Re: employment with ada

[Ole-Hjalmar Kristensen <oleh@vlinux.voxelvision.no>]

DPH <rally2xs@compuserve.com> writes:

> On Mon, 05 May 2003 18:41:38 GMT, "P S Norby" <psnorby@hotmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "DPH" <rally2xs@compuserve.com>
> >Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
> >Sent: Saturday, May 03, 2003 11:03 AM
> >Subject: Re: employment with ada
> >
> >
> >
> >> 2) If they hire someone and train them in Ada, and designate them to
> >> program in Ada, all too often that person thinks to himself, "I'm
> >> learning a dead langauge, with nowhere to go if this project fails or
> >> completes" and the next thing you know, that person is in an exit
> >> interview, looking for a job that will provide "marketable skills."
> >>
> >
> >Given that JSF is the biggest DoD contract ever, and will last several
> >decades ('til 2050, according to someone on the "Nova" program on PBS about
> >the competition between Boeing & LMCO), one would think that that would be
> >enough prestige and security (if there is such a thing these days) to
> >overcome some programmers' doubts about language.
> >
> >And given that LMCO receives several hundred (or thousand?) resumes for each
> >posted position, you would think there would be more than enough who are
> >willing to do the job in Ada.  (and how about screening out the non-willing
> >_before_ hiring/training them?)
> 
> Any given Ada-speaking-only SW Engineer could and should be concerned
> about:
> 
> 1) Getting laid off in spite of the hot project - "stuff" can happen.
> 
> 2) Wanting the freedom to decide they don't want to work at the same
> place their whole career, and maybe live in some other state besides
> Texas or Georgia or wherever.
> 
> 3) Maybe wanting to not get underpaid because the employer knows you
> don't have much of an option to go anywhere else because this, at 10
> years later, is the only Ada island, or maybe one of the 3 remaining
> Ada islands (and the other 2 are in places where it goes down to 38
> below zero in the winter) in the country.
> 
> 4) Maybe just plain getting tired of Ada programming but not being
> able to leave with the narrow skillset.
> 
> Dave Head
> 

Yes, sadly there are too many employers who look mainly at prgromming
language skills. In my experience, knowledge of a speecific
programming language or specific tool is probably the least important
skill in a project of any size.

-- 
Ole-Hj. Kristensen

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