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"Team Ada: Ada Advocacy Issues (83 & 95)" <[log in to unmask]>
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Michael Feldman <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 6 Apr 2000 20:47:49 -0400
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Allan Spurr <[log in to unmask]>
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From:
Allan Spurr <[log in to unmask]>
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Advanced Concept Center
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Mike,

I have worked with some of the people who do technical recruiting and unless they
have been specifically requested to go after people with an Ada background they
will avoid any mention of it for fear of scaring off potential candidates.
Personnaly I will ask if they know it then go into all the benifits it provides
and examples it illustrates for developing good software.  If they talk about
what great HTML programers they are and to checkout their website I toss the
resume in the trash.

Michael Feldman wrote:

> Mike et al,
> >
> > Mike:
> >
> > Even though you and I know this is not a good decision, I think it reflects
> > the reality of the situation within DoD...being the 'Ada mandate' is no
> > longer in force, there is an acute shortage of trained Ada programmers
> > within and wothout DoD, and the availability of COTS components and tools
> > which are abundant in the civilian sector are having an impact on DoD.
> >
> The acute shortage is a chicken-and-egg problem. Part of tghe reason
> for the acute shortage of people is that those who would educate
> them sincerely believe that there is an acute shortage of jobs.
>
> There is pretty good information on the colleges and universities
> in which Ada is taken seriously. Are the companies that would hire
> Ada people recruiting, heavily, from these places? I can speak for GW
> and assure you they are not recruiting heavily here. My department
> graduates a couple dozen people a year in BS CS (and this number
> is growing steadily each year), and they are all educated in multiple
> languages, starting with Ada.
>
> Not all these students are stellar performers of course, but most
> are quite good. Every one of these students gets into a good job or a
> good graduate program, yet few of them are being recruited by companies
> like your own, so few of them end up in jobs where they can use their
> Ada education.
>
> This is changing just a bit - the Lockheed Martin Air Traffic
> Control folks have discovered us. But I had to make the first
> contact; I guess it never occurred to anyone in the company to
> look in the city whose suburb holds their corporate headquarters.
>
> I teach in one of hundreds of colleges and universities is which Ada
> is taught, and one of over 100 in which it is taught early in the
> curriculum. Is industry seriously looking at all of us? Not in my
> experience. Communication must be 2-way.
>
> In any case, this discussion is off-topic.
>
> The Ada -> JBC argument is bogus, and has nothing
> whatever to do with the (alleged) shortage of people.
>
> Mike Feldman

--
"E"commerce is not life and death. If it was, it would be coded in Ada.

Allan R. Spurr      Instructor/Consultant
Lockeed Martin Advanced Concepts Center
INTEGRATED BUSINESS SOLUTIONS
640 Freedom Business Center, King of Prussia, Pa.  19406
Voice Mail:  (610) 992-6206,  Fax:  (215) 396-2264
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