Re: PERL , DHTML and the myth of cross-platform work

Valid points, Eric, and well commented.  I guess my intolerance for working
a 9-to-5 under someone else's management colored my interpretation of the
note.  Thank you for clarifying the issue.

I do wonder if a small fraction of the search results were invalid because
the phrase "ASP" seems to mean "dynamic web programming" to many HR people.
Still, the results are astonishing, considering that Apache and *nix had a
significant lead over NT and company last time I checked.  I have to wonder
why the MS jobs are so hard to fill.

I suppose I'll add ASP to my kit the same time I stop to add NT Perl ports.
Then I can call all those employers using it and talk them into a) switching
to PHP and b) contracting the work to me...:).

D



----- Original Message -----
From: "Eric Anderson" <blaine(at)infinet.com>
To: "Administrator" <sowinso(at)sowinso.com>; "'Darrell King'"
<darrell(at)webctr.com>; <hwg-techniques(at)mail.hwg.org>
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2000 11:38 PM
Subject: Re: PERL , DHTML and the myth of cross-platform work



> <.quoted>
> Please do not tell this to my clients, who are paying me quite frequently
to
> program applications in Perl 12 hours a day, 7 days a week

>
> Amen.  It's not a good assumption that Perl will not make you marketable,
as it is a very large proportion of my business as well.


While these comments are valid, they totally miss the point.

One of the questions the inquirer asked specifically about what skills would
help him get a job.

The question was NOT what skills would be required to help him grow a
business or be a consultant or an independent contractor. It's possible to
stay quite busy knowing nothing but HTML too.

The two skill sets are not necessarily the same.

Try this: Go to http://www.dice.com which is probably the best of the tech
job sites. Pick a state and do separate searches for Perl, ASP, PHP and
Python. For my state, Ohio, the results were this:

ASP   127
Perl    55
PHP  3
Python 3

(I also tried the same search on monster.com and the results were 71 ASP, 30
Perl, 2 PHP. )

About half of the Perl jobs also listed shell scripting or system admin
duties as a requirement, so in reality, only about half  were really
Perl-specific jobs. Nearly none of the ASP jobs listed system administration
jobs -- a percentage asked for database experience -- which I believe
demonstrates my point about the differences in approach.

I think Perl is a fine language, but if  one of the primary goals is to get
hired, in Ohio, the ASP market is at least twice as large as the Perl market
and 30 times bigger than either the PHP or Python market.

All other things being equal, the more employers seeking a particular skill
set, the more likely you are to find a job if you have those skills.

Not for a moment would I suggest learning something you hate because it will
help you land a job. You'd be miserable. But if all other things are equal,
then learning a language with the goal of getting hired, it helps to know
what the market is. I might love to program in Forth or RPG, but I'll bet
finding a job with those skills is more difficult.



Eric Anderson

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