Experience - who gets the benefit of the doubt?

Bob Martin seems to have created a tempest with his apprenticeship model proposal, but it's worth remembering that it's not a new idea. There was at least one OOPSLA workshop on the Software Studio concept last century, and Ken Auer has implemented a related model at Role Model Software. I think Bob's raising the idea because he's had enough of crappy development and he wants to provoke some thoughtful responses (though that's just my impression). His article also triggered some related thoughts on how experience is treated in our industry.

One response to Bob's suggestion was that hierarchy somehow mistreated or devalued the more junior staff. It's quite true that this is one possible outcome, but the converse is also true. In non-hierarchical teams it's possible for the senior staff to be devalued! You can bring this into focus by thinking about a team of 2, one junior and one senior, and then asking yourself who should get the benefit of the doubt in a deadlock.

My experience is that many "juniors" think that they should get the benefit of the doubt. I've seen this attitude start immediately after graduation. I don't think that's right, or fair (but of course I'm arguing from an old guy's perspective). I've seen someone get upset because they didn't have carte blanche to replace existing frameworks, even though the changes would affect 30 people. I've seen someone simply defy the team conventions and go ahead and do it their preferred way, even after a team-wide discussion of the alternatives.

Everyone needs to understand that part of being a software developer is learning to *convince* people that your way is right - if other people don't understand, then you need to take ownership of the failure and find better ways to convince people. There is always going to be an "incumbent" position - sometimes incumbency is just the way it's done, and sometime incumbency is the older, more experienced person who perhaps can't articulate their position either. Someone needs to get the benefit of the doubt, and my leaning is towards experience.

I can't comment directly on the quality of very recent graduates, because I've stopped advising companies to hire them. My gut feel is that graduates come out with a good foundation for a career in software development, but still have a lot to learn. Sadly (for them) the salary for a graduate seems to be about $50K, and I can get people with 10-15 years of experience for just over $100K, and I'll take the more experienced person every time. I don't believe (as some people have implied) that mastery starts at 4 years and everything past that is wasted.