Clojurians Log v2

Hi everyone. It's not an offer of a job, but an open-ended question about the job market. I'm a polyglot programmer, mainly OOP and procedural, who's become hooked on the joy of Clojure development. Can anyone share their experience of moving from a mid-level/senior developer position with only hobby project Clojure experience to a principally-Clojure job? What are the challenges? Is remote work easy to find once you have experience in the field? Is there much work that isn't web-based? Is it competitive? What do you wish someone had told you when you were considering taking the leap? 🙂

I’m wondering this myself. I’ve recently gotten a taste of Clojure and want to do more with it but I’m not sure what the job market looks like.

@markgdawson One possibility is to introduce Clojure where you already work (that's how we shifted to Clojure at work). Not all companies will allow that but if you work somewhere that is already polyglot, and already on the JVM, then it might be relatively straightforward to use Clojure on a small but visible project and show folks how well it does.

that might also backfire, specially if you're the only person who likes/is interested in Clojure

it is in theory much better to find a place which is already sold on Clojure, but depending on where you live they are not so many

depends where you live probably, but here there are some jobs for example https://jobs.braveclojure.com/

and here as well https://functional.works-hub.com/

Thanks @seancorfield, that's an option for sure. Unfortunately, I think that a big ask, as we work on code from outside our control, and the code is a deliverable. Small hobby/internal projects, sure. Something serious, very unlikely unfortunately. But otherwise, I think for many it's sound advice.

@andrea.crotti I've already started carefully downplaying my enthusiasm for Clojure for fear of broken record syndrome! I've not been met with too much shared enthusiasm yet. :)

Geographically, I think I'm restricted to remote work realistically. Not a huge amount of tech around here, and certainly no Clojure I'm aware of.

@markgdawson here is my story, starting from the point where I have years of Java but am burnt out and frustrated with its concurrency model: • Started programming Clojure in my spare time, chose an existing Java arcade game I wrote to do in Clojure as a personal learning exercise. Fell in love. • Gave a lunch & learn at work, showcasing the Clojure game and showing REPL development. • Used Clojure for internal "quick" stuff. Kept a REPL running. When asked if the "distribution of our IDs is uniform" worked up a quick test, with visual graph, on the spot. • Started interviewing for Clojure roles. Wasn't good enough, but learned more. • Finally landed a Clojure role, took it and left Java behind. • Turned that into my present role and while I don't work exclusively with Clojure, I'm a happier person than before.

I think first of all you have to convinced yourself you want to switch and focus on Clojure. You believe in this language. Then you can convince people who will hire you.

From my experience companies want to have people who focus and have experience in 1 language

not really polyglot

but this is my experience

from my experience more you specialized, more they will pay you and want you

remote work is cool 😉

the easiest for start is you area like EU, US etc.

the most $$$ is US

but the hardest to get