HACKER Q&A
📣 ngngngng

Is using a sought after programming language good for recruitment?


We don't have any more struggles recruiting than anyone else right now, but the languages we use are considered pretty boring at this point. Those of us already here would be happy to start writing new stuff in a more exciting language, but we're also wondering if it's easier to recruit if you pick one of the most sought after languages.


  👤 PaulHoule Accepted Answer ✓
A lot of programmers have an unrealistic idea of how much better their life would be if they used some sexy programming language. I'm not sure you want to hire them.

Whenever I've been motivated to "change the world" by coding, particularly Open Source, I've picked some language like PHP, Java, Javascript or Python which was mainstream, mature and commercially in demand. If you're trying to work in a language like Haskell you are probably going to waste a good chunk of your time "reinventing the wheel" writing libraries that you can just get out of a repository for a mainstream language. If you're doing something that's really hard it's not a good time to be learning a new language and learning the hard way "why more people don't use language X?"

On the other hand I try pretty hard to never say "Cold Fusion" or "Microsoft Sharepoint" in a public forum because that attracts truly desperate recruiters.