[Pdx-pm] An interesting idea this way comes

Austin Schutz tex at off.org
Fri Aug 6 16:24:35 CDT 2004


On Fri, Aug 06, 2004 at 01:16:01PM -0700, T. William Schmidt wrote:
> From the consultants point of view, I think we are all looking for the Bob 
> Kipe's of the IT world, but when they are in their hungry stage.  I want 
> someone to market ME to prospects, not see me as a possible match to some 
> arbitrary set of skills.  Do you ever wonder about the dilberts who write 
> these skill sets?  For example, do you ever wonder what in the world they 
> are trying to build when they require both Java and C/C++ proficiency in 
> the same person?  Java was created for minds that could not warp themselves 
> around C++, so if someone can hold his own professionally in C++, what 
> possible interest in Java would such a person have?

	Is that what the goal was? I've always figured it was created for
minds that didn't think C++ was slow or buggy enough.

> Yet to get an audience 
> one must be able to show current proficiency in both of these OO 
> languages.  If I could get in the door for an interview I could discuss the 
> roles of these two languages, and why Perl is actually superior for many 
> uses but I never get the chance since the head hunter rejects any but 100% 
> skill set matches.
> 
> 
> I once tried to hire someone to market just me but there just was not 
> enough money in it for both of us.  The Seattle proposal is both 
> interesting and very ambitious.  Ambitious because it focuses on Perl so in 
> addition to the usual problem of marketing talent, it intends to evangelize 
> Perl.  I wish them well and will stay tuned, and perhaps the marketing 
> right-stuff includes in depth knowledge of why Perl is better.  In a 
> perfect world it would either not be necessary or if it is, it would 
> work.  I am still hoping to find another Bob Kipe.
> 

	Along the same logic of your comments above, I'm a little leery of
a perl advocacy group. Yeah, I think perl is swell, but just like the
constraints above you really want the job to get done right, and maybe perl
isn't the right tool for the particular job, so you want someone who isn't
married to that particular set of skills.
	Maybe it would be more successful if there was a solution set of
common problems we can address with perl? On the other hand, I wouldn't
really know, not having worked as a consultant. It sounds inviting though.

	Austin


More information about the Pdx-pm-list mailing list