4 ms·

Ask HN: Is taking a job as a Delphi programmer career suicide?

I was offered a job at a firm that uses Embarcadero Delphi to program all of their products. I love to learn new things but I am worried that I will be wasting my time learning a dead language. Will future employers look down on me for not using a more modern language at my previous employer? Should I ask for a higher salary because of any potential future hits? Are there other concerns I am not considering?

svisser 10y ago
Even if you get paid more, you still spend time learning knowledge and skills which aren't easily transferable to your next employer. You can't get that time back so long-term it's probably better to develop software in a more modern ecosystem. Having said that, I don't know your local market or industry.
BjoernKW 10y ago
I'd strongly advise against it. I know a few Delphi engineers, who get considerably lower rates than, say, Java developers. As good as it is from a technical perspective Delphi, while not truly a dead language (it's still commonly used in many enterprise-size companies), it is a dead-end. Besides, Delphi and its ecosystem is mostly closed source. The vast amount of readily accessible help and information programmers have come used to with modern language environments simply isn't available for Delphi. Be prepared to pay (or convince your employer to pay) for 3rd party libraries or build everything yourself.
partisan 10y ago
I would advise against specializing in any proprietary language or ecosystem. You might find it lucrative, but the long term damage to your career just can't be compensated for. Also, don't believe them if/when they tell you they are looking to migrate to something more reasonable as part of their attempt to get you to join. I interviewed at a place that did VB6, but they promised work in .NET during an upgrade, but I suddenly found myself reading COBOL and being asked how excited I would be learning JCL. They are still on VB6 and I left there only 8 years ago.
zerr 10y ago
You should ask for higher salary in any case. Also, find out if it is possible to use Embarcadero C++Builder.
mb_72 10y ago
IMO, it depends on how long you are planning to stay there. For a year - it might be ok, especially if you are working on your own stuff (that isn't in Delphi) out of hours. There is nothing wrong with Delphi from a technical point of view, however it's a shrinking area of work. Myself, I have used Delphi since the early 90's, and just finished a rewrite of a product that was written in Delphi (we moved to C# as it allowed cross-platform development on PC and Mac) for one client, and for the other few Delphi clients I have I've made it clear I won't do anything else but urgent bug fixes (which is fine as the software is reaching EOL for them anyway). TL;DR - it's not that Delphi is so bad, but there are so many other environments / languages that are thriving these days, why limit yourself?
dmitripopov 10y ago
It's far easier to become a big name in a small niche than in a big one. If it's not your objective then the answer to your question is YES (that's right, capitalized).
borplk 10y ago
Like others have said here I'd advise against it. It will absolutely put you in a position of weakness in the future because everywhere you go you'll have to be like "I was using Delphi in my last job ... but believe me I'm good and I know modern stuff too!". The exception I would say is if you are some kind of big shot developer with a big proven public track record that has people offering him jobs every day and so on so you just don't have the worry of having to prove yourself to others in the future. In that case ask for a super high salary and go for it if you feel it's right.

svisser 10y ago

Even if you get paid more, you still spend time learning knowledge and skills which aren't easily transferable to your next employer. You can't get that time back so long-term it's probably better to develop software in a more modern ecosystem. Having said that, I don't know your local market or industry.

BjoernKW 10y ago

I'd strongly advise against it. I know a few Delphi engineers, who get considerably lower rates than, say, Java developers. As good as it is from a technical perspective Delphi, while not truly a dead language (it's still commonly used in many enterprise-size companies), it is a dead-end. Besides, Delphi and its ecosystem is mostly closed source. The vast amount of readily accessible help and information programmers have come used to with modern language environments simply isn't available for Delphi. Be prepared to pay (or convince your employer to pay) for 3rd party libraries or build everything yourself.

partisan 10y ago

I would advise against specializing in any proprietary language or ecosystem. You might find it lucrative, but the long term damage to your career just can't be compensated for. Also, don't believe them if/when they tell you they are looking to migrate to something more reasonable as part of their attempt to get you to join. I interviewed at a place that did VB6, but they promised work in .NET during an upgrade, but I suddenly found myself reading COBOL and being asked how excited I would be learning JCL. They are still on VB6 and I left there only 8 years ago.

zerr 10y ago

You should ask for higher salary in any case. Also, find out if it is possible to use Embarcadero C++Builder.

mb_72 10y ago

IMO, it depends on how long you are planning to stay there. For a year - it might be ok, especially if you are working on your own stuff (that isn't in Delphi) out of hours. There is nothing wrong with Delphi from a technical point of view, however it's a shrinking area of work. Myself, I have used Delphi since the early 90's, and just finished a rewrite of a product that was written in Delphi (we moved to C# as it allowed cross-platform development on PC and Mac) for one client, and for the other few Delphi clients I have I've made it clear I won't do anything else but urgent bug fixes (which is fine as the software is reaching EOL for them anyway). TL;DR - it's not that Delphi is so bad, but there are so many other environments / languages that are thriving these days, why limit yourself?

dmitripopov 10y ago

It's far easier to become a big name in a small niche than in a big one. If it's not your objective then the answer to your question is YES (that's right, capitalized).

borplk 10y ago

Like others have said here I'd advise against it. It will absolutely put you in a position of weakness in the future because everywhere you go you'll have to be like "I was using Delphi in my last job ... but believe me I'm good and I know modern stuff too!". The exception I would say is if you are some kind of big shot developer with a big proven public track record that has people offering him jobs every day and so on so you just don't have the worry of having to prove yourself to others in the future. In that case ask for a super high salary and go for it if you feel it's right.