[Haskell-cafe] Re: Libraries for Commercial Users

[Colin Paul Adams]

>>>>> "Magnus" == Magnus Therning <magnus at therning.org> writes:

    Magnus> Again, in my own experience the amount of work to find a
    Magnus> good developer is about the same, and sometimes stacked in
    Magnus> favour of using an obscure language.

I would be inclined to agree with you.

Coming from the other end, as someone who has spent the last 7 years
as an Eiffel developer (Haskell is only something I can do in my spare
time), I believe that the company I work for has no problem finding
good Eiffel developers (or just good developers who can be expected to
learn Eiffel quickly). I think the risk is rather on the developer
than the company. 

Suppose the company I work for were to go under in the near future (in
the current economic climate, that can't be ruled out). Since they are
probably the last company employing any significant number of Eiffel
developers, I would probably find it very difficult indeed to find
another job as an Eiffel developer, so I would have to look elsewhere,
encumbered by a CV that did not show recent work in popular languages.

Probably the risk for Haskell developers would be less, since Haskell
popularity is rising, rather than falling. But it is certainly a
consideration I would have thought (not that I ever thought about it
seriously when accepting an Eiffel job - I'm an enthusiast - though
now more for Haskell). 
-- 
Colin Adams
Preston Lancashire