• In addition, junior and medior developers are more likely to fit your company culture in general and have the necessary soft skills 

• It goes without question that they will be a lot more motivated and passionate than their more experienced colleagues. Over time, they might just become the senior developers you’ve wanted all along. 

• Getting a chance to prove themselves early on in your company will most likely result in them being loyal and staying in your company for a long time, doing some quality coding, and enjoying being there.

Cons

• No immediate value - Medior devs often have experience to some extent, which sometimes can’t live up to the company’s expectations for a specific opening.

• Longer hiring process - The number of junior and intermediate developers filling out job applications is larger in scale compared to the seniors. Consequently, you’ll need to invest more time in choosing the right person for the job.

The way we see it, junior and medior developers contain huge potential. Some firms often underestimate them, thinking that experience is the most important ingredient for a good hire. What we are trying to say here - is quite the opposite. Great enthusiasm and fresh ideas, combined with good mentorship, can go a long way.