I've never hired someone myself, but as a programmer here's what I'd
consider a bare minimum for the majority of tech positions out there.
They don't need to be experts in every single one of these, but they
need to be able to give a coherent explanation of what the technology
does, and should be comfortable going into files in any of these
languages and changing or fixing them.

- HTML
- XML
- CSS
- JavaScript
- At least one of ASP.NET, C#, Java, Perl, Python, or PHP
- SQL

Ideally they should be comfortable with administering your production
operating system of choice, at least at the level of a personal
development instance or workstation.

Hope this helps,
Steven Huwig


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of
> Sanchez, Edward
> Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2012 3:32 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [CODE4LIB] Library programmer skills
> 
> Hey code4libers,
> 
> I would welcome your suggestions as I develop a proposal for a new
> full-time programmer line hopefully to be added to my current Library
> IT department of four (including myself).
> 
> We are an Innovative/Encore/Research Pro/Synergy Library so we do
> little programing in terms of discovery.  We are however involved in
> beta-testing for Sierra which when ready will have a new open DB
> architecture and API's.  I would like this position to help the
Library
> leverage that somehow.
> 
> Something you should know about our campus ... the university powers
> that be have been successful so far at limiting open source platforms
> on campus to the single campus web server (RHEL, Apache, PHP) that
> includes the Library site! Everywhere else OSS is verboten. This is a
> struggle for us at times because much of what is grant-funded in the
> library world produces open source tools that we cannot utilize unless
> hosted elsewhere.
> 
> This means we have SharePoint which we find useful for many solutions
> but not feasible for heavy hitting external facing web interfaces.  So
> we outsource: bepress, libguides, contentdm, ares, illiad, wordpress,
> libraryh3lp, etc.
> 
> Lately during a website migration we had to step up to do some fairly
> complex batch text manipulation, that project was followed by another
> involving many lines of JAVA code for a program to produce EAD
> formatted XML.  There were also many database changes and the
> development of a delivery platform for that EAD.  We have also
utilized
> JQuery to create a mobile site for the Library and have several legacy
> database to web applications that need to be updated.
> 
> Add to this the fact that Libraries are at a moment of great
> opportunity in terms of reaching new users (data management), content
> digitization (archives and special collections), and linked data.
Much
> of this is relevant to coding so besides seeking someone who can walk
> on water what skills would you recommend we seek in an entry-level
> position at a great university?
> 
> Your help is appreciated.
> 
> Ed
> 
> ***************
> Ed Sanchez
> Head, Library Information Technology
> Marquette University
> V: 414-288-6043
> M: 414-839-9569