It's so true. Though I haven't been nearly as immersed in the Clojure community as Anthony has, two of my last four jobs/internships have been in Clojure (well, really, they hired me back). And I've loved it. I love the language–it's the perfect balance of having fun, being precise, and getting things (anything done). And I love the community. I've met so few Clojurists in person, but the ones I have met have been amazing, and the ones who share their stories and their wisdom via blog or IRC are just so damn intelligent and kind.<p>More than anything, I <i>Get Things Done</i> with Clojure, and the community helps me do that. And from the feedback/re-hiring I get from my jobs, my employers and the people they serve would agree.<p>Anthony: Keep at it man–you're great!
When I started programming at about the same age, living in Tennessee in the Pleistocene era, it took the concerted effort of several adults to even get me access to a computer (actually to a punched card reader that connected to a computer 100 miles away).<p>Now we take for granted that a smart kid in Alabama has his own personal computer and can participate in a conversation with an expert community anytime he wants. But it's amazing. And more importantly, the experts are so incredibly supportive!<p>I guess this tradition goes back quite a ways, though...think of Ramanujan and Hardy's mathematical relationship. Perhaps the key is a field that doesn't require expensive equipment and the gatekeepers that go with that. Or does this sort of thing happen nowadays in fields other than CS and math? Do 16-year-olds show up in economics or physics IRC channels and meet supportive communities?
First job as a programmer -- Clojure backend dev? That's pretty awesome. The joy you derive from the Clojure community comes across loud and clear in your writing.<p>For anyone else who's been toying with the idea of looking at Clojure, it has, IMO, the best tech community on the web. It seems like every maintainer for every Clojure project I've ever looked at is at least idling in #clojure on freenode 24/7.
Anthony's Conj talk was pretty good all right. He looked completely at ease, and has a great deadpan delivery when he tells a small joke. Knows his stuff. He's grown in the last year, in lots of directions, and he is going to be a Force. Watch and see.<p>(No pressure, raynes.)<p>And he's right about the community. Besides attracting some really bright people, there isn't a lot of language chauvinism evident. (Well, the JRuby folks took some shots, but it was all in fun. We love you guys, really.)
I was born and raised in Alabama, too, and it terrifies me to think that there are talented young people living there who have never left the state. The culture there is so unlike the rest of the country, you can get a skewed view of reality really easily. I mean, I have one.
Great story. BTW, I used some bits of Anthony Grimes's TryClojure project on a task for a customer - nice code and it saved me some development time - much appreciated!
<i>So what comes after Haskell? After I had used Haskell for a couple of months and had got a few projects under my belt, it was time for a new step. I felt that my next logical step was a Lisp.</i><p>This strikes me as an odd "next step". I don't code in Haskell or clojure, but I've been eyeing both and the impression I got is that Haskell is harder to grasp but more powerful once fully grasped (and nearly as portable as C++). Sort of a superset of lisp. It seems that the next logical step after a couple of months of Haskell is more Haskell. It evidently worked out great for him, but I'd have liked to know why he switched to clojure.