I just spoke to Dean.  He started his new job a month ago as a PHP Developer for a great company in Cardiff and he’s really enjoying it.  Great!

I remember Dean well, he’s a good coder and was passionate about PHP – the qualities we of course look for when interviewing any candidate – passion, skill and attitude.   But what really stood out for me was when Dean told me about his “bright idea”.     We hear a lot about different projects, problems that have been overcome and how the team dynamic works for Developers etc, but what about that extra little bit of magic.  What about that little bit of fabulous that made all the difference to a project, or to the team?

In Dean’s case, he’d been working with some good coders in a fair size team and they were working well and to a tried and trusted method.  But Dean had a flash of inspiration that he took to his line manager.  His bright idea was implemented and had an immediate impact on the time they took as a team in producing a small but reoccurring coding task.  It wasn’t breaking boundaries and it wasn’t redefining the way we code, but it was a tweak which saved time and therefore money.

The point is, that this is something we’ve all probably done.  I was thinking hard about my work in the last year or so – what bright idea have I had that has made a difference, big or small to 100%?  Well I’ve just hired a Technical Support Engineer to join our team and give us an edge when it comes to assessing candidates.  We already carry out technical tests, but this takes it to the next level and has made us just a little bit better.

So what about you?

It’s well worth giving yourself some thinking time and come up with the bright idea you’ve had and what affect it had to the business.    It could be something that you took for granted and haven’t given thought to since.

We’re talking about getting the edge on interview.    Interviews are all about standing out from the field and it’s the added value you can offer that might just tip the scales in your favour, as it did with Dean.   It’s the horse that finishes first, by a nose, that wins 10 times the prize money of the horse that finishes second, by a nose.    Your bright idea could well be the nose extension your looking for!