GUEST COMMENT: Put down the Java manual, walk away slowly, do it now

Java is so hugely important that Oracle and Google are locked in a fight to the death with Oracle claiming more in financial damage than the cost to NY of 9/11

There are more Java developers than citizens of Britain and France put together and more job ads for Java than any other programming language.

Excellent. It's now time to quit.

As far as I can tell, you aren't allowed to leave high school in India without at least basic competence in Java coding and that should scare you all by itself. Indian programmers are variable in quality, but their best are very good indeed.

Even the superstitious nonsense that passes for CompSci education in the UK is centred around

Java and that applies pretty much everywhere else too.

So, that's a *lot* of Java programmers coming onto the market far faster than the rate or retirement or the rate of people quitting to do something interesting.

Maybe you're better than most of these others. Then again, maybe you're not. As a headhunter, I will share with you that around 80% of the people I meet are above average. I know this to be true because they tell me so, and no one is economical with the truth when looking for a job are they?

Anyone who, like me has been both a developer and a headhunter will tell you that pay doesn't really correlate well with ability: it's how much the bank needs to pay to keep/get the skills they need this week. The bad news is therefore that Java has lost its rarity value, big time. Sure there's many packages, but you aren't the only person with their nose in an O'Reilly book are you?

As supply exceeds demand, pay rates will come down, and they will come down hard - look at what happened to the VB guys (oh I forgot you're smarter than them, so that's all right); VB went from sex on legs to an embarassment on your CV. Remember Powerbuilder? No? that's how hard it's fall was, and not that long ago.

I'm not saying quit your job, but you need to start learning more about your business and a new different language as far away from Java as you can. And the sooner you can do so the better.

Dominic Connor is a Director of P&D Quant Recruitment