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It's a wonderful language. Unfortunately the only places I've been able to use it and get paid were places where I ultimately had the decision making ability of

It's a wonderful language. Unfortunately the only places I've been able to use it and get paid were places where I ultimately had the decision making ability of the tech stack. Why isn't it used? It's niche and betting on such a small community is risky for the majority of companies. Why use Elixir when you could hire 10 engineers to pump out javascript. That's the mentality of most. Hiring for elixir was great, it self selected people who wrote code as their craft. You kind of have to be curious about code to even be aware of Elixir, know how to write elixir. These types of devs would pick it up really quickly because the language is just so damn ergonomic. I'm using Elixir now, and I wake up so happy that I get paid to do this. I am really blessed.

wkyleg 2y ago
It's funny I think I remember explicitly reading this argument somewhere, that startups need to meet headcount as a metric for VC funding so they will end up picking "worse" tech for that reason.
- Terr_ 2y ago
  I don't follow, wouldn't it be faster/cheaper to meet an arbitrary headcount goal using a more-common language or stack?
  - julienmarie 2y ago
    I think @wkyleg meant that an Elixir dev can be as productive as multiple js devs because of the specificity of the language and the beam virtual machine. Complicated things are trivial in Elixir, dependency management is a breather, and all in all, a really simple and productive environment as the mental model is pretty simple once it clicks.
sgarland 2y ago
> it self selected people who wrote code as their craft I’ve often thought that would be true for niche languages. I interviewed at a fintech whose backend is written in Haskell, and definitely got that vibe from the interviewers.
sbaiabBzic 2y ago
> Hiring for elixir was great, it self selected people who wrote code as their craft I worked at a company that hired like this. On the whole it was good, but it wasn’t a panacea. A surprising number ended up being academic types that were extremely smart but could never actually finish anything. Amazing guys to talk to at lunch though!
- hyperbrainer 2y ago
  The stereotype of Haskell programmers seems to extend to the entirety of FP, then.
  - ipnon 2y ago
    When you want to write a monad the first step is usually to take a coffee break to make sure everyone agrees on what a monad is.
- benzible 2y ago
  > A surprising number ended up being academic types that were extremely smart but could never actually finish anything. As a startup CTO currently building with Elixir, I can say that it's absolutely possible to hire people who know how to deliver. I completely agree with the parent comment re: self-selecting people who write code as craft. I've put together an excellent team of developers who deeply care about what they do and are focused on shipping.

wkyleg 2y ago

It's funny I think I remember explicitly reading this argument somewhere, that startups need to meet headcount as a metric for VC funding so they will end up picking "worse" tech for that reason.

Terr_ 2y ago
I don't follow, wouldn't it be faster/cheaper to meet an arbitrary headcount goal using a more-common language or stack?
- julienmarie 2y ago
  I think @wkyleg meant that an Elixir dev can be as productive as multiple js devs because of the specificity of the language and the beam virtual machine. Complicated things are trivial in Elixir, dependency management is a breather, and all in all, a really simple and productive environment as the mental model is pretty simple once it clicks.

sgarland 2y ago

> it self selected people who wrote code as their craft I’ve often thought that would be true for niche languages. I interviewed at a fintech whose backend is written in Haskell, and definitely got that vibe from the interviewers.

sbaiabBzic 2y ago

> Hiring for elixir was great, it self selected people who wrote code as their craft I worked at a company that hired like this. On the whole it was good, but it wasn’t a panacea. A surprising number ended up being academic types that were extremely smart but could never actually finish anything. Amazing guys to talk to at lunch though!

hyperbrainer 2y ago
The stereotype of Haskell programmers seems to extend to the entirety of FP, then.
- ipnon 2y ago
  When you want to write a monad the first step is usually to take a coffee break to make sure everyone agrees on what a monad is.
benzible 2y ago
> A surprising number ended up being academic types that were extremely smart but could never actually finish anything. As a startup CTO currently building with Elixir, I can say that it's absolutely possible to hire people who know how to deliver. I completely agree with the parent comment re: self-selecting people who write code as craft. I've put together an excellent team of developers who deeply care about what they do and are focused on shipping.