RE: [DUG-OFFTOPIC]: What is the perception of Delphi out there?

[Stephen Bertram]

From our experience (we are doing Delphi / Java / C# / C / Open Road development) there are more competent Java programmers in the market than Delphi, but they ask a lot more.  As C# is still in its infancy there are few experienced developers around, but a lot of wannabes.   We are only using C# as Delphi.Net is still 6 months away - I don't see any real advantage in the language over Delphi yet apart from the .Net access and good training resources.   One of the main issues of Java is that there are many subsets - Swing, servelets, JSP, J2EE, .... and we find many candidates don't have relevant experience.    There seems to be a general shift to Java as the teaching language of choice with a couple of notable exceptions teaching in Delphi.  A few institutions still teach in C++.   The employment agencies put an intermediate Delphi programmer about $45K and Java & C# $55K, though I have little faith in their figures.  I suspect that they devalue Delphi candidates due to the small number of Delphi software houses, but this may change with the flood of Java expertise that seems to be coming from Europe and the US.   Personally I still favour Delphi as the language of choice, but I am biased.   Stephen -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, 25 June 2003 6:46 a.m. To: Multiple recipients of list offtopic Subject: [DUG-OFFTOPIC]: What is the perception of Delphi out there? Hi   The .net email list has just had a discussion on VB.NET versus C# and the merits of each. An interesting comment was that the perception (by those employing) is that C# programmers are better trained, better programmers and that VB is a toy language. The result is that C# programmers get paid more than vb.net programmers even though both languages can do essentially the same things. Perception is everything when it comes to dollars in the bank.   My question - what is the perception of Delphi in the market place? How do employers rate it when compared to other languages? And does it pay better or worse than other languages? Will Octane improve this - would hope so. I've personally had the impression that Delphi is not widely used in NZ and that the sites are few and far between - is this a correct perception - are Delphi programmers in the minority when compared to Java, c# and vb.net? Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Sometimes specialization in something used less, can pay more (if the work is around), as there are less people competing for the work.   Any thoughts? Dave Jollie Developer, TOWER NZ IT (: 09 368 4259 �: 09 306 6801 *: [EMAIL PROTECTED] .: 46 Parnell Rd, Parnell, Auckland   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This communication contains information that is confidential and the copyright of enSynergy Limited or a third party. If you are not the intended recipient of this communication please delete and destroy all copies and telephone enSynergy Limited on +64 9 9205441 immediately. If you are the intended recipient of this communication you should not copy, disclose or distribute this communication without the authority of enSynergy Limited. Any views expressed in this Communication are those of the individual sender, except where the sender specifically states them to be the views of enSynergy Limited. Except as required by law, enSynergy Limited does not represent, warrant and/or guarantee that the integrity of this communication has been maintained nor that the communication is free of errors, virus, interception or interference.