For some time now we are looking for new Delphi programmers in our company and were unsuccessful in finding any Dutch programmers. We hardly had any response to advertisements and posting on job sites.
Of course, when you start doing that, you are approached by outsourcing companies. One of those contacted me 'at the right time' and we did a small trial project (not in Delphi though) to see what is involved when outsourcing software. The results were mixed (speed was low and quality was ... well poor). The price is right though, so that makes one hesitate. But, I found with this particular company - as well as with other outsourcing companies that approachedme - that they all could offer Delphi programmers, but "would start looking for one once the project goes through". None of the companies that approached me had any inhouse Delphi programmers.
So, adding that up, no local Delphi programmers are available, and no outsourcing company (that I know off) have inhouse Delphi programmers.
We are seriously considering switching to C#/.NET although programmers in that field don't come by the dozens either :- But at least, there are some outsourcing companies out there that say that they can deliver good C# programmers.
It kind of feels to me like the days when I still was a Cobol programmer. That breed almost died, and of course as a contractor that made sure you got a good price for your work :-).
Will the Delphi programmers go the same way? What do you think?
And hey, while we're at it, if you know any affordable outsourcing company with inhouse Delphi programmers, please let me know.
Bye,
Bart
Saturday, June 21, 2008
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30 comments:
The problem is not to get Delphi developers - the problem is to get good developers. The demand is extremely strong everywhere, and the good old guys either left the business (advanced to a or are in a very good position and are not searching for new jobs.
Also, I see that the demand for Delphi developers is very, very strong these days, in many markets, because it is being used a lot in various industries, and Delphi-based companies are very succesful.
My personal conclusion is, that Delphi is currently a growth market, but fortunately it is easier for an employer to teach Delphi to good programmers than to make money using .net and java.
One of the great countries for Delphi outsourcing is Ukraine. If you want to get in touch with an outsourcing bureau in Ukraine that can deliver Delphi programmers, contact me on +4570274470.
I've been in contact with a couple of Ukrainian outsourcing companies, none of which could deliver inhouse Delphi programmers. Please let me know what company you are talking about (if you like drop me a private email message), so I can see if your recommendation is amongst those that already contacted me.
All in all, I hope you are right and that the lack in response is the increase in Delphi work that is going on, because I've grown to love Delphi. However, I'm not so sure. I know a lot of Delphi programmers from the past that have switches languages.
What we (you) need is developers who are interested in choosing the right tool for the right job.
So no Delphi or C# developer, just a developer. Programming languages and tools are just the tools to use.
Take a carpenter. When you have a problem with your door (not swinging well or whatever) you will call a carpenter. He will drive by with a van full of tools. He looks at your door (or problem) walks back to his van, chooses the right tool to do the job and fix it.
What I mean is good developers choose a tool on its usefullness for the job, and not because he only knows one tool or language.
So, are Delphi programmers a dying breed? I don't think so as long as Delphi can be the right tool for the job.
Nice comparision about the carpenter. The problem is that I don't have just any door to mend, but a *wooden* (Delphi) door. That is a given thing. In that case I will look for a carpenter. If I would have a *metal* door to mend, I'd probably need a welder. Now, if the number of metal doors will outnumber the number of wooden doors, carpenters will die out and welders will breed like rabbits. Carpenters will train to be a welder and in the end everybody will have metal doors.
Now, a good thing is that carpenters *can* be trained to be welders, so that's exactly what I'm contemplating. Should or shouldn't I remove the wooden door and install a metal one?
Ps: I just read on Roland Beenhakker's blog that Delphi only took 6th place amongst 8 tested IDE's. That tells us something too, doesn't it?
Don't be afraid Carpenters just won't die out. It is economic suicide to replace all your wooden doors with metal ones. They just do the same thing, they only need different tools.
Imo this metaphor also counts for development tools. It is economic suicide to replace your Delphi Win32 apps with, for example, .NET apps if the requirements stays the same.
