Re: Midrange Jobs National Discussion

["Steve Landess" <sjl_abc@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Scott -

My theory is that you can classify midrange programmers into four basic 
categories...

(By programmer, I mean analyst/programmer, programmer/analyst, or whatever 
you want to call them)

1) Super programmers
   (the cream of the crop)

2) Good programmers
    (above average)

3) Complacent, somewhat competent, Just-Do-What-It-Takes-To-Get-By 
programmers
   (people who are happy to stay in the same job forever, they usually 
catch on to a new concept after you show them two or three times)

4) Idiots
   (i.e., the person with 20 years of experience, but really has 1 year of 
experience 20 times)

Percentage-wise, I'd say that around 10% of the programmer population falls 
into category 1, 20% are in category 2, 40% are in category 3, and 30% are 
in category 4.

Some of those in the 4th category usually end up in IT management, since 
they are also very good at manipulating others into doing their work for 
them.  The ones that didn't brown-nose their way into IT management have 
fallen out of the market during the downturn of the last 7 or 8 years, and 
have either retired or gone on to other careers.

Many of those in the 3rd category are middle-aged and have retired or are 
about to retire from programming, and their companies will probably not 
replace them since they'll soon be moving to another platform or, in the 
case of large companies, are outsourcing the work to another company.

What that leaves in the current job market are those programmers that fit in 
the first two categories.

The category 1 programmers are either owners of software companies or 
highly-paid consultants with a backlog of clients.

Some of the category 2 programmer are working as consultants, but the 
majority of people in this category are employed in a full-time job and 
either happy with their current employment or scared sh*tless about changing 
jobs.

As usual, JMHO...

- sjl



----- Original Message ----- 
From: <itposition@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <midrange-jobs@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 3:01 PM
Subject: Re: Midrange Jobs National Discussion


> *** Please pay close attention when replying to a message on this list!
> *** If you want the reply to go to the list, use REPLY-TO-ALL
> *** Recruiters may advertise only permanent employment positions in this 
> list.
>
>
> (This is Scott Klement, if you don't recognize the E-mail address.)
>
> I've been reading this discussion, and I just wanted to give my thoughts
> on what I've observed:
>
> a) I recently had to hire an RPG programmer.  It was very, very difficult
>    to find someone.  I was not looking for familiarity with specific
>    software applications, just experience with ILE RPG, and would be
>    happy to train.
>
>    I only had a handful of applicants.  I think I received a total of
>    16 resumes.  Some of those were people who clearly didn't understand
>    what I was asking for.  Perhaps half of the resumes were from people
>    who had never programmed in RPG, but had worked in other languages
>    (Java, .NET, Visual Basic, ASP).  There was one resume from someone
>    who thought the position was for a truck driver!
>
>    Of the ones who actually had RPG experience, most did not have
>    ILE experience.  Those that did wanted to be paid very high salaries
>    (Double what I make, and I'm already one of the highest paid people
>    in our entire company.)
>
> b) I frequently get e-mails from managers and meet them at conferences,
>    and see messages in forums and lists (like this one) that say that
>    there's a shortage of RPG talent, and that it's not good for a company
>    to continue to bank on it.  In order to survive, they feel they have
>    to go to another language, such as Java, where there are so many
>    more programmers available.
>
> c) On the other hand, I've been watching the job openings.  I'm
>    semi-interested in finding a different job in my area, but there has
>    been virtually nothing available.   If there's such a shortage of
>    programmers, then why aren't there any openings?!
>
>    Even if I wanted to move out of the area (and I don't, I have a family
>    here) there appears to be next-to-nothing that I'm qualified for.
>
>    Many people consider me to be an expert in the field of RPG
>    programming.  I receive, and help, people all over the world with
>    programming questions.  I write articles all the time on the subject.
>    But I'm not qualified for any of the positions?
>
>    The positions all require specific software.  You must be familiar with
>    JDE or BPCS.  Usually (on top of that) they want some sort of higher
>    degree on the subject.  So, despite being someone that thousands of
>    RPG programmers look to for answers, I'm not qualified for very many
>    of the (very few) openings out there.
>
> d) I keep seeing people whining about how there's no colleges teaching
>    RPG or iSeries.   Since there's no jobs available, why would colleges
>    teach it?  But then, why is there a shortage?
>
> Seems to be some very big contractions in the industry.  I just don't
> understand how their can possibly be a shortage of programmers when there
> are so many people looking for jobs.  Isn't that a contradiction?
>
> And I've experienced both sides of the coin myself.    I just don't
> understand why.
>
> --
> This is the Midrange Jobs: Postings & Discussion (MIDRANGE-JOBS) mailing 
> list
> To post a message email: MIDRANGE-JOBS@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
> visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-jobs
> or email: MIDRANGE-JOBS-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx