????硅谷對于天才軟件工程師的需求絲毫沒有減弱的跡象，無論是谷歌（Google）這樣的業界巨頭還是Snapchat這種風頭正勁的小公司，越來越多以消費者為中心的企業都愿意在員工薪酬和福利上一擲千金。但同時，公司老板們自然也希望看到物有所值，這就意味著，他們對員工的期望值變得更高。

????遠的不說，只要研究下斯坦福大學（Stanford University）計算機科學課程CS194，你就會看出軟件工程學科在過去十年內的變化有多大。每季度末，這門課的學生們就要提交自己的期末設計。“十年前，能夠做出微型網頁伺服器的小演示就已經算是相當不錯的成就了，”拉姆齊?斯里尼瓦桑說。“如今，你必須能夠完成功能齊全的網頁或手機應用程序”。斯里尼瓦桑于2003年畢業于斯坦福大學并擁有計算機科學學位，如今，他經營著一家叫做Counsyl的基因疾病測試初創公司，公司擁有40名工程師。

????當然，要做到這一點，你也必須擁有更加廣泛和更為先進的工具。（今天，筆記本電腦微處理器的性能都已遠超circa Y2K），因此，像Django（一種開源網頁框架）這樣先進的軟件工具就可以用來很快地構建出數據龐大復雜的服務器，比如Pinterest和Instagram。

????“我們解決了一系列棘手的問題，可以讓人們去做一些曾經很少有人有精力和耐心去做的事情，”Facebook公司工程總監佩德拉姆?克亞尼說。2007年，克亞尼從谷歌跳槽到Facebook，普遍認為是他構建了Facebook賬戶防護與攔截垃圾郵件基礎架構的核心部分。如今，他的職責包括幫助挑選工程師候選人以及運作Facebook編程馬拉松（hackathons）。

????Facebook沒有透露公司具體收到過多少應用程序，但克亞尼說他們在挑選人才的眼光要比7年前更加敏銳。“以前，如果我們有三個空缺職位，一般只會有10個人前來面試，”克亞尼說。“如今，同樣數量的職位卻能吸引到更多的候選人。”雖然克亞尼說他會更重視聰明和熱情而非經驗。但有報道稱，要申請Facebook公司高級工程師職位，必須具有豐富的經驗。據最近一期《紐約時報雜志》（New York Times Magazine）報道，Facebook公司幾十位工程技術經理在跳槽來這家社交媒體公司之前，就已經在甲骨文公司（Oracle）做到了高管職位。篩選候選人如今也成為一種綜合性考量，既要考察解決問題、設計系統的能力，也要考察候選人的性格是否與公司文化相符，比如是否善于溝通、善于團隊合作，是否能夠為了項目的順利進行而收斂鋒芒等。

????PureStorage公司聯合創始人兼首席技術官約翰?考格雷夫認為，他創辦的這家企業存儲初創公司最看重快速思考、行動高效以及在工程方面有天賦等因素，而不是簡歷上羅列出的過往經驗。相較于上世紀90年代甚至本世紀早期，這都是徹頭徹尾的改變，當時考格雷夫還在維爾軟件公司（VERITAS Software）工作。維爾軟件是一家技術備份軟件公司，2005年與賽門鐵克公司（Symantec）合并。“現在所有變化都很快，”考格雷夫說。他所指的是產業創新。他說：“如果一個人剛畢業就進了IBM，工作15年，把好幾年的心血都花在某件事情上，這樣做其實是在毀了自己。”

????Hearsay Social是一家社會化媒體營銷管理平臺，公司首席技術官兼創始人史蒂夫?加里蒂說，軟件工程師也被要求在公司中直接與消費者互動，為他們解決問題。他說：“人們對那些支配著他們日常生活的軟件設計者們的要求越來越高。”

