How do you find companies that hire for broad experience and aptitude?

Look for companies that don't do the Computer Science Trivial Pursuit hiring process. Then probably filter to companies where you are building something core to the business and the job isn't stuck in the IT department which is usually treated as a cost center.

Smaller tech companies usually will have more of a need for broad experience and aptitude because they don't have departments of XYZ specialists like large companies often do.

Then filter by stuff that interests you in some way. It doesn't have to be a passion, in my opinion, since you are working on someone else's product/passion. It would help but just being excited about whatever it is they build helps.

It would be cool if you could put postings out there like "Hey do you like coding? like working with others? like __some_domain__? We do __some_domain__ using XYZ tech, come talk to us." I believe the HR folks like to put requirements down because it gives them something to filter on that is easily defensible should employment law get in the mix.

My team is looking for people that fit this description, feel free to email me (address in my profile)

Large consulting firms (e.g., McKinsey & Company, Bain & Company, and Booz Allen Hamilton) often look for broad experience and aptitude.

Many companies I’ve worked for are pretty open-minded in terms of having a broad range of technical experience and I don’t think I’ve ever met every single requirement in a description for a job that I’ve accepted. You should never ignore an interesting job posting that doesn’t fit your background 100%, especially in this job market.

I’d encourage you to figure out what YOU want to work on and find companies that give you the opportunity to do those things. That said, this is a difficult question to answer because I’ve always looked at those requirements as what I’ll wind up doing for that particular company. I wouldn’t want to take a role that didn’t clearly define what I would be working on, and most companies are going to expect you to work on some platform/product/whatever consistently.

You might have to define broad experience and aptitude. Most people have it, it comes with years.

But generally startups require them. The early stage ones especially, but plenty of established ones do too. Research also benefit a lot from breadth.

I noticed American companies are much more likely to specialise, because the market rewards the best. Developing countries are likely to have lots of markets that are poorly addressed, so they get into research more.

It’s hard to properly assess someone’s intellect, overall skills and, ability to adapt & learn in a few hours of interviews. Much easier to pass candidates through a sieve and pick from the remaining few.

Good luck in your search.

I feel the harder question is finding companies that hire for broad experience, aptitude, and are willing to pay you more than a fresh grad at MANGA.

This attitude has always struck me as a bit weird. I read it as "the whole industry is wrong and I am right" somehow. Everyone else has learned how to play the game, why haven't you?