You have a good point about not having the right skills on the resume up to a certain point. If you are posting on some job board then of course your resume will get missed by the HR person doing their daily rake of resumes. And I totally agree with you that there are tons of people out there who could do the job better than a "J2EE person" with a couple years of experience. But do they WANT to do the job that I have for them? The answer is that usually they don't.
When I wrote that I was looking for a Java/J2EE person, I meant I was looking for someone capable and willing to work with Java and J2EE. When I say capable, I mean they must be able to do the work rather than have it on their resume. I find it interesting that I have to make that point. Most good teams are run by people who know a good programmer when they see one. If you show me a resume that says you do good work and you can program well, then I don't care what technologies you don't have experience with.
Are those great programmers you are talking about willing to do the Java work? Are they in the bay area? If so, I know of 2 great job openings, let's get in touch.
The "I'm not going to have a job unless it's in India" thought has been blown completely out of poportion. I have noticed that students especially have become irrationally afraid of the job prospects out there, and I think it likely has to do with the articles that are being written and the environment that they are in.
The reality is that the job situation is fine. If you are a good programmer, you likely have not had trouble finding work, have not taken a pay cut (even during the downturn), have not lost a job due to outsourcing, and are still comfortably employed with no end in sight.
That's if you are a good programmer. Many people on slashdot have written very eloquently about what it means to be a good programmer and all the qualities that make you one. I won't go into it now.
The truth is that we can't hire enough good programmers. They have been incredibly hard to find over the past few years because of all the dead wood in the industry. Too many people that shouldn't be in the industry at all have been clogging up the hiring system. Why doesn't a journalist write about what a struggle it is to find a good programmer?
Just 1 example: I spent more than 1 year (2002-2003) trying to find a solid Java programmer with some J2EE that actually could "really" program and I found 2 out of hundreds of applicants. Those 2 I only got because we bought another company and I was able to snatch the 2 best programmers into my group.
So if you are a student and you love programming, don't listen to those idiots sitting around you in class lamenting about how you won't have a job when you graduate. You will have a job. Be a good programmer, and be passionate about what you are doing and you will have a job. For now, apply for some internships, there are lots of good companies (ibm and microsoft for starters) that have great internships for someone just like you. Once you see what it's like "out there", you will feel much more comfortable. If you don't want to work for someone else, do some open-source work, it looks really good and shows you can get things done.
I share the same hope as many of the other posters that the quality of graduates will improve. It would save me a lot of time and improve the quality of my day if I didn't have to look at a pseudo-programmer's resume.
[Disclaimer: my opinion is based solely on my experiences living and working in Silicon Valley; I don't know the situation in other countries]
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You have a good point about not having the right skills on the resume up to a certain point. If you are posting on some job board then of course your resume will get missed by the HR person doing their daily rake of resumes. And I totally agree with you that there are tons of people out there who could do the job better than a "J2EE person" with a couple years of experience. But do they WANT to do the job that I have for them? The answer is that usually they don't.
When I wrote that I was looking for a Java/J2EE person, I meant I was looking for someone capable and willing to work with Java and J2EE. When I say capable, I mean they must be able to do the work rather than have it on their resume. I find it interesting that I have to make that point. Most good teams are run by people who know a good programmer when they see one. If you show me a resume that says you do good work and you can program well, then I don't care what technologies you don't have experience with.
Are those great programmers you are talking about willing to do the Java work? Are they in the bay area?
If so, I know of 2 great job openings, let's get in touch.
The "I'm not going to have a job unless it's in India" thought has been blown completely out of poportion. I have noticed that students especially have become irrationally afraid of the job prospects out there, and I think it likely has to do with the articles that are being written and the environment that they are in.
The reality is that the job situation is fine. If you are a good programmer, you likely have not had trouble finding work, have not taken a pay cut (even during the downturn), have not lost a job due to outsourcing, and are still comfortably employed with no end in sight.
That's if you are a good programmer. Many people on slashdot have written very eloquently about what it means to be a good programmer and all the qualities that make you one. I won't go into it now.
The truth is that we can't hire enough good programmers. They have been incredibly hard to find over the past few years because of all the dead wood in the industry. Too many people that shouldn't be in the industry at all have been clogging up the hiring system. Why doesn't a journalist write about what a struggle it is to find a good programmer?
Just 1 example: I spent more than 1 year (2002-2003) trying to find a solid Java programmer with some J2EE that actually could "really" program and I found 2 out of hundreds of applicants. Those 2 I only got because we bought another company and I was able to snatch the 2 best programmers into my group.
So if you are a student and you love programming, don't listen to those idiots sitting around you in class lamenting about how you won't have a job when you graduate. You will have a job. Be a good programmer, and be passionate about what you are doing and you will have a job. For now, apply for some internships, there are lots of good companies (ibm and microsoft for starters) that have great internships for someone just like you. Once you see what it's like "out there", you will feel much more comfortable. If you don't want to work for someone else, do some open-source work, it looks really good and shows you can get things done.
I share the same hope as many of the other posters that the quality of graduates will improve. It would save me a lot of time and improve the quality of my day if I didn't have to look at a pseudo-programmer's resume.
[Disclaimer: my opinion is based solely on my experiences living and working in Silicon Valley; I don't know the situation in other countries]