????正如加里蒂一樣，本地服務平臺Thumbtack公司首席執行官兼聯合創始人馬爾科?贊帕科斯塔要求公司13位軟件工程師必須做到全能。在招聘之初，公司團隊就在尋找那些能夠直接提升Thumbtack公司整體用戶體驗而不僅僅只滿足于完成分配任務的人。這樣的篩選流程意味著，這家初創企業從每150個候選人中只能雇用一位軟件工程師。他舉例說，2011年4月，一位軟件工程師提出改善Thumbtack登錄體驗的方案，即用戶無需手動輸入登錄信息，認證系統會根據用戶郵箱地址和網頁瀏覽歷史記錄為用戶自動登錄。贊帕科斯塔說：“他之所以能帶來這樣偉大的革新是因為，他不僅是以用戶為中心，而且還清楚地知道整個系統的架構。”（財富中文網）

????Demand for talented software engineers is as high as ever, with companies throwing huge salaries and perks at new employees gravitating toward consumer-focused businesses ranging from leviathans such as Google (GOOG) to buzzier, smaller outfits like Snapchat. But rising expectations from some employers also mean expectations are reaching stratospheric levels.

????Look no further than CS194, Stanford University's computer science course, to see how far engineering has evolved in the last decade. At the end of each quarter, students in the class present their final project. "Ten years ago, a mini-demo of a mini web server was quite the accomplishment," explains Ramji Srinivasan, who graduated from Stanford with a Computer Science degree in 2003 and now runs Counsyl, a genetic disease testing startup with 40 engineers. "Now, the expectation is to have a fully functioning website or mobile app."

????Of course, much of that has to do with broader, much more advanced set of tools available now. (Today's desktop microprocessor is vastly superior to one circa Y2K.) So, too, advanced software tools like Django, an open-source web framework, are used to rapidly create complex data-heavy services like Pinterest and Instagram.

????"We've solved a crazy set of problems that allows people to do what once very few people had the energy and patience to do," explains Pedram Keyani, Director of Engineering for Facebook's (FB) site integrity team. Keyani, who joined Facebook in 2007 from Google, is widely credited with building core parts of Facebook's infrastructure responsible for protecting accounts and fighting spam. Now, his duties include helping vet engineering candidates and running Facebook's hackathons.

????Facebook won't disclose how many applications it receives, but Keyani says they're more discerning now about new hires vs. say, seven years ago. "If we have three positions to fill, we used to have 10 people interview for those," offers Keyani. "Now we'll have an order of magnitude more people that interview for those same positions." While Keyani says he prioritizes smarts and passion over experience, competition for a senior engineering role at Facebook reportedly calls for more outside experience. To wit, dozens of Facebook engineering managers climbed the ranks at Oracle (ORCL) before working at the social network, according to a recent New York Times Magazine report. And screening candidates is now a comprehensive experience, with interviews for raw problem-solving ability, designing systems, and cultural fit: whether they communicate well, work well in teams, or can put their ego aside for the sake of a project.

????PureStorage co-founder and CTO John Colgrave says the enterprise storage startup prizes fast-thinking, raw speed, and nimbleness in an engineer over reams of resume experience. That's an about-face from the 1990s and even early-to-mid-2000s, when Colgrave worked at Veritas Software, a backup software company that merged with Symantec in 2005. "Things are moving faster now," argues Colgrave, referring to industry innovation. "The guy who came out of school, went to IBM (IBM) for 15 years, and worked intensely on something for a few years is doing himself a disservice."

????At Hearsay Social, a social media marketing management platform, software engineers are expected to also directly interact with customers and problem-solve on the business side, says Steve Garrity, CTO and founder of Hearsay. "We're asking more and more of the people who build the software that runs our lives everyday," he admits.

????Like Garrity, Marco Zappacosta, CEO and co-founder of the local services platform Thumbtack, wants the company's 13 engineers to be versatile. When hiring, the team seeks out individuals who aren't just content with being assigned work but able to directly contribute to improving Thumbtack's overall user experience, a vetting process that means the startup only hires one engineer for every 150 applicants. He points to an instance in April 2011, when one of his engineers proposed improving the Thumbtack log-in experience with an authentication system that eliminated the need for users to manually type out their log-in information and automatically gave them entry based on their email address and previously visited sites. Explains Zappacosta: "He was able to bring great change about because he was very user-centric but also aware of how the system was built."