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Is it worth learning Haskell with the aim of landing a job working in it? I'm not after FANG money but would love a job in a functional language.

• granshaw 3y ago
  An Elixir job seems much more attainable?
  • xupybd 3y ago
    I love static typing. But, I hear this is coming.
    • adamddev1 3y ago
      Yes please, I hope so!
  • nesarkvechnep 3y ago
    I would say so yet. Elixir seem to be growing in popularity but finding a job for a junior is hard.
• consilient 3y ago
  You don't know whether you want a Haskell job if you don't know Haskell yet.
  • xupybd 3y ago
    I like strongly typed functional languages. I'd like to pick up Haskell and wondering if it would increase my chances of getting a job using a functional language.
    • ff_ 3y ago
      In all the Haskell teams I worked in, the candidate knowing Haskell was rarely a significant advantage (except for cases where the most experienced Haskeller leaves, and then you need to hire someone to direct your GHC-internals questions to). If you are interested in a job using a functional language you can pick basically any of them and then jump ship to a different one. I wrote Clojure for many years before switching to Haskell.
      • yodsanklai 3y ago
        > you can pick basically any of them and then jump ship to a different one Agree, but I would even recommend to start with a simpler one (Scheme, OCaml...). Haskell is harder.
• ActorNightly 3y ago
  https://wiki.haskell.org/Haskell_in_industry https://wiki.haskell.org/Haskell_in_industry Everything is worth learning, especially if it interests you. That being said, you should be aware that outside of hyper niche applications, most Haskell jobs are in projects where Haskell was chosen because some lead has an affinity for it, not because of any real practical benefits in comparison to other languages.
  • midasuni 3y ago
    Everything is worth learning f but if you can only learn 1 thing today should that be Haskell or something else?
    • blowski 3y ago
      What would you be trying to get from learning something? If you’re wanting to improve your understanding of FP, could be great. If you want to “become more employable” it’s probably waste of time, because it only helps in a very narrow niche. Or maybe you just want to have fun!
    • xupybd 3y ago
      I started with F# and found that very worthwhile. I'm not sure about Haskell. I suspect it's a new level of complexity.
      • consilient 3y ago
        Haskell is much simpler than F# in its full .NET multi-paradigm "glory" but moderately more complex than the fragment of F# used in idiomatic functional code.
        • xupybd 3y ago
          Thanks, that's good to know. One of the things drawing me to learn Haskell is Higher-Kinded Types. I'd really like to learn about them and have a play. Higher-Kinded Types seem complex to me but until I have a play I wont know. The other thing that makes me think Haskell is harder is that functional code is enforced, while in F# it's simply the default. I'm not sure what impact this will have on complexity of real world applications. But in F# it's really easy to have an imperative shell and functional core.
• agumonkey 3y ago
  It's just a tiny personal observation but the mainstream is really far from FP still (even after a lot of diffusion through clojure, lodash/es6, react..). I'd love to find a FP job because there's something saner about the building blocks and problem solving but I just can't see where and if they have stability and money.
• nh2 3y ago
  Yes, it's absolutely worth learning Haskell to land a job in it. I did it this way: Learned Haskell in university, found it lot better than other languages in many regards, decided that I don't want to waste my life time using worse tools for 40 years of career when there are better tools around, and set out to get a Haskell job. I taught myself enough Haskell to write real world programs besides university, and got the desired job straight after uni. I found my job from, surprise ... the Haskell Reddit; in fact, my first job is in the raw data linked from the repo. It is possible to onboard onto Haskell jobs without knowing the language, but it is way easier and more likely to get a job when you know it reasonably well first. So do learn it.
• yodsanklai 3y ago
  Learning Haskell/OCaml may not be enough to land a job. Some places who use those languages have additional requirements (e.g. PhD, competitive interview process, math background, domain knowledge). And there are many experts in those languages that you'll be competing with. That being said, expertise in FP can open the door to some very interesting jobs. I remember when I was a student (20+ years ago), the word was that FP was pretty much useless in the real world. While it's true that it's more niche than C++/JS, some teams use it, and it can give you an edge.
