[127001brewer]

... it is very difficult to find candidates who know anything but Microsoft tools.

This may depend on a variety of things, such as the job location and desired skill level, but this blanket statement is false. For example, it seems that a significant number of Hacker News participants - who are developers - develop in other languages and platforms.

... completely detached from reality.

My personal opinion is that developers who don't learn other languages, platforms, and tools are completely detached from reality. There will always be (perhaps seemingly a majority of) people where being a developer is just a "job" and learning new things isn't necessary. But, again my personal opinion, this ultimately harms yourself.

Finding good people is hard. Many others have written about this, but don't be discouraged that there's only Microsoft developers out there.

[untog]

There will always be (perhaps seemingly a majority of) people where being a developer is just a "job" and learning new things isn't necessary.

Absolutely. And I don't begrudge those people- I initially learnt .NET myself and then broadened my horizons, but many of my previous co-workers have families, time consuming hobbies or other such interests. There's not inherently wrong with having "just a job", if you're content with other things in your life. It seems like a specifically (oddly) US-centric view that there should be anything wrong with that.

[127001brewer]

There's not inherently wrong with having "just a job" ...

I agree.

In the context of this conversation, finding good people is hard. There was an article in The Atlantic that discusses this basic idea and more:

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/07/the-big-...

Here's a quote from the article that makes a good point:

... When firms were asked why they have difficulty hiring, 55% picked "lack of available applicants," but essentially the same percentage, 54%, said candidates are "looking for more pay than is offered" (many more than the 40% selecting lack of "hard" skill). This is an important reminder that the labor market is a market.

The labor market is a market.

[silverbax88]

The readers of Hacker News are NOT a representation of the mainstream, bulk programming workforce.

[huggyface]

This may depend on a variety of things, such as the job location and desired skill level, but this blanket statement is false.

The blanket statement was a personal observation about our own hiring, so I can assure you with complete conviction that it is not false. Further I addressed the alternate universe of the start-up world, comprising a tiny, tiny percentage of software developers, and that is what HN caters to.

Just to be clear, I don't like that most candidates outside of the startup-sphere are so Microsoft or Java centric. In fact it is a battle that we constantly have to fight (hire somebody and then have to argue every single decision that isn't the Microsoft Way). Yet I have enough real world development experience that I found that claim so ridiculously detached from reality that the author lost any and all credibility on tech matters.

[127001brewer]

Out of curiosity, what are the positions you have open? and where is your company located?

[rbanffy]

And what technology stack you use.