Sport teams are always scouting for young talent. European Football franchises, for example, proportion a healthy chunk of their budget for this purpose. It seems that the trend has extended to the digital industry.
Facebook, actually Zuckerberg himself, recently appointed a 17 year old as an intern after the game he created, using Facebook’s proprietary developer kit, burst through the charts. Firstly, kudos to Facebook for diversifying the benefit of their applications, and secondly, kudos again as this significantly reduces the recruitment/scouting operation budget. Abstractly, if the game had churned out a dollar for Facebook, then the recruitment process might just even have been profitable.
What is it about youthful talent that attracts the big boys?
The progression of the world keeps accelerating and like it or not, what many of us learnt in college about our professions may now be obsolete, none more so true than that of the Digital profession. In the year 2000, I was completing my final year at school, for Computer Studies, we were being taught code in Turbo Pascal (already obsolete by this time). You have never seen a headline read, TURBO PASCAL HIGH SCHOOL GENIUS DRAFTED TO MICROSOFT. I guess, that what was being taught was the logic. Speaking to today’s high school students, languages like Java and Visual Basic are part of the syllabus. The young ones of today are surely being given the tools to succeed.
There is a special crop of personalities, who when placed in front of a keyboard, create a symphony code. It is these special ones that are sought out. Since Digital Technology has become a part of popular culture, who better to employ than someone who represents the market. Having someone like this work for you, creates a clearer vision of the goal. Having been born in a digital age, the youth of today, know no other world other than the one that includes technological amenities. For example, my grandfather told me childhood stories of how he did not have running water at his home, I am fortunate to have water at the snap of a finger. I do not know a world without running water. Born into it creates a certain entrenchment rather than the difficulty of adaption.
The irony of the situation is that the first batch of these interns will have to be guided by the old guard until professional maturity is attained. The seasoned professional is still very necessary as a mix of experience and youth is the ideal combination. The new recruits will one day be picking their replacements as they move on up the organogram, making place for the next teen sensation, all the while the cycle will continue.
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