Which organizations are known to use Fortran internally?
I’m looking for a new job, and I’m particularly looking for organizations to apply to that use Fortran internally. I had a C++ job before, but I don’t like the language, and would rather take a Fortran job. I suspect the same is true for others as well.
Note that I’m not asking about specific jobs here, rather organizations that are known to use Fortran internally. They might not advertise Fortran in a job ad, particularly given that Fortran’s not regarded as cool. For example, my current job didn’t mention Fortran in the job ad. I think most people reading this can competently use a job search engine to find job ads that mention Fortran, so that’s not what I’m looking for.
So far, I think the most useful thing for me to do is find documentation for different Fortran computational physics codes that interest me and look for jobs at those organizations. The only other general strategy I can think of is asking others, hence my question.
I’m also interested in cautionary tales or advice about different organizations that hire Fortran programmers. For example, I’d love to work at one of the DOE labs, and I’ve interviewed at multiple DOE labs, but have never received an offer. It’s not clear to me why that is. I’m a US citizen with a PhD in engineering, an active security clearance, and I work as a computational physicist, so I think on paper I’m a good candidate. At this point, I consider applying to one of the DOE labs to be a waste of time. Maybe someone here knows what’s going on. DOE labs frequently complain about their hiring and retention difficulties, but it seems to me like they’re rejecting qualified candidates.
(Since I don’t want my employer to know that I’m looking for a new job, I’m not going to name any organizations or my specific background as that might help identify me.)
Format-wise, a list of organizations and known Fortran codes would work.
I did just get the following unsolicited contact in LinkedIn (my profile does not say I am open to job offers):
I’m currently looking to fill an Fortran Developer position that I would love to go over with you! If this is something that looks like it might be a good fit, please send me back an updated resume and a good time to chat for a few minutes today.
Position: Fortran Developer
Duration: 12-month contract with extensions
Location: REMOTE with some travel
Must-Haves:
5+ years of experience within software development
Strong development experience with Fortran
Plusses:
Bachelors Degree
Local to Nebraska
Background in manufacturing environment
Day to Day:
We are looking for a software developer to join one of our top clients. This is a fortune 250 client within the manufacturing and aerospace industry. This person is going to be responsible for the primary maintenance, and Fortran development of their current ERP ManMan. This person will be supporting any technical issues while helping bring in new ERP systems down the road. They currently are on ManMan, working closely with Fortran and OMAR (Order Management – Accounts Receivables).
It might be useful to know if you’re interested in particular sectors, e.g. would you be open to industry positions, or moving out of engineering/science?
Personally, I would look at it in a different way - What organisations would give you the flexibility/autonomy to develop in a language of your choice? Maybe not all the time if you’re working on an existing codebase, but perhaps in side projects. Maybe searching for organisations that will allow you to develop/bid for your own projects is a good idea.
Generally, Fortran remains the language of choice for HPC, so organisations that use/develop models requiring HPCs might be a good place to look. Climate models, physics (as you say), etc.
For me personally, I’m open to basically any sector aside from positions at universities. I had bad experiences during my PhD and plan to avoid anything at a university in the future. But I see this thread as potentially useful to people looking for non-tenure-track academic positions, so I hope people don’t limit their responses based on this.
Good suggestion to look for flexibility instead of Fortran specifically.
Good suggestion too about HPC, though I don’t think looking for HPC specifically is for me. Fortran is only one language used for HPC. I also tend and prefer to work on computational models/tools that run on more modest hardware, focus more on the physics and engineering aspects and less on things like scaling to thousands of nodes, and are used for design by engineers.
Most big projects with new development are going to be C++, it just is what it is.
Working in Fortran almost certainly means maintaining some hellish legacy thing. Just put Fortran front and center on your resume and blast out applications to aerospace & defense companies, national labs, and anyone who talks about HPC in their job description.
If you want to work on projects that benefit Fortran, but are almost certainly not written in Fortran, check out Intel, AMD, and Nvidia.