Delphi-losophy

A Lover of Delphic Wisdom

Delphi and #Code2014

Posted on by nickhodges@gmail.com

Hey, Delphi ended up really well in the #code2014 survey.  Sure, it’s self-selected and thus statistically dubious, but it definitely is nice to see Delphi in ninth position with a prominent circle.  (If you add Delphi and Pascal together, we’d be in sixth place.  Yes, I can see the comments already…)

If I were part of EMBT’s marketing team, I’d be shouting this one from the mountain tops.  I know that technically it’s not statistically significant, but the whole chart “feels” right.  The languages at the very top seem like the right ones.  And Delphi at the ninth position seems right too.  Why?  Because I think there are a lot more Delphi developers out there than people know.  Is it more popular than C/C++?  Maybe not, but then again, maybe it is.  No way to know. 

The part that bums me out is the community members that are so quick to point out that the survey “doesn’t mean anything”.  I most strongly disagree.  I think it means a lot.  I think it shows that the Delphi community is real, it’s bigger than folks think, and it’s willing to speak up and be heard.  All I know is the Delphi community sure came out of the woodwork and made Delphi rise into a prominent position in a poll that many developers will see. That can’t be bad.  It is good.

If you are a Delphi developer, you should be happy about this, and you should be doing what you can to show people the results.  I took a screen capture of the results in case the URL goes away (www.code2013.com is for sale for a mere $3095).  If you are a Delphi developer and are poo-pooing the results, I say “Lighten up, Francis”. 

This is good.  Enjoy it.  Use it.  Delphi is still here and going strong, almost twenty years after it launched.  We’ve had our ups and downs, but the bottom line is that you have nothing to be ashamed of when you say “I am a Delphi developer”. 

26 Replies to “Delphi and #Code2014”

  2. Wish I didn’t have to rain on your parade, but your statement of “…bottom line is that you have nothing to be ashamed of when you say “I am a Delphi developer”. ” is very cheering except that it’s immediately followed by, “but I wish I had a job as a Delphi developer”. Gone are the days when one could cruise the job boards and pick and choose amongst the many available Delphi Jobs. I just checked a couple of my favorites: Dice and CareerBuilder. Dice had a whopping 48 positions available, CareerBuilder, 36. These are nation-wide numbers. Maybe for a super star like you, it’s easy to find Delphi developer positions and maybe somewhere other than the U.S. it’s still viable to be a Delphi developer, but from where I sit (Colorado), it’s a dismal thing to be – a “Delphi developer”.

    • You’re right on the money George!
      .
      I’ve been using Delphi since v1. I enjoy using Delphi and I try from time to time to find Delphi work. But over the past few years it has been a losing proposition. I interview here and there but they don’t call up with any work. I would prefer part-time remote work but over the last couple years I’ve even been open to full-time on-site work… Still nothing.
      .
      I’d like to know what field people who leave IT can step into easily. I’ve had enough. I just recently wiped all development tools off my machine. There is no reason to stay current.

        • I hear that from companies too. But then when someone tries to help. The company plays games with them instead of getting together and building software.

    • There are a lot of Delphi jobs in the US. You just have to move to get one. In addition, you tend to get paid more as a Delphi developer, since C# and Java developers are more abundant.

      • OK Phillip… Tell us the companies that are hiring. And don’t give us a list of recruiter posting that have 10 postings for the same non-existent job. Also don’t say companies that aren’t hiring but are just posting job ads. I’ve talked with multiple people who have applied for the same job but all get no response. I’ve been in software development for over 15 years. I’ve interviewed people for positions and I know when companies pass on qualified applicants.
        .
        Every time I see someone say things like “there are a lot of jobs here or there” they never can provide names for the companies. People looking for work don’t need pie in the sky thinking. They need actual work.

        • Worse, they encourage people to pursue Delphi jobs way past the point that a rational person would have begun pursuing other options. They’re potentially destroying people’s finances, if not their lives, by continuing to make this faith-based claim that Delphi is still popular and lots of enterprises use it and jobs are everywhere.