But the carpenter could of course put a welding machine in his van and us it as an option for the job.
And no, don't use metal doors, they are just way to heavy. ;-)
(Smell another metaphor here..)
Bart,
You should read the whole report.
We have always "grown our own" programmers. I have found that any "good" programmer that knows C++ (or the like) can learn Delphi.
The demand for Delphi developers is just about nil in Atlanta, GA USA. I suspect that is true anywhere in the USA.
Regarding another comment - software is not a door. You are right - I don't care what tools a carpenter uses to build door 1.0. But I don't need to support door 1.0. It's just a door. It's done.
Eric
About programmers in the USA: I was thinking about that a couple of weeks ago. With the low valued dollar compared to the Euro, the USA is becoming a viable option with regards to price. Maybe there are a couple of US Delphi programmers looking for a job ...
Hello, we are a team of Delphi-programmers from Ukraine, and can offer you our services of creating and supporting your Delphi projects. Our experience goes beyond 10 years, as we worked with Delphi from version 1 and up to 2007 release. You can get an idea of our work from the programs on our web-site www.dswsoft.com. If you are interested, we'll be happy to hear from you at our e-mail address: jobs@dswsoft.com
Hi, you may pay attention to us, O3 Software from Turkey. We are a software house having inhouse delphi, c# and java programmers. We are eager to develop abroad projects.
sertac@anadollu.com
sertac.anadollu@o3.gen.tr
I have found a few really accomplished Delphi programmers in various countries and have developed long term relationships with a couple of them.
What I generally do is look for component writers in a certain area where the need is. For example, if it is TCP/IP intensive, I look at component writers or users that participate in discussion about the topic. Then I approach them directly and they either will accept contract work, or recommend someone who will. This way you can have a "staff" of specialized programmers that all contribute parts to the project. I remain the "lead developer" and I get a much better product than I would by hiring a single programmer our outsourcing.
Hello!
If you are looking for a good Delphi coders I am sure we can help you :)
Our team has 3 good Delphi coders with more than 10 years of experience.
We have a counter problem - it's very hard to get a Delphi projects. Most of buyers need C# and I am afraid we will switch to C# soon.
So, let me know if you still interesting in Delphi coders.
Here you can see some examples
http://www.guru.com/emp/view_profile_work_samples_graphics.aspx?pid=973142&pwid=413240&keywords=Art-Media
You can contact us from this page
http://www.guru.com/emp/view_profile.aspx?g=vMwSbzkv0E95p7YMUtL3O8Q5ki4muHtFWTF6XBPEk7E%3d
Sorry last link is broken
Here is a right one
http://www.guru.com/emp/view_profile.aspx?g=vMwSbzkv0E%2fJ8AF7oHuSew%3d%3d
Could be that a right price be a key to your problem?
To find right person for In-house Delphi position today you have to hunt. 'Why?' would you ask. Considering a very tiny number of the new people introduced to Delphi in recent years, if you are looking for the experience, you need to attract people who are in this business for some time. Looking around would suggest that there are still people using Delphi and offering their service but it does not come cheap.
Since you are looking for individuals with 10+ years of experience there comes a price tag. $10ph, $20ph, even $50ph could buy you an offshore development, but then you have to consider consequences. To get right individual for the in-house development you need to go and look around, talk to people, try to convince them to come to you. Many who are still around are making decent money (otherwise they already left Delphi field).
Yes, Delphi programmers are a dying breed and it was Borland and CodeGear that brought about their extinction by neglecting a great product and by offering a, frankly, very poor .NET implementation. I now code in C# and Oxygene. If I ever need to do any win32 work in the future I'll probably use Walter Bright's D before I looked at Delphi again.
Looking for good Delphi programmers ??
We brazilians love Delphi and we work with Delphi 7, 2005 and 2007 !
Borland Rules ... till now !
