Developer Skill Matrix: Useful or Harmful? [closed]

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In a big corp, they often ask developers to fill in a matrix of what skills they have at what level. It's generally seen as a bit of a pain but is it actually useful, or another way for bureaucrats to try and reduce developers to a bunch of numbers on a spreadsheet?

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Skills matrix are only partially helpful, they are good at giving you a general picture of your current "experience".

However these skills matrix does not include the most important aspect, the ability to learn.

This is the most important skill in IT in my view. And everyone learns at different speeds.

Eg. Throwing guy A into a new technology stack, and how long before he/she is productive?

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Since IT/software development is a very wide field I regard skill sheets as quite useful. I used to be a Linux expert and my skill sheet reflected that. Then I shifted into iOS/Mac development and my now-employer asked me to fill out a skill sheet tuned to Mac... and I immediately noticed that I was novice in this field back then ;-) Vice versa, they were able to see whether I can fit into the company and where (in which team).

So of course they can be harmful if you lack the skills, but I think they make choices for employers easier (and I regard a big skill sheet in my CV as the most important part of the CV, even more so than the list of projects done).

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The usefulness is totally dependent on what is being assessed. I work in an insurance company and this was done for all staff here. There was no category that I fit into and all the criteria were irrelevant.

I can see the benefit of assessing relevant criteria, it can identify weaknesses and target training, but those criteria need to be defined by someone who knows what you might not know.

Most of all, don't berate the bureaucrat for simplifying a complex object into a manageable set of information. As a programmer that's what you should be doing every day.

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I think it is appropiate on big corps, but for small and specialized consultancies I would make a personal interview.

In big corporations if you dont fit in one place you may fit in other... in small teams I rather do personal assessment .