      • Our company (Ohio National Financial Services) is always on the lookout for Delphi developers. WideOrbit, Mayo clinic, Disney, Denovo, Davita, EDS/HP Va accounts. Gateway ticketing.

        • Some of those companies run ads over and over and over again but don’t return messages. I know for sure because, after hearing complaints from others, I’ve checked by applying myself. I’ve used Delphi since v1 and while I’m no genius I for sure can contribute to Delphi development projects.
          .
          But I do have to say at least you went to the trouble of posting some leads for people. Most of the time when I hear “lots of jobs” bullshit the poster doesn’t even bother to know if there are ads for jobs.
          .
          Keep in mind we would really need to know if any companies are actually hiring people. Some just phish for resumes or other information through job ads. I left three message for people at Gateway to try to find out if they actually hired someone but they don’t return my calls. They seemed like nice people too. Don’t know what is wrong there. I do know they had a bunch of bad reviews at glassdoor.com

          • I just don’t use email for my own communications. If a company wants to give me an email address to use for work related things that’s fine. There would be various things, for example certain component packages, that I would not use outside of work. But I would need to use them on a work project.
            .
            I interview with companies via phone so talking to someone again via phone would say “We’re a good company that cares about people.” I understand though that sometimes people can’t handle giving others news, by phone, that someone else was chosen. I guess I just don’t see getting turned down as a bad thing. If a company feels I can’t contribute then I don’t want to be there. But it’s important to treat people properly.

          • I get calls almost daily for Delphi positions (Also C#, C++, FileNet, etc). You have to have a presence on LinkedIn. Gateway hired 1 guy, and they have 2 more positions (not sure if they’ve filled them as yet)

          • But are those recruiters or hiring companies? I used to be inundated by recruiter calls and emails. I don’t want that. I don’t want to have my time wasted by people who are not decision makers. That’s one of the reasons I stopped using email. Too much of my time was wasted by people who were getting nothing done.
            .
            I don’t need LinkedIn. I’ll contact the companies myself after I do my research on them.

        • >It looks like they can’t find anyone for the 2 Delphi positions at Gateway ticketing

          You can’t understand the significance of that, can you? It’s because the market is so bad almost everyone looking for development work left for C# several years ago. If there are no Delphi developers, it’s because the grass is far greener on the other side in terms of jobs.

  3. Combining the Delphi and Pascal scores just makes sense.

    I’m one of the people who doesn’t think these lists are very meaningful, but I mean that they can’t be used to accurately rank language popularity or usage. However, I agree that it says good things about the community and it’s kind of fun.

  4. In my view, a person would have to be delusional to believe that the Delphi community was of a similar size of the C++ or C communities. There are plenty of online communities that attract developers of these languages, and report the sizes of them. For instance consider the communities on Stack Overflow, or on Google+. I’m quite sure there are more. The differences in size are orders of magnitude.

    > If I were part of EMBT’s marketing team, I’d be shouting this one from the mountain tops.

    What exactly would you shout? I don’t know how the rest of the developer population selects their development tools, but were I buying, I’d be seriously unimpressed by marketing based on the results of #code2014. That’s not the way I go about making such a fundamental decision. But perhaps I’m unusual in that regard.

    I don’t see any reason why Delphi needs a community as big as C or C++ to succeed. So far as I can tell, Delphi has been around a long time and is currently doing rather well. And is managing to do so without a community the size of C or C++.

    • You’re right the Delphi community is much smaller than the C community. I’ve used both languages and various flavors of C. I enjoy using Delphi but don’t care for C.

    • “What exactly would you shout?”

      We’re in ninth place. We try harder! Those JavaScript guys have been resting on their laurels.

      🙂

  5. Wow , it never fails to amaze me on blogs when people come on to criticize the very tools the blog is about. Maybe it’s just me. Is that what they call “trolls”? If I’m mistaken, I apologize..

    • Commenting on the job market is not bashing Delphi. We all like Delphi that’s why we’re here.

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