>>I also was about to post a "get it anyway" message<g>. But I'd be totally honest with them that you currently have a lot of vfp but no Epos knowledge - but that you are willing and smart enough to learn. There was a piece about depending too much on finding the candidate with exactly the right experience for a job cutting out the best applicants (those willing *and* able to learn, who can write good SW in any language instead of not having learnt it in the one language they had expiereince with in the last 6 years<g>) - but I haven't bookmarked it. From the general tone I remember it might have been Spolsky, but it rings no clear bell. OTOH Joel has tips on finding the right candidate and as his arguments are often more elegant than mine, so take a read IAC ;-) Offer those arguments fitting to yourself to the prospective employer
>>
>My first programming job about 15 years ago (I was re-deploying myself after deciding I didn't want to do insurance any more) was in Clipper. I'd never seen clipper before, but the weekend prior to the interview, I went to the bookstore and browsed clipper books. When I went in for the interview, I told the interviewer (prospective boss, not headhunter) that I knew no clipper, but that I had browsed some books and I knew I could learn it without too much trouble.
>
>I got hired, and while I grant that the field was a bit less crowded 15 years ago, still, there were other candidates who probably had more programming experience than I did, but I think he just liked my attitude. Attitude means an awful lot.

Yupp, the article I have in the back of my mind talks about hiring people, not experience. People can learn, experience might be interpreted falsely as the ability to program.

regards

thomas