Java and Python

[kosh at aesaeion.com]

On Wed, 20 Mar 2002, Peter Hansen wrote:

> Ahmed Moustafa wrote:
>
> Way, way down the list of things I look for in a resume
> is the programming languages a candidate has.  Not entirely
> unimportant, but useful only taken as a whole.  I don't care
> whether somebody knows Python, and have found and hired
> only one such programmer yet (and not because he knew Python).
> The others had a variety of backgrounds including Java,
> C++, Delphi, VB, C, BASIC, assembly of various kinds,
> and so forth.  Those with only a single language, or
> maybe two, probably didn't get hired.  Those with a dozen
> were more able to demonstrate their flexibility to me.

The problem I have with someone learning lots of languages is that most of
what I have seen is that they never go beyond a surface level
understanding of the language. So you end up seeing people that can
essentially write C in any language or java etc. However in order to be
really productive you need to know a language and know it very well. I
would rather see someone that can demonstrate higher level mastery  with
one language then a surface level with many. You can't get to more
advanced features until you understand all of the basic features. However
once you learn those features you are in a better position to apply them
in another language.