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Ask HN: How to land a job in functional programing

8 points by xupybd 6y ago

I'm very keen to get some time under my belt as a professional programmer in a functional language. I've not seen a job advertised locally that uses a functional language. Any tips on how to find / land one?

ggm 6y ago
Tempting to say "be lucky" but more kindly, be in a community. Be discussive, make contributions that get reference, add to the repositories, attend meetups. I was a manager many years ago (not now) and a remarkably good candidate came up for a role who had worked in lisp on traffic control problems. I wish we'd appointed, her mindset and approach would have been beneficial. What I am trying to say here is that even a job NOT in Haskell may benefit from what FP had to give. Strong typing and lazy evaluation inform approaches to problem solving. Yes, banking and finance. Please don't just go into crypto coins
- xupybd 6y ago
  Thanks, yeah crypto doesn't appeal at all. I have an interest in personal finance and double entry systems. I might see if there are a few open source projects I can get involved in
- mr_o47 6y ago
  Just curious how FP is used within finance and banking
  - ggm 6y ago
    (This is what I have been told. I don't work in fintech) The old inner-core of most finance companies is a small body of code for the ledger system, which has to meet finance regulator approval. A lot of banks have greybeards who coded this in COBOL, hanging on by a thread. The newer banks have to meet the same level of QA assurance on the code to get certified. Strongly typed languages with some assurances over data states can be beneficial for arguing about correctness and compliance. So re-implementing, or new banking, looks into it. Quant statements about investment make finance people ask "show me how you can be so certain about this" because the inferential chains to justify investment make them nervous. FP means a lower bar to saying "I believe this" when you try to make them believe it: its demonstrably tighter code. The obvious google search leads to: * https://www.risk.net/risk-management/6395366/functional-programming-reaches-for-stardom-in-finance https://www.risk.net/risk-management/6395366/functional-prog...
    - mr_o47 6y ago
      I see thanks for replying
muzani 6y ago
What about a popular language with functional support like JS, and Kotlin? You could start writing functional code and get some of the benefits.

8 points by xupybd 6y ago

ggm 6y ago

Tempting to say "be lucky" but more kindly, be in a community. Be discussive, make contributions that get reference, add to the repositories, attend meetups. I was a manager many years ago (not now) and a remarkably good candidate came up for a role who had worked in lisp on traffic control problems. I wish we'd appointed, her mindset and approach would have been beneficial. What I am trying to say here is that even a job NOT in Haskell may benefit from what FP had to give. Strong typing and lazy evaluation inform approaches to problem solving. Yes, banking and finance. Please don't just go into crypto coins

xupybd 6y ago
Thanks, yeah crypto doesn't appeal at all. I have an interest in personal finance and double entry systems. I might see if there are a few open source projects I can get involved in
mr_o47 6y ago
Just curious how FP is used within finance and banking
- ggm 6y ago
  (This is what I have been told. I don't work in fintech) The old inner-core of most finance companies is a small body of code for the ledger system, which has to meet finance regulator approval. A lot of banks have greybeards who coded this in COBOL, hanging on by a thread. The newer banks have to meet the same level of QA assurance on the code to get certified. Strongly typed languages with some assurances over data states can be beneficial for arguing about correctness and compliance. So re-implementing, or new banking, looks into it. Quant statements about investment make finance people ask "show me how you can be so certain about this" because the inferential chains to justify investment make them nervous. FP means a lower bar to saying "I believe this" when you try to make them believe it: its demonstrably tighter code. The obvious google search leads to: * https://www.risk.net/risk-management/6395366/functional-programming-reaches-for-stardom-in-finance https://www.risk.net/risk-management/6395366/functional-prog...
  - mr_o47 6y ago
    I see thanks for replying

muzani 6y ago

What about a popular language with functional support like JS, and Kotlin? You could start writing functional code and get some of the benefits.