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Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!mdlrth.dnet!casado
From: casado@mdlrth.dnet (Ben x2302)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Unknown government training?
Message-ID: <8902280023.AA20727@rutgers.edu>
Date: 27 Feb 89 21:41:57 GMT
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List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>


>   This is a common problem in the government.  The majority of the 
>   government's software is in COBOL, and a good many of its programmers
>   know nothing about C, PASCAL, etc.  The major reason for this is that
>   the government can not recruit people with any type of CS degree.  How
>   many CS majors out there would be willing to start at $14,000?  But a
>   lot of secretaries, computer operators, and low level managers are 
>   willing to become 'programmers' in order to reap the riches of computer
>   industry.  I worked for the government for awhile and everything was
>   done in COBOL with a little systems work done in Algol(Burroughs shop).
>   Management kept saying that the DOD had mandated ADA as a programming
>   language of the future but from what I saw, only about 10% of the
>   programmers would be able to comprehend ADA or would be willing to try.
>   Personally, I don't see the government completely switching from COBOL 
>   to ADA because of the expense of conversion, cost of training, and 
>   resistance to change.  However, the trend in the government is to contract
>   out this type of work, so who knows.


Dear Mr. Alan Beal:

     My name is Ben Casado, I am currently working at Lockheed Electronics
Corporation, Plainfield N.J., and I am writing in response to the comments
you made in February 26.  Perhaps instead of a statement, what you should have
written was a question to the people involved in this activity, to find out 
what the government is doing as far as training their personnel in Ada 
technology. 
     Perhaps you were involved with the government for a few years and 
not that much was being done for the sake of training personnel in the Ada 
language, but I worked with the government for two years and received an 
education and training in Ada that made me very marketable in private 
industry.  In my first year with the government I was send to Texas to get  
trained in Ada and Software Engineering.  After that year I was transferred   
to the Communications and Electronics Command, Ft. Monmouth N.J. to continue 
my training.  There I developed a wide variety of projects in Ada, and also 
received an educational package that helped me obtained a masters in Software 
Engineering at Monmouth College.  
     The department of the army, more in particular AST at CECOM Ft. Monmouth
N.J., is doing serious training in Ada and Software Engineering and is 
investing a lot of money to get their personnel trained.   Perhaps you should 
do a little research and learn about what is been done by this organization.
I am speaking in defense of the department of the army, and I am sure that the
others branches of the DOD are investing as well.  
     Before you get involved in a public activity such as this one and make
unbacked allegations about the DOD, perhaps a little research should be
done on your part.  
     If you Mr. Beal, or any other is interested in finding more about the
training that I received in order to learned what is being done at the 
government, call at (201) 757-1600 ext 2472, or after hours at (201) 359-2296.

 Ben Casado
 Lockheed Electronics Corporation,
 Advanced Programs.
 lecgwy!mdlrth.dnet!casado@rutgers.edu