Ventonegro

But there are out there things like this:

We don’t really care about the title but we want someone good (who doesn’t?). We need someone able to model and code well (No architect who never codes). The ability to communicate well with a team is also a big plus. You don’t need to speak French (we are in France) but a reasonably good English is mandatory.

If You:
• like coding 4+ hours straight
• like to solve a coding problem elegantly (and are bothered if can’t)
• like and read real CS books (SICP, EGB, TAOCP, etc…)
• code in Haskell, Python and C++
• are a gamer (this one is optional)
• are interested in computer graphics (optional too)

What we offer:
• interesting problems and creative freedom
• quality of life (no overtime, sunny countryside, French food and low rent)
• a pay in Euros
• comfortable workplace, etc…
• coding in Haskell, Python

The boss really codes. He likes Haskell, Python, Reddit, and wants the team to be there for the long run (i.e. happy). He also modestly wrote and posted this jobs offer.

So let me see: Haskell, games, and Computer Graphics. How sweet. Also, note the emphasis on how the boss and “architects” still code. In underdeveloped places, coding is just for drones, and bosses and “architects” can’t do it to save their lives.

There is a recurrent angst I feel every time I think I could be working daily in a decent programming language. Usually the management people believe the choice of programming language is irrelevant, but we developers know better. Languages shape our thoughts.

Today I found an interesting post about getting work using non-mainstream languages.

Well, unlike Java jobs or C# jobs or VB jobs, where one can scan the newspaper or go to dice.com, these magical jobs are not the ones I get when recruiters solicit me (three times a day). No, they appear between the cracks of the sky when it rends in two. All but one contract (that did come from dice.com) came from the company CEO pulling me aside or phoning me out of the blue from the materials I had published inside the company where I was employed, or from my web-sites on programming languages.

This basically means you must be a reference. You must blog a lot or, better yet, write even a book. When your name is said in a company meeting, somebody of the team must already have heard of you. Needless to say, this is not easy at all.

Usually and because of the exclusivity of the work it takes anywhere from at least 3 months to 2 years to secure these kinds of contracts, so the adage “Don’t quit your day job” is an appropriate one here. When I do get these contracts, however, they usually last longer (3 years) than the Java/C++/XML/web-services-code-grinder ones (that usually last around 6 months), and the peer group is much more intelligent, genteel and just plain more interesting than the code-grinding crowd. Is is harder to find these magical contracts? Yes, they are rarified air. But are they worth preparing for and then finding? Definitely.

Here we see that even after all this work, it is still very hard to find these dream jobs. You can wait as long as two years to get one, simply because in most companies the management employ Java/C#/VB drones anyway, as they are cheaper and easier to find. Only when they face really hard problems they start thinking of alternatives.

This post only reinforces what was already in the back of my mind for a while: The least hard way to earn money and be happy at the same time is to start an own business. Now if I could only move my lazy ass…