Are there any Clojure jobs for beginners or even intermediate level, in Europe?

Question

Hello, I usually see few or none, job offers in Europe for Clojure junior or even intermediate level. I am in a BIG career change, from architecture /urbanism towards programming (currently learning mainly Python for Data Science and Golang in general (also basic HTML and CSS) and for some reason something is pushing me towards digging into Clojure, too. The syntax is nice and the people too. The first times programming (in Python, Node.js & Go) I felt like I was trying to learn some kind of extraterrestrial dialect, but the mystery of it kept me going on. Then I started getting responses from the software and satisfaction came in.

The question in particular, is, wether companies are willing to employ non-seniors; thus, if it is worth the time & effort for a beginner in a "practical" sense (I love learning new things, but...). The Clojure jobs offers are mainly for seniors. Also I am Canadian but I am currently (and probably, quite durably) located in Barcelona for family reasons, where the closest Clojure jobs (4 actually) are found in Madrid; then remote jobs can be found in the rest of W. Europe, but usually it seems to me they ask for expert level, in order to fix complex situations very fast, i.e. not exactly as a first job, unless there is a large team there helping to get real-life Clojure experience.

Finally, do you think Clojure is going to become more popular? Thank you for your advice!

Cristina

Comments

I'm very thankful for all the answers I received in a short time !
Also, I spent some time last week watching presentations of people and companies that use Clojure. One thing I understood is is implicit, is that you should know Java as well. I understand there is a sort of dependency. So let's say knowing some Python, Golang and maybe some C (common to both), I still would have to learn Java to use Clojure, or can I skip this part and really concentrate on the "modern languages " ?

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You don't need to know Java per see but there are some aspects of the "Java ecosystem" that are helpful to understand although you can mostly learn those in a purely Clojure context.

If you plan to start using Java libraries from your Clojure code, you'll need to at least be able to read any associated Java-based documentation -- but you can get a long way with Clojure without needing to do that.

Answer 1

Hi Cristina,

Magnet is hiring junior level developers - https://www.magnet.coop/careers

Cheers,

Iván

Answer 2

I have hired Clojure beginners in the past, and would do it again. It as a good strategy for Clojure-using companies, as there are not enough Clojure developers around. Hire a person with potential and the ability to learn, and they will in time become the seniors.

I'd encourage you to join the Clojurians Slack, especially the #jobs, #remote-jobs and #beginners channels. You might find something there, at the very least a welcoming learning environment. Good luck on your journey.

Answer 3

Here you go, you can just Google translate it: https://candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationInit.aspx?cid=5001&ProjectId=166801&DepartmentId=9414&MediaId=5

They have plenty of English-speaking contractors too, so English isn’t a big deal. I think they do prefer you to be on-site, though.

Furthermore, there is also this small operation, but I know for a fact that they accept junior Clojure programmers AND that they work remote: https://www.enableit.dk/

source: I have worked in both places

Answer 4

Hi Cristina,

in the past 7 years, at Flexiana, we have hired maybe 80 people who were starting with Clojure professionally. If you want to speak with us, feel free to contact Laura (laura.taylor@flexiana.com).

Answer 5

I'd add this resource to the ones previously listed, sometimes there are openings from both European and North American companies hiring remotely people located in Europe: https://clojurejobboard.com

Cyclically job market has ups and downs, now is definitely a "down" period unfortunately. One year ago I was out seeking for a new position and new openings were more frequent. It will be "up" again later on (can't tell precisely when).

For what I see companies hiring for Clojure devs tend to be open to people coming from other languages. In general, anyone out seeking their first job is going to stumble in this silly hurdle of "companies wanting only people with experience" and with other languages or entirely different careers isn't any better (maybe even worse, with more people targeting mainstream/trendy languages), we've all been there. Sadly companies don't seem to get any better from this perspective. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

On your question "do you think Clojure is going to become more popular" I'm going to be honest: I don't think so, Clojure is a niche language and likely to remain a niche or to increase in popularity slowly and progressively (happy to be proven wrong!). But fear not, working with a niche language has its perks: as you might have already noticed, a language sometimes is just so much better than anything else, definitely there's no relation between language value and popularity. Moreover, people around Clojure tend to be more passionate, inspiring, and intentional in what they're doing, less likely to boringly use a language only because they need a job to pay the bills. This makes interactions with fellow devs (in and out of job, in case you'll start following a local o remote community) more purposeful, interesting, and engaging.

Best of luck from a fellow career changer (master degree in history; today >15 years as a professional software dev)! :)