I work for a small Belgium based engineering company. We specialise in the development of industrial electronics and industrial software. All of our own software products are developed in ObjectPascal (for the biggest part) This includes Delphi (7 and now migrating to 2007) and Freepascal. The other parts are mostly written in C.
On the subject of finding a Delphi developer I have 2 major remarks:
1. I do not think that finding a Delphi developer is a real issue. The problem itself is finding a “good” developer. It is not because most of the people on the market think they know Visual basic (6 or .NET), that they are actually good developers. It is not just because some one can put a button on a screen that that makes him a developer. Most people on the market today are missing basic background like pointers, recursion, basic algorithms, the difference between a = a + 1 or a++, ...
2. One does not need to specifically need to write an application in Delphi. One needs to look for the best development language to fit it’s purpose. For most of the “office/administration” applications a.NET or Java are OK. But for people like us, who develop applications where speed does matter, we really need to have native compiled code. We believe more in writing portable code that having a framework on each operating system (for this as well that we use FreePascal and C as well). I have already seen situations where multiple .NET frameworks on 1 pc causes problems for some applications (although M$ states in his commercial brochures this is impossible, but that on their support/knowledge base site you can find a bunch of articles that give issues concerning this and trying to resolve them with work arounds).
So, I think Delphi developers can still be found (and a lot of then are experienced and good).
If you would require assistance in Delphi development, we can always give you a hand (project based, no outsourcing). Furthermore we are Dutch speaking as we are located in the Flanders part of Belgium.
Kind regards,
Geert
@Geert:
I appreciate your remarks about programmers being programmers and that every good programmer will be a good Delphi programmer. However, if you have a code base in Delphi and you need a new lead developer the first person you would look for is a Delphi person, right? That's not to say that I won't reconsider another good programmer.
But, when you do a job posting I think it's relevant to know what programming language one will be working on. I know a bunch of programmers that don't want to world in language X,Y or Z because they dislike that language. I'd rather have that out of the way before any talks start.
About helping us out: thanks for the offer and I will keep it on my mind. However, we are looking for a permanent solution first and I have had so many reactions that I think that we don't need your help on a short term.
Bart,
I am delighted to hear that your problem of finding adequate Delphi Developers is solved!
Delphi is a wonderful development environment and it would have been a shame that you would not have found any good and motivated skilled people in this area.
Kind regards,
Geert
Thanks to Borland letting Delphi languish while they concentrated on their ALM, it may be game over for Delphi. I think Delphi reached a tipping point where it's usage will continue to drop. It's a great tool and it's shame what Borland did. I'm pretty much in the same boat as Bart is in.
Hi, we are a strong team of Delphi developers with 15 years of experience. So, if you are still in searching you could contact us via email: support[at]gsbelarus.com or by phone +375-29-7758570 (after 4th of July).
I agree with you that Delphi programmers are definitely a dying breed.
There are very few programmers who want to learn Pascal/Delphi as there are very few current Delphi lovers who have gone out of the way to initiate other developers to Pascal/Delphi.
As a Delphi developer put your right hand on you heart and tell the truth have you done anything to lure developer towards Delphi? I am sure the answer is 'Not Really'.
Current hard core Pascal/Delphi developers have come of age and will die out soon without anyone to follow in their foot steps.
Some (I think most) of the developer using Delphi have children. How many of these developers have tried to initiate their offspring into learning and using Pascal/Delphi.....
I can estimate..... almost none!
I personally would not like my offspring to be computer professionals so I keep them away from PC as much as I can....
If you want to find a Delphi developer you can search in Russia and other ex-USSR countries. Here almost every programmers CV contains Delphi/pascal experience.
My name Bobryshev Stanislav. I am Delphi programmers since 1998. E-mail: st@omskmail.ru
Hi,
My name Atul; having 7+ years of experience in Delphi and working for an MNC. In the spare time I am providing solutions on Experts-exchange and earned a Delphi Guru cerfication. email me on atul_parmar@hotmail.com
Hi,
I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed your blog and this post. You make some very informative points. Keep up the great work!
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