I expect they want people who are willing to be persistent in working on hard problems that might be challenging or require learning new skills. I don’t see the implication others are drawing with grinding, long hours, overwork, etc. I don’t love the term grit as it’s been popularized but still I think the ability to deal with frustration and keep moving in the right direction on hard problems is a valuable one. A person who displays this quality can be expected to do well when faced with a job that requires learning a new programming language or working in a difficult field (including non-programming things like nonprofit work or counseling).
Grit is not synonymous with overwork. Grit is more about, when something is hard, not just looking for an easier task, but continuing to focus on the problem at hand. It doesn’t mean being a hero and figuring things out on nights and weekends. It might mean patiently reaching out to the people who can help you, following up when others drop the communication, taking responsibility for chasing requirements, etc.
Grit can also meaning sticking to your guns when it comes to boundaries and thus preventing burnout.
I guess I just would caution folks to not read too much into this word. It’s not a strong signal of anything, put it together with everything else that you see from the company. Some people just read the book Grit and want to use the term
Unfortunately, how people understand words depends on their own experiences of it, and not a few people have been made to feel bad about “not having enough grit” just so that they can exploited for longer hours and less pay.
But I appreciate your healthy understanding of the word. When I was younger, that was how I understood grit, and it is still how I see it when I am working alone on the things that I am most passionate about. I guess the solution here is for the person hiring to be aware of how their own usage of words might be interpreted. If you already know that “grit” can be taken negatively but at the same time you want to attract people who are passionate about your craft, then you really need to pay attention to people’s reactions and rethink your comms strategy.
>I guess I just would caution folks to not read too much into this word. It’s not a strong signal of anything, put it together with everything else that you see from the company. Some people just read the book Grit and want to use the term
However when a company or individual within a company uses this word in conjunction with recruitment I believe they are asking for: Long hours, loyalty, the ability to overwork.
There is huge corporate incentive to find people like this and people within the company are more likely to be looking for this, when they use that word "grit."
A manager who does not use that word tends to have much more empathy for his employees.
Grit is not synonymous with overwork. Grit is more about, when something is hard, not just looking for an easier task, but continuing to focus on the problem at hand. It doesn’t mean being a hero and figuring things out on nights and weekends. It might mean patiently reaching out to the people who can help you, following up when others drop the communication, taking responsibility for chasing requirements, etc.
Grit can also meaning sticking to your guns when it comes to boundaries and thus preventing burnout.
I guess I just would caution folks to not read too much into this word. It’s not a strong signal of anything, put it together with everything else that you see from the company. Some people just read the book Grit and want to use the term