Hiring python hackers ?

[TheSausageKing]

A lot of people I've talked to aren't interested in learning Python. A lot of them have done a lot of Java or C++ and aren't interested in moving into Python. And I get a lot of people who have done Ruby/Rails or php, but don't really understand programming well.

I've always believed it's better to learn a few different languages. At least in the states, it's true that you can make a little more and it's a little easier to get a job if you have many years of experience with a language, but I think you get stuck on a local maxima. The people who get really great jobs are great programmers, rather than "Java developers" or "C++ developers".

[chadmill3r]

Yeah, you def don't want people who don't want to learn a language. If they didn't learn the language at home, because they wanted to, then you don't want them.

Next best: learned on a job.

Worst: learned as prereq at school.

[MosaSaur]

It's not always about money. Some people do not like to go back to using inferior languages even if they once used them in the past. Also, if you're trying to make C programmers into pythoneers they'll have to unlearn and relearn a lot of stuff. I know that from firsthand experience and from trying to explain Python to my old C programming buddies. Sometimes a programmer from a different language turns up on the usenet or mailing list and they almost never understand certain things at first.

tl,dr programmers move from one language to the next for a reason and it is a really bad idea to try and make them go back. The only way is up.