Dear recruiter

In April 2018, I wrote an article and published it on my personal blog. This is an updated version of the original post.

A few weeks ago I wrote a thread on twitter. I wanted this thread to be on my blog in an extended version. So here we go:

A recruiter sent me a message on Stack Overflow: He was looking for a Senior iOS Developer/iOS magician for a Berlin-based health startup promising the usual promises (Startup mentality, flexible working hours, a budget for conferences and hardware, cutting edge, international team, a decent salary...) He stumbled upon my profile and thought it to fit perfectly for that position. Although I told him that I’m not interested, he has made me think about some things.

I’m neither a Senior iOS developer nor an iOS magician/ninja/rock star... I wrote Enterprise iOS Apps as an employee for nearly two and a half years. Since one and a half months, I've been working as an iOS developer for Lidl Digital again as an employee. I consider myself to be a mediocre — sometimes really bad — iOS developer. If you want to convince yourself, you can do so on my Github profile.

I don’t like working after hours. “startup mentality” and “flexible working” sound to me like “lots of after hours”. I often feel ashamed of code, I wrote in the past and sometimes hacks I wrote yesterday. I think that's a good sign: I got better since then. In my experience, the cutting edge moves pretty quickly, so I don’t like “cutting edge-technology”.

I want to write robust, well designed, accessible, maintainable, high-quality code. I’m failing too often to do so. A year, a month or a week ago, I failed more often, so I’m fine with that. Sometimes I wonder: Why the heck does my employer pay me 2524€ per month for the shitty work I’m doing?

Oh, I think it’s important to share how much you earn. I make 2524€ per month for 42 hours per week after taxes and stuff. I’m unionized as I consider solidarity very important. I love to learn and to gain knowledge and share it with other people. Attending one conference a year isn’t enough to learn. A — formerly — secret dream of mine is to attend Apple’s annual WWDC.

I want to improve and learn new things every single day and I want my employer — as long as I'm not self-employed — to pay me for that. I’m white, young, and male and I want to use my privileges to make the world a better place for everyone. I want to work in a diverse team. I dislike hierarchies and open-plan offices. Constructive, honest feedback is very important to me. Oh, and I value communication on eye level.

As I wrote earlier: I see myself as a mediocre developer, but I want to change that and develop myself both on a professional and personal level. This needs more time, more energy and more failing and will lead to a lot more frustration, I guess.

I really like to take responsibility, so one day, I'd like to do things differently and run a business together with amazing people — this is my dream. Until then, I'd like to make as many mistakes as possible.

So another more realistic dream of mine is to work in a diverse, inclusive environment. I'd like to work on an app I use myself on a daily basis. Flightradar24, for instance, is one of those apps. But I’m too shy to apply for a job there. My dream is getting paid for developing open source software, learning and sharing my knowledge. My dream is getting paid enough to put enough money aside. You know, for when my washing machine and my glasses break at the same time and need to be replaced. Oh, and attending the aforementioned WWDC.

At the moment I see my job as a tool that pays the bills and enables me to do more interesting things than developing Enterprise Apps in my spare time. I’d like to change that one day.

If you want to hire me, here's my German CV. Maybe I should write an English Version of it as well 🤔