It's unfortunate that so many recruiters have this mindset. Instead of judging based on the time spent at places, ask why they're bored and what they would enjoy working on. If that lines up with your opening, then great. If not, then move on. See if they have and side projects or even work examples that they're passionate about... But by all means, don't judge based on something that is often times out of their control entirely.
I've been working in front-end development for the last decade, half of that freelance. I took my first full-time job in 2014. It was a contract-to-hire setup with an agency in DC. After working on contract for 4 months, they gave me an offer of $30k... For Washington DC. Needless to say, I politely declined, but that meant moving back to my home state in KY where tech jobs aren't a dime a dozen. After a 3 month gap, I landed a job with an agency that specialized in building and maintaining hospital and healthcare network websites. I was required to move to a nearby city for it, in Louisville KY. - The job lasted barely 6 months before the company closed the satellite office. I was told I could move across the country, or I would be let go. Because of my work history, I couldn't draw unemployment and my savings were pretty slim after the past year of running around all over the place. I took the first job I could land, at an autodesk reseller company. Three months after starting, there was a reorganization with my direct manager getting the boot, and someone with a "fine arts degree" replacing her... My new manager had no experience managing teams, no web experience at all, and she was running the entire marketing department. Needless to say, after a total of a year there the entire marketing department (5 people at that point), was shuttered. The CEO/HR tried to squirm out of it by firing everyone for "lack of performance", but thankfully most of us had proof that our jobs far exceeded the descriptions we signed up for and expectations were absolutely unreachable. I drew unemployment for the FULL 6 months following that, casually and carefully looking for my next job. I landed a role as a front-end designer at an elearning company and as of now I've been here a little over a year. That said, 6 months ago we went through a reorganization and more than a dozen of the staff were let go (out of 100 or so).
Moral of the story is, sometimes saying "I'm looking for exciting new projects and to learn new things!" sounds a hell of a lot better on a resume when compared to "my last company reorganized and no longer needed me, the one before that shuttered their marketing department, the one before that closed their local office entirely, and the one before that couldn't afford to offer a living wage in one of the most densely populated US cities..."
Things happen, I get it. That's why I talk to people to get the full story.
A few notes:
> "I'm looking for exciting new projects and to learn new things!"
Because literally everyone says this, this is a meaningless sentence. After all, no one is saying, "I want to be a maintenance programmer." Demonstrated desire to learn new things is what sets apart the doers from the talkers.
> Instead of judging based on the time spent at places, ask why they're bored and what they would enjoy working on.
I do, of course. I could write 1000 words on this topic but it's late and so I will just say that every developer wants to work on these projects, there are never enough openings on them to go around, and someone needs to write the code that keeps the lights on. A wise developer would 1) initially work hard on their own time to gain the skills necessary to be given these kinds of tasks at work, and 2) propose interesting projects with a direct business relevance at their current company before looking for new jobs elsewhere.
> maintenance programmer." Demonstrated desire to learn
> new things is what sets apart the doers from the talkers.
Okay but having worked myself on 2 maintenance-legacy-everybody-hates-projects, I realize that there is no interest of anyone that the projects get progressed. Reason these projects got into that state are always political. Of project #1 I did a 80% rewrite in 4 weeks - the original took 3 years and ate hundred thousands - of course my rewrite had to be discontinued. In fact nobody officially was allowed to work on it, except that I had to. Nice, right?
This is an extreme case but I find it the norm rather than the exception. Everybody is afraid of new things. And no, many devs do not want to learn new stuff. Might be true that everybody says this but who cares. I mean when I put on my CV every technology I know, recruiters become suspicious and say that doesn't make sense.
Maintenance projects bring in revenue for the company today—perhaps even most of the revenue. But they're not the future of the company. Perhaps these projects are serving out the remainder of a contractual obligation that is profitable but not wildly profitable. Perhaps they are feature complete and adding more risks complicating them. Perhaps this line of business is declining every year.
Companies put time and effort into projects with greater future returns.
Rewriting your maintenance project does not just affect you. It requires other people: QA, systems engineers, etc. It carries risk that something breaks. It requires energy and focus, when it is essentially a distraction from future projects. There is a moneymaking machine in the basement that requires turning the crank once an hour to continue working. You are the person employed to turn the crank, not rebuild the device. Get it?
When I say propose new projects, I mean new projects that make the company money. Work within to change the landscape of your job. Learning how to do that is infinitely more valuable and rewarding than a $10k bump at another company.
I've been working in front-end development for the last decade, half of that freelance. I took my first full-time job in 2014. It was a contract-to-hire setup with an agency in DC. After working on contract for 4 months, they gave me an offer of $30k... For Washington DC. Needless to say, I politely declined, but that meant moving back to my home state in KY where tech jobs aren't a dime a dozen. After a 3 month gap, I landed a job with an agency that specialized in building and maintaining hospital and healthcare network websites. I was required to move to a nearby city for it, in Louisville KY. - The job lasted barely 6 months before the company closed the satellite office. I was told I could move across the country, or I would be let go. Because of my work history, I couldn't draw unemployment and my savings were pretty slim after the past year of running around all over the place. I took the first job I could land, at an autodesk reseller company. Three months after starting, there was a reorganization with my direct manager getting the boot, and someone with a "fine arts degree" replacing her... My new manager had no experience managing teams, no web experience at all, and she was running the entire marketing department. Needless to say, after a total of a year there the entire marketing department (5 people at that point), was shuttered. The CEO/HR tried to squirm out of it by firing everyone for "lack of performance", but thankfully most of us had proof that our jobs far exceeded the descriptions we signed up for and expectations were absolutely unreachable. I drew unemployment for the FULL 6 months following that, casually and carefully looking for my next job. I landed a role as a front-end designer at an elearning company and as of now I've been here a little over a year. That said, 6 months ago we went through a reorganization and more than a dozen of the staff were let go (out of 100 or so).
Moral of the story is, sometimes saying "I'm looking for exciting new projects and to learn new things!" sounds a hell of a lot better on a resume when compared to "my last company reorganized and no longer needed me, the one before that shuttered their marketing department, the one before that closed their local office entirely, and the one before that couldn't afford to offer a living wage in one of the most densely populated US cities..."