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The Four Roles Model: Making Sense of Tech Roles for Tech Recruiters

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The Four Roles Model: Making Sense of Tech Roles for Tech Recruiters

Uncover how the Four Roles Model simplifies technical roles. Enhance your technical recruiting skills and tech talent acquisition strategies with this fresh approach

TechMap Co-founders

TechMap Co-founders

Co-founders

Or, How to Navigate the Wild Jungle of Technical Job Titles Without Losing Your Mind

This is a blog aimed at entry-level IT recruiters. This model is a simplistic one to help you make sense of it. It's part of our How to Become a Tech Recruiter series of blog posts.

We use a lot of fun analogies to try to explain complex technical concepts but this is an ultra-short summary of what we cover on TechMap - getting a full technical recruiter certification is indeed essential to deeply understand all those technical concepts.

What You'll Learn

  • Why the world of technical roles is so confusing
  • An entertaining analogy to simplify technical roles
  • How to use the Four Roles Model to become a tech recruiting ninja
  • Enhancing your technical recruiting skills with a fresh perspective

The Technical Role Circus: Why Is Everything So Complicated?

You've just become a tech recruiter: congratulations-you've entered a world where the multiplication of job titles rivals the rabbit population, and no two candidates ever fit in exactly the same way. It's like trying to solve a Rubik's Cube but with colors that change all the time.

But don't you worry! There is method to this madness. Behold, the Four Roles Model is your shiny new best friend to decode the chaos of technical roles.

All roles in tech somehow fit within this model. So the point of this article is to help you understand it so you can ask yourself "in which category of technical role does this one fits into?".

Enter the Four Roles Model

Think of the tech world as a big city. For it to function we need people to:

  1. Build the buildings - that's your software
  2. Maintain the infrastructure - keep the wheels greased
  3. Manage the city's data - all of that info
  4. Keep everything safe - from natural disasters and bad guys

Translated into tech speak we have:

  1. Application Engineering
  2. Systems Engineering
  3. Data Roles
  4. Security Roles

A Journey Through Time: The Evolution of Tech Roles

The 1970s: When Things Were Groovy and Simple

Gone were the days when life used to be so much easier. All that tech companies needed then were:

  • Application Engineers: Those who actually wrote the programs.
  • Systems Engineers: The guardians of the machines, better known as hardware.
  • Security Experts: The secret agents who kept all vital data out of prying eyes.

Fast Forward to the 2000s: Welcome to Complexity Town

Technology exploded, and with it, job titles multiplied like gremlins after midnight.

Application Engineering branched out into:

  • Front-End Engineers
  • Back-End Engineers
  • Full-Stack Engineers
  • Mobile Engineers
  • Embedded Engineers

Systems Engineering evolved into:

  • DevOps Engineers: The wizards automating everything.
  • Administrators: The heroes managing systems without necessarily coding—think System Admins, Network Admins, Database Admins.

The Data Boom

Enter the internet era. Data became the new oil.

Data Professionals emerged:

  • Statisticians: The original data geeks.
    • Data Scientists: Part statistician, part programmer.
    • Data Engineers: The architects building pipelines for the data to flow smoothly.

Security Gets Serious

As systems grew in size, so did security.

  • Site Reliability Engineers (SREs): The firefighters that make sure systems don't crash and burn.

How to Use the Four Roles Model Without Losing Your Sanity

Decoding Job Descriptions

Ever read a job description and felt, "Is this ancient hieroglyphics?" The Four Roles Model helps you break it down.

Example: A Data Engineering role at Spotify may require:

• Data Skills: Handle and analyze the data. • DevOps Skills: Automate systems and work with big infrastructures • Application Engineering Skills: Implement and maintain applications.

As an IT recruiter responsibilities, it's therefore important to discuss with the hiring manager to understand the tech talent acquisition strategies based on the exact needs of the job. If the data engineer needs a lot of DevOps skills it's not quite the same as a data engineer with lots of algorithmic knowledge for example.

Candidates are like the exotic birds, none are alike. Rather than hunt for the precise skills, consider their journey through the Four Roles.

Embracing Hybrid Roles

Modern tech roles are smoothies in disguise; they blend all.

  • DevSecOps: Mix DevOps with Security, and you get a superhero that automates systems and fights the villains. We've done a full blog about DevSecOps if you want to deep dive on this topic.

Data Visualization Engineer: Melds Front-End Engineering with Data Science to create storytelling out of numbers.

Why this matters to Tech Recruiters

  • Better Matches: Find the right puzzle piece for the right spot.
  • Speak the Language: Impress candidates and hiring managers alike with your newfound fluency in tech speak.
  • Strategic Advantage: Be ahead of the curve when it comes to acquiring tech talent.

Conclusion: How one become a tech recruiter rockstar

By embracing the Four Roles Model, you not only survived in this tech recruiting jungle but mastered it.

  • Understand what that fancy job title actually means in terms of core functions.
  • Recognize hybrid roles without breaking into a cold sweat.
  • Improve your technical recruiting game and rise above the masses.

Don your safari hat, harness the chaos, and make the Four Roles Model be your guiding light.