  • petr_tik 3y ago
    > Some places who use those languages have additional requirements (e.g. PhD, competitive interview process, math background, domain knowledge). One data point - I get paid to solve problems by writing OCaml code. I am a self-taught programmer with a linguistics undergrad degree. I hope this helps others who are interested, but are feeling insecure because of the stereotype that one needs a PhD to write programs in a particular language.
    • yodsanklai 3y ago
      > one needs a PhD to write programs in a particular language This isn't what I said. Even a high school student can write programs in OCaml, it doesn't require any degree and is no harder than other languages. My point is that if you want to work at Meta, Jane Street, Standard Chartered, or other selective companies that use Haskell/OCaml, just having "Haskell" listed on your resume is probably not enough to be considered for interviews. You will need other skills to distinguish you from other candidates. Could be a PhD, or being good at grinding leetcode problems, a recognized expertise, a prestigious degree, domain specific knowledge and so on. I suspect companies using these languages tend to be more selective on average than those working on more common tech (e.g. php, js).
      • petr_tik 3y ago
        > You will need other skills to distinguish you from other candidates. Could be a PhD, or being good at grinding leetcode problems, a recognized expertise, a prestigious degree, domain specific knowledge and so on. I agree that listing Haskell or OCaml on one's CV isn't enough. I think this holds the same way for other languages, at least in the company where I interview. To the people who are interested in solving problems using functional languages. You should apply, even if you think you are not part of the "selective" in-group like PhD or language expertise
• epgui 3y ago
  IMO yes, it's very much worth learning, but you have the motivation all wrong. Learning Haskell will make you a better programmer, but it won't make a job fall on your lap on its own. Learn out of curiosity, not for money. Money will come.
  • xupybd 3y ago
    >it won't make a job fall on your lap on its own There is no expectation that a job will fall on my lap. However, if I have a better chance of winning the lottery than landing a job in a technology I'm not likely to bother learning the technology. I'm not convince Haskell will do more to making me a better programmer than another language could. If that other language has job prospects I'm going to lean into that.
    • epgui 3y ago
      The odds for lottery are not even within ten orders of magnitude the odds of getting a job with Haskell. It's totally doable. (We could talk about other languages too, but here we were talking about Haskell. It's a particularly interesting choice for growing as an engineer because it's a purely functional language, which means it will force you to unlearn a whole bunch of things and give you a lot more perspective-- it's not difficult, it's just very different than most other languages you likely have exposure to. I also recommend Clojure, that's a great language.)
• jpz 3y ago
  "I'd love to work in Haskell - can you tell me if I should read a book on it?"
  • earthboundkid 3y ago
    Yes! I find it baffling that people post questions like this all the time. So bizarre. I think school rots brains.
    • jpz 3y ago
      I don't know how they know that they'd they'd love a job programming a functional programming language, if they were not passionate enough about Haskell to self-learn (not hard, there are books). It seems so paradoxical. It's a bit like someone saying, I'd love to be a hairdresser, do you think it's worth studying to be a hairdresser? There's something which blows up my brain to read that. If you love it, do it. Nothing makes sense here!
      • xupybd 3y ago
        Think of it this way. I like the idea of hairdressing, however I hear there are not many jobs in that field. Is it worth studying this, if my intention is to use it professionally? There is no paradox in wanting get some meta information on a subject before investing in learning it.
    • xupybd 3y ago
      > I think school rots brains What do you mean by this? I've been out of school for decades.
      • earthboundkid 3y ago
        Why do you think you need permission to learn? Try learning. If it sucks, hit the bricks. In school, that’s not allowed, but it’s how everything works outside of school.
  • xupybd 3y ago
• BaculumMeumEst 3y ago
  This mentality always seems so counterproductive. Wouldn’t you rather seek out a challenging and rewarding job with a great team? Language is so unimportant in comparison.
  • consilient 3y ago
    > Language is so unimportant in comparison. To you. Not to everyone. Personally, I wouldn't work in PHP for anything short of the Apollo program. The gap between Haskell and the best mainstream languages is not quite that large, but it's not negligible either.
    • BaculumMeumEst 3y ago
      I think it makes sense to check if the Apollo program is hiring, then go down the list of good places that do cool stuff. And I get what you’re saying, but most places are not hiring PHP, they’re hiring boring languages that aren’t that bad to work with.