Showing My Age

What is the big deal in finding people to do programming in Java? Twenty-five years ago GE Lighting staffed their IS group by hiring bright persons who may have taken a college course or two in programming and sent them out for eight days to learn COBOL. I programmed a major part of an online order entry system after a year and a half of experience. Where is the vaunted ability of contemporary software development products to produce dramatic productivity increases when the learning curve is so steep?

I have tried to find employment with several of the companies in your series. I am very willing to negotiate salary. I answer the ads in your paper or elsewhere and I never hear back unless it is to hear I lack one quality or another over my competition. So obviously they are finding talented people. If they talent pool is not up to their expectations, let them organize the training that will make things happen.

What's the name of that professor at CSU who funnels students into Brandmuscle? Were any of those students over 40? There is an implicit age bias at work in concentrating on recent graduates, even if they live, breathe, and sleep their work.

I am thinking of four associates who showed pretty equal abilities. One still maintains large mainframes, one successfully transitioned to web development, another is now an Oracle DBA and one now drives a truck for a living. Personally, I've never interviewed superlatively and I am still unemployed.

There is still a lot of chance and circumstance for both the employer and applicant. Both have to be willing to take a chance under sometimes desperate circumstances in order to make a match.