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Java jobs easy to find; skills hard to come by

Training good programmers could prove to be Java's Achilles' heel

By Christie Vincent and Itworld.com, JavaWorld.com, 08/20/01

Even an apparent dot-com meltdown is unlikely to free up enough Java talent to meet IT needs. At the same time, training existing staff in Java is no simple task.

Java was released in 1995 by Sun Microsystems, and the popularity of the cross-platform language skyrocketed in the first two years after its introduction. From 1997 to 1999, the growth of worldwide Java developer seats occurred at a blistering pace, expanding 62.9 percent over those two years, according to the "1999 IDC Worldwide Professional Developer Model." The same report forecast continuing, if slower, Java developer growth in years to follow. Java, for example, is expected to be growing at a still-impressive 29.4 percent in 2003.

Besides cross-platform support, improved productivity is a potential Java attribute that intrigues application development managers.

"Java is finally getting to the place where it's widely infused," said Howard Rubin, executive vice president at META Group. "About one out of eight new systems is being done in Java."

Still, in many locations, skilled Java programmers are difficult to find. Lack of experience may play a part in slowing Java growth, as time and money are lost while companies train developers. For example, according to a recent study by Gartner Group, training COBOL developers in Java would prove too expensive and time-consuming for many enterprises.

"The cost of converting a COBOL developer to Java could be close to 90 percent of a COBOL developer's salary," said Joe Feiman, vice president and research director at Gartner. Even so, he noted, all COBOL developers do not succeed in learning Java.

Moreover, Feiman said there are many factors to consider besides cost, including the time required to develop software and train developers. You have to ask yourself how long you can afford to wait for those people to get up to speed, he said.

Despite the cost, some companies may choose that route because of the shortage of professional Java developers. "It is impossible to find developers in some areas [of the world]," Feiman said.

Although training can help alleviate the problem, many developers learn through self-education. "There's a lot of do-it-yourself out there," Meta Group's Rubin said. That includes books, informative Websites, and just plain on-the-job trial and error.

According to Feiman, 40 percent of developers learn through self-training and hidden training, meaning that they learn on the job.

As a result, Java productivity has yet to peak, Rubin said. Those experienced in Java, however, have shown productivity increases of 40 percent over levels seen in the traditional environment.

Java application quality is still hard to judge. "With the recent economic rush and fast demand to learn Java, quality remains an issue," he said.

Faster C++ migration?

Learning the new developer language can be more challenging for some IT workers than for others, said Anil Hemrajani, CTO at iSavvix, a technology services firm for Java and the Internet.