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Is the disconnect on skills around the semantics of "transferrable"? Your reply and parent point out that you see lots of skill transfer. But that's "you." What

Is the disconnect on skills around the semantics of "transferrable"? Your reply and parent point out that you see lots of skill transfer. But that's "you." What about from a prospective employer's point of view? Here's a totally different example of the same. I spent 18 years getting really familiar with Smalltalk (specifically VisualWorks). Really familiar. I wasn't afraid to implement goto by mucking with context objects. If I could imagine it, I could do it. Learning and being proficient in Smalltalk has given me huge transferrable skills in modeling, messaging, factoring, abstraction, and so many other things. But telling a prospective employer that one of my skills is to rock things with Smalltalk, isn't very transferable at all. Getting them to accept that I've transferred those skills to be a better Python, Kotlin, C, Linux, Elixir, Swift guy is a long shot. So it's not directly transferrable.

lupire 5y ago
Half the languages you named didn't exist when you started doing Smalltalk. So how can you be handicapped?
- travisgriggs 5y ago
  I'm not claiming I'm handicapped. What I'm saying is that a "transferrable skill" is a vague term. We can, if we put our mind to it, transfer skills from just about any domain to another. But just because we can put it (the skill) to continued use, in an altered domain, doesn't meant that others will value it as a transferrable skill. It's kind of like trying to transfer credits between colleges. If they don't recognize the skills you've acquired at your former school as transferrable, you don't get to transfer them, and have to retake classes that may seem pretty redundant.
  - jpetso 5y ago
    So, transferable yes, but marketable no. I would classify those as different things.
- dudeman13 5y ago
  Because the employer judgement is often shit. So becoming an absolute baddass in $obscure_language isn't good for your CV, even if it can be great for your skills as a programmer.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
kiliancs 5y ago
> Getting them to accept that I've transferred those skills to be a better Python, Kotlin, C, Linux, Elixir, Swift guy is a long shot It may just be me, but I wouldn't doubt that your Smalltalk depth has made you a better developer in general, and that applies to any language.

lupire 5y ago

Half the languages you named didn't exist when you started doing Smalltalk. So how can you be handicapped?

travisgriggs 5y ago
I'm not claiming I'm handicapped. What I'm saying is that a "transferrable skill" is a vague term. We can, if we put our mind to it, transfer skills from just about any domain to another. But just because we can put it (the skill) to continued use, in an altered domain, doesn't meant that others will value it as a transferrable skill. It's kind of like trying to transfer credits between colleges. If they don't recognize the skills you've acquired at your former school as transferrable, you don't get to transfer them, and have to retake classes that may seem pretty redundant.
- jpetso 5y ago
  So, transferable yes, but marketable no. I would classify those as different things.
dudeman13 5y ago
Because the employer judgement is often shit. So becoming an absolute baddass in $obscure_language isn't good for your CV, even if it can be great for your skills as a programmer.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

kiliancs 5y ago

> Getting them to accept that I've transferred those skills to be a better Python, Kotlin, C, Linux, Elixir, Swift guy is a long shot It may just be me, but I wouldn't doubt that your Smalltalk depth has made you a better developer in general, and that applies to any language.