Hey Alan,

>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.

Ach! A baby :-)

I had done some small indie consulting for a while and worked as a data analyst for a firm in CT that was trying to systemize AT&T's old manual system for tracking what phone cables and cable pairs went into which addresses. This was 1982. As I left they were evaluating dBase II. I wrote an inventory system for a small bookstore in 1980 using Applesoft and 6502 Assembler in 1980 (!) as an indie while still in the USAF.

In 1983 I was hired as a "research analyst" contractor (whatever that was) and that evolved into tweaking and then, eventually, reprogramming a sales analysis system from IBM Basic on a Displaywriter dedicated WP system to a DBMS called "Condor 3" on PC XTs. While I was finalizing that system, a Belgian contractor and I became friends and he introduced me to Clipper, the 1983 version. I was hooked and soon got my employer to purchase both Clipper for our department and then dBase III.

Lucky me, I was introduced to two very marketable langauge skills while employed for other reasons.

>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.

When I was completely independent in 1984 I thought I knew more than I really did, heh, but attitude carried the day when I took a new job and, later, more solo contracts. Attitude indeed counts for a lot. A good employer will look through the hard experience numbers to the gumption and flexibility and that's exposed by a strong, positive attitude.