>> Hell, I've *visited* Switzerland.
>>
>> It's a pleasant enough place to visit, but I wouldn't want to /live/
>> there...
>
> Did you see all of it?  There may well be places that meet your criteria
> that you haven't visited.  But you've closed your mind to even the idea
> of there being another place on the entire planet where you might be
> happy.

Well, in the case of Switzerland, it's the language barrier more than 
anything. (Yes, I realise that almost all Swiss people speak English 
better than I will ever speak French.)

>> I don't think she knows anybody in a hiring position.
>
> (a) you don't know that she knows someone who's hiring until you ask, and
> (b) you don't know if she knows someone who knows someone who's hiring.

Given that we were discussing my next career move, don't you think if 
she knew who I need to speak to, she might have mentioned this exact fact?

> As they're expanding, it's a good time to look.  So go look already.

Sure.

>> IME, you apply to a company, never hear back from them ever again, the
>> end.
>
> That's because you use the "normal" way of applying, which doesn't work
> for the applicant.

I assumed it's just that I'm not worth hiring...

>> I'm not sure how you would "know somebody there". Even if you've
>> been interviewed before, I'm not sure how you'd have the person's
>> contact details.
>
> You know someone at Unisys, you said.

I don't think I did...

> So in my case - I know someone (a few people, actually) who work at
> VMware, and one who works at Mozy (both are divisions of EMC).  My friend
> at VMware pointed me to someone in their HR department - so now I know
> someone in the HR department there.
>
> There was a position in a division called "SpringSource" that I was
> interested in and interviewed for, but in the end they found someone who
> met the job requirements and knew the product already (otherwise I was a
> very good fit for what they were looking for - a technical writer).
>
> The next time I saw a job there that looked interesting, I pinged the guy
> in HR, and he said the job was in a different division so he couldn't
> help other than by giving me the name and e-mail address of his
> counterpart in that division.
>
> That's how it's done.

>> There are roughly 3 companies globally that pay people to code in
>> Haskell.
>
> You're missing my point.  It's not about Haskell, it's about finding
> something you like doing or are good at doing and using that as a
> criteria for finding a job.

Well, that's why I'm in computing, after all. But nobody is going to pay 
me to do what I like doing; they're going to pay me for the work that 
actually needs to be done, whether I enjoy that or not. And what 
actually needs to be done is almost by definition doomed to be something 
extremely dull. It's pointless to pretend that a mere /job/ is ever 
going to fire my imagination or anything like that.

> And no, there aren't "roughly 3 companies globally that pay people to
> code in Haskell" - that's the sort of absurd comment that makes people
> pound their heads on their desks.

If I can't convince anybody to hire me to write Java (pro tip: Java is 
popular), then nobody is ever going to hire me to write Haskell.

> If the language were that unpopular, it would cease to exist.

For twenty years, it /was/ that unpopular.

Things don't have to be popular in order to exist. /Products/ have to be 
popular to continue to be produced. But a piece of software? Doesn't 
have to be popular. Heck, I wrote Logic Box in Java. Logic Box is not 
popular. Yet, it exists. QED.

> http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Haskell_in_industry lists a
> significant number of companies that use Haskell (probably still not an
> exhaustive list) including AT&T and Facebook.

Sure, but nobody works for AT&T or Facebook. (Actually, given our 
earlier discussion, I wouldn't /want/ to work for Facebook...)

>> Sure, a tiny handful of people out there have really cool jobs. These
>> are vanishingly rare. Us mere mortals have to accept that only the sucky
>> jobs are open to us.
>
> Many people are happy in their jobs and like their jobs.  There's nothing
> particularly "cool" about being a technical instructor or a program
> manager - but those are both jobs I enjoyed doing.  I'm not going to be
> an astronaut or a F1 race car driver, so I've found what I'm good at and
> applied that to a number of different types of positions over the years.

There are people who don't hate their job, sure. But I can't imagine 
many people are truly /excited/ about their job. And in an interview, 
they don't ask you "so what parts of this job do you think /don't/ 
completely suck?"

>>> Maybe you need to extend your search beyond 25 miles from where you
>>> are, and consider that moving where you are might well be beneficial.
>>
>> I am /not/ working in London. End of story.
>
> I didn't say London.

No, that's just where *all* of the main computer jobs are.

Actually, take out "computer" - that's where almost all the advertised 
jobs are.

> But consider the possibility of working for a
> company based in London but working from home.

That I could live with.

>> Sure. But that must be a really, really small category...
>
> Not in my experience.  It helps one do the job well if one can get up in
> the morning and be looking forward to what they're going to do.

I'm not arguing that liking your job isn't a good thing. I'm arguing 
that it isn't a common thing.

>> You say "adwords", but I've yet to see it...
>
> m-/
>
> Do you use an ad blocker?

Not until recently.

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