Technology is ever changing and M is not immune. Many see M as a mature language and not at the forefront of change. I get many calls from people wanting to either get out of M altogether because of the legacy image or move into the GUI wave. M is not alone in being labeled a legacy system. You could add COBOL, much of Progress, Pick, Unidata, uniVerse, all of RPG and others. Yet for all of the debate, M is still a very powerful programming language. That it is mature is a great strength. From a pure business point of view; why would you want to change over to an untried system that probably will cost a tremendous amount of money to implement and will not guarantee better information delivery. Will the change deliver better information at a lower cost or make you coffee in the morning? I understand people wanting to embrace new technology, but is the change for change or to better deliver information to the users? Of course what most are doing now or will be doing over time is putting the GUI front end on M which is as it should be. M will be around a long time. We all know the debate about MUMPS versus M versus Cache. M probably will eventually be transparent in name to the user and will just be "powered by IDX" or "powered by ISM". It’s a natural progression.

Who are the people changing jobs in the M market?

The people changing jobs in the M market usually fall into three areas. Those who have hit a salary ceiling where they are now or are envious of those Visual Basic programmers with less real world experience who are making more money. Those who want to move to a specific area of the country ( usually south or back home or near a relative ). Those who are either unhappy with their present employer or have just learned all they feel they can from their present environment.

The M market has become artificial and static. Those with more than roughly ten years experience are finding it ever difficult to get the salaries attractive enough to change jobs. Employers are not responding to an acute shortage of M professionals by raising salaries to a level high enough to attract those they really need. I get e-mail occasionally from people telling me I should raise my salary ranges to attract people. Well, the salary ranges are not mine; the employer sets the rate and I work with what I can. One national HMO in a very high cost of living area has been told by the CFO to hold Programmer salaries to not more than $48,000 no matter the experience level. Of course they have many vacancies and have been looking for good people forever, but the salary just won’t attract anyone. I understand managing a departmental budget, but many companies are just burying their heads in the sand on the salary issue. Much is because healthcare companies are trying to control costs. Yet do you control costs to the degree that you pay three times as much for contractors? Eventually the work has to be done.

If I am a student looking into the possibility of embarking on a programming carrier, should M be a candidate I should consider?

My answer to this will probably be taken as blasphemy. I wouldn’t recommend any student getting into M. I have too many resumes from students trained in M who have not had even one interview by the M community two years after graduating from the only college with training specifically for M. The community has said train them and we will hire. Yet the truth is train them and they’ll work for UPS. A big disappointment. A student has their whole career in front of them at that age. It’s just much easier to train for Visual Basic or C++ or just plain C and be able to get a job and a start on a career.

The future is for those with a strong M background and the GUI skills that will be more and more in demand as M applications are changed over or updated. COBOL has not gone away for two reasons. First is the immense investment companies have in these systems. Second is the availability of tools like Microfocus COBOL with PowerBuilder or just plain DB2 that breath new life into a real legacy system without the huge price tag and uncertainty of a "new" system like Oracle. Over time everyone will have to be an Internet expert also. I don’t think the internet is the end all and is highly overrated, yet it does have huge potential to cuts the cost in business computing and deliver information.

The chicken and egg scenario: I want work but can’t get experience, I can’t get experience because I’ve never been allowed to work. Comment.

Continuing on what I said in the previous question, this situation is old. There are companies that are willing to train for an advantage of an overall lower payroll expense (maybe) and those who feel the price is too high to train people (the old dogs aren’t as efficient when they have to devote time to working with the new dogs and there are many hidden costs to training).

In today’s world the resume is probably the most important document. Any tips, hints and comments on what makes a bad, good and great resume.

I could write a book but I’ll offer what I tell anyone who asks. This is what a resume’ must consist of:

1. A readable document of three pages or less, but preferable two or less on a high quality white or buff (tan) paper if being mailed. White always for faxing or reproduction.

2. Technical buzz words like: Visual Basic (6 months), Open M (2 years), IDX BAR system (8 years), Delphi (8 months), InterSytems M ( 15 years), etc.

Companies will be scanning resumes more and more in the future and searching for buzz words. Your resume may not even be read by a human in the future. So get used to it now. It always makes good sense to list your technical expertise in both a skills section along with the length of that real world experience (or software tools, languages, etc. section ). Many people get hired because the potential employer quickly could see the candidate had the right skill or had an obscure skill the employer keyed in on. Don’t neglect hardware. While software and programming languages are more important to programmers, experience on or around hardware platforms is a distinct plus. The typical resume’ gets scanned in 30 seconds or less by most recipients. If you can give the recipient quick and easy access to you experience and the length of experience in the different technical skill areas, you get interviewed. Don’t present a puzzle. The body of your employment history should also contain what languages or tools or hardware platforms were pertinent to that employer or project.

