Job ads reflect present perceived "needs". When I started university, there 
were hundreds
of ads for geophysicists. I did chemistry and physics and computational stuff 
(there was
no Computer Science yet). When I graduated, there were ads for computer skills, 
but
geophysicists were first in the line to serve at the then-relatively-new 
McDonalds.

I strongly suspect the same applies to Java skills. I've tried a couple of 
times to learn
Java, but for the things I do, it has never been very well-suited, and frankly 
quite
annoying in the volume of bits and pieces of code to just do simple things. So 
I (still)
use Perl and sometimes Pascal and Fortran, occasionally C by modifying existing 
codes,
never C++ because it is too much a patchwork design. Mostly now I use R, partly 
because my
work in in computational stats, but also because it has commands that do a lot 
with a few
lines, yet those lines, unlike the APL a day that kept I P Sharp away, are not
incomprehensible. Probably starting now, I'd learn Python, which seems to have a
reasonable balance of applications and straightforward syntax.

But my main message here is to be cautious about interpreting messages about 
"needs",
since they likely reflect a preoccupation with keeping poorly written code 
going. This
code was likely written by a bunch of folk who were only taught (name your 
language - any
will be the wrong one for many applications)  but not to design their software 
so that
whatever language was used it would be easy to maintain. Or the software was 
fine, but the
boss then wants to turn a bicycle into a Ferrari F1 machine at Dollarama 
prices. The jobs
may be there, but they will be retrospective and will cease once the software 
is superceded.

JN


On 12/16/2011 12:25 PM, Rob Echlin wrote:
> So says eWeek:
> http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Application-Development/Linux-Skills-Open-Huge-Job-Opportunities-394073/
> 
> The slide show is the story. Wait or click.
> 
> Rob
> 
>  
> --
> Rob Echlin, B. Eng.
> 613-266-8311 -  Ottawa, ON
> http://talksoftware.wordpress.com/
> _______________________________________________
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> [email protected]
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