Newsgroups: comp.lang.apl
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From: emclean@sfsuvax1.sfsu.edu (Emmett McLean)
Subject: Re: Employment opportunity in APL field?
Message-ID: <1993Jan19.020624.27490@csus.edu>
Sender: news@csus.edu
Organization: San Francisco State University
References: <2074@blue.cis.pitt.edu>
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1993 02:06:24 GMT
Lines: 51

In article <2074@blue.cis.pitt.edu> li@emmy.mse.pitt.edu writes:
>When I was in school, which was about a year and half ago, I used to work
>for a professor, programming in APL. It was such a fun and convenient
>language, that I worked for that professor for over three years, and
>became quite fluent in it. I've always wanted to know 
>about employment opportunity in this field, but don't know 
>where to look for until I found this bboard. I would appreciate any info
>on this subject. Thanks.
>
>
 Most people I know of who think of themselves as APL programmers
 fit into one of the following catagories:

 1. They write application programs for clients, but also know alot
    about other programming languages.  Often these people don't have a
    alot of formal education, but know alot about practical things in
    addition to APL, like Paradox, DBase, SQL etc. Many of these individuals
    make their living as consultants. Here in SF, I'd say the salary range
    for non-consultants is $25K - $45K. I don't know about consultants.
    There are a few head hunters for this group of programmers who
    work out of Chicago.

 2. People writting applications for their company or department
    in large corporations. People in this group usually know alot
    about what they are modeling and it is this knowledge, not
    their programming capabilities, which is their meal ticket.
    Actuaries and engineers (your teacher), for example, fall into this
    catagory.  I'd say the salary range would be $27K-$60K. Too much
    more than $55K and they probably aren't spending most of their
    time programming.

 3. People who know alot about APL programming language design who
    can write APL things like interpreters in C, and who can also implement
    convoluted algorithms using APL constructs.  This group includes 
    employees of companies like Manugistics, IBM, Sharp, and and ISI.

 Consultants in group 1 often seek work by advertizing in programming
 publications, with non-consultants starting out with "low paying
 assignments" but doing better financially as their programs
 become more essential to the operation of a company. People in group 2 use
 their industry contacts when seeking employment or seek employment via
 a recriuter (knowledge of SAS or other general mathematical software is
 also very marketable).  People in 3 are either very lucky (as in having only 
 a bachelors degree and getting to work on this stuff with a mentor)
 or very educated, as in Phd. Piled higher and deeper -:)

 I hope to fit into group 2.

 Is my experience like others'?

 Emmett,