3. Employment history with direct and indirect responsibilities, what you accomplished, what progression was made by the department during your time, what effect you had on the organization and the size of each employer in terms of employees, number of people in the I.S. department, number of people you supervised (even on a project), number of users supported by I.S., department operating and capital budgets (if known) and what effect in dollars you might have had on the department. If you can honestly can say you saved your employer $50,000 by doing X, then a prospective employer wants to know that. A resume’ should not just be a recounting of your career by where you were. It should be a selling presentation of your career, what you’ve done with it and what you can do for a potential employer. Remember, while a potential employer may have heard of your employer, he or she has no idea of the comparison of your company to their company. They need details to understand and to "fit " you into their organization.

4. List your college and continuing education. If a portion was financed by you, list what percentage was paid for by you. 40% financed by G.I. Bill or work while in college, etc. It shows you cared enough to earn it. It shows initiative. If your grade point average was 3.0 or better; list it. Objectives are a matter of opinion. You need one if you want one. If you do want to have an objective on your resume’, you might want to have resumes reflecting two or more different objectives (Senior Programmer, Project Manager ) for what may apply best to different employers.

5. Reflect your strong self. Find a way in words to show the potential employer you are a go getter by using words that say just that. "A goal oriented self starter with a thirst for problem solving through technical ability and embracing of new technology" Use actions words- completed, implemented, reacted to a problem, initiated, etc.. People don’t hire pieces of paper, but they look at the paper first. Your resume gets you in or in the circular file.

In your opinion, is the M market growing shrinking or remaining constant?

M would be growing more in terms of people in it if the M community would devote resources to keeping the professionals it has and in training people to fill the many open slots available. While many hate the subtle dropping of mention of M versus Cache, it has to happen to grow the community. As long as M is still called MUMPS, it will be very hard to grow beyond the medical and insurance community. All the tools are there. I’d love to see a benchmark between M and Oracle or Sybase.

Are there any other services Tech Associates offer?

Tech Associates recruits professionals for clients. Yet given the shortage of qualified professionals, Tech Associates also markets great people. We can’t control the salaries or inflexibility, but we do try our best to sell great people to the market. It’s a mercenary business, but we try and make it human and fun.

What isthe relationship between a headhunter (recruiter) and someone seeking to change jobs?

The relationship is what you work to make it. What many people don’t still understand is headhunters are mercenaries working for those who pay them; companies looking for people with expertise. We work for the companies. The very old (1950s) personnel agency worked for the candidate because the candidate paid them (usually through a payroll deduction).

Now that does not mean headhunters don’t care about the candidate! What Tech Associates does is balance both. We start by working toward the company goal of finding someone fitting the level of technical expertise needed fitting the salary range they have budgeted. Now the other side of the coin is the candidate. I’ve been on both sides of the phone. I responded to someone I felt was working with me in my best interests and not just trying to sell me on a job. I operate the same way today. I can’t know everything about a potential employer for the candidate, but that’s what interviews are for. I don’t believe my mission is to "sell" anyone on a job. I try to fit people into what’s best for both the company and the candidate. We also try and market great candidates using the parameters given to us by the candidate. If you want to go to Alabama, I’ll try and get you there. If I know I can’t I’ll let you know that. The three biggest parts of my job is to find companies using M I can work with, finding qualified M professionals and then getting the two together. There are often many, many roadblocks along the way, but enough work to make it all very satisfying. It gets personal. It’s also fun along the way.

Any negatives in being a headhunter?

Just a few every now and then. My biggest regret is sometimes there are just too many phone calls to make ( especially in the evening) where I can’t always get to some people in a timely fashion. I doubt many understand. Sometimes the shear volume overwhelms us. About once a year you make an enemy. I had one gentleman last year who wanted me to represent his experience as something other than what it was. He wanted to talk his way into a new technology. I refused and we got into a real contest. He though I was keeping him from getting the job of his life and probably still doesn’t understand he was not nearly qualified. I had to protect my client. I’m sure he will always badmouth me. It is regretful but you just move on.

"The future is for those with a strong M background and the GUI skills that will be more and more in demand"

E&OE