Comment Re:The 30 and 40-somethings wrote the code... (Score 1) 553
That's precisely the problem.
"digital native" means someone that expects technology to "just work"...
...and considers it unacceptable when a system requires tinkering.
On a recent trip through the IKEA labyrinth, I noticed a few RGB LED strips. They have a controller that lets you pick any color for the lights. The tinkerer in me thinks that's great, but the practical user wonders why I'd ever change it from my favorite. I'd rather have two separate controllers to suit the two ideals.
For a development team, that translates into two very different design paradigms. On the tinkerer side, the end product is much like Linux - very configurable, open, and able to do anything the user wants. A "digital native", on the other hand, would design a product more like OS X, where all of the functionality is configured from the start as the designers want it, with more emphasis on immediate usability right out of the box.
I think the philosophical differences are valid hiring criteria. If I'm building an application that needs configurability, I don't want a developer that thinks his preference will be suitable for everyone else. If I'm building an application that I expect my mother to use, I don't want a developer who thinks every aspect of the system is within the user's domain.
However, I'm quite certain it's possible to get both approaches from developers of any age. Stereotyping a particular demographic as having a particular attitude is just as discriminatory as any other criterion.