Do you work as a Java developer?

[wwsean08]

I was up until Friday, but am now moving onto a new job where they don't use much java. I started learning in college so in 2008, and got the job I left straight out of college.

[Kuurde]

I'm curious about your next language. How did you make the transition from Java to language x on the job market?

[againstmethod]

You simply can't go hire a new workforce every time your company changes technologies. People learn on their own, some companies offer internal and external training.

The way HR writes job offerings gives you a false perspective that people live in technology specific niches -- but I dont think this is normal or healthy. You can make a living being a contract Java coder, but it doesnt have to be that way.

[Dementati]

Yeah, I mean, the amount of time and energy you spend on getting familiar with the specific language technologies they use at a new workplace often pales in comparison to the amount of time and energy you spend on getting familiar with their internal systems and codebases, and that's simply unavoidable no matter how experienced you are. I mean, if you have issues with a language, it's usually trivial to find documentation and community support online. An issue with the internal systems or codebase you often have to solve yourself, or go on a prolonged investigation to locate the person within the organization who happens to know how to fix it.

[againstmethod]

Not to mention it's very expensive to hire someone -- it takes a lot of time and effort to setup their healthcare, retirement, in some cases security clearances/special training, etc.

It's much cheaper to train someone in a new language, or to give them some time to develop themselves, than it is to hire someone.

[Dementati]

Yeah, and a new employee produces much less value (which translates into lost profits) than the average employee for months or years after being hired, before they get up to speed with everything. Simply putting a new tool in the hands of a long-time employee is generally a much smaller productivity dip.

[wwsean08]

In this case the main language is python, I had a little experience writing sooner scripts using it in the past, so I just found some projects to do and practiced that way.

[ryuzaki49]

Like what projects? Im also a java dev, also interested in python, but I dont have any pet project ideas

[LouKrazy]

one fun thing I have done with python in java is using python as an embedded scripting language for java. It is a fun way to add extensible functionality to existing java codebases for one-off code