>I don't even know if I can do the project, and I don't have the >confidence like Tedd to bluff my way into the job. :) (you may >remember when you said you took a job not knowing C, but proclaiming >to I believe, and learning it on the job). Robert: Please understand, I was extremely desperate when I did that. I had been out of work for about two years with no prospects in site. Over that two year period, I had sent out well over 1000 resumes with only 12 resulting interviews and each one of those ended with -- "I'm sorry, you're way over qualified for this position." I had bills up the wazoo -- including one from our our most kind and gentle US Government which was threatening me with court action -- what #@%$@'s they are. It was a dark and dismal time for me. Then came a contract job DOW Chemical which required me to write a compiler in C that would run on both Mac's and an Alpha's. Not only did I not know C, but I really didn't know what a compiler was, nor did I know what the hell was an Alpha or how to network it with Mac's! I was totally clueless. But, when they asked if there was going to be any problems with the project, I replied "None that I can see -- it looks pretty simple to me." Besides, what's the worst they could do -- fire me? I was looking for work when they came along. When they hired me (at $50/hr), I immediately charged about $500 of C books to my last remaining available credit card and began reading and applying that knowledge to the problem. Three months later (the time frame allowed for the project), I finished the project "on time" and "under budget". They never knew that I had never programmed a line of code in C before that job. I made slightly over $26k for the project, paid my bills (and the government) and the remainder carried me on to the next job and so on -- story of my life. Now, I'm no superstar when it comes to programming -- I'm just another "also ran" in the field. However, I realize that programming in any language is still just programming and nothing is really that different between languages. I claim that if you can program well in a competent language, such as FB, then you can program in ALL languages. The beauty of FB is that it IS the most competent language I have ever had the privilege to develop in. It has given me the ability to program in other languages. So don't think that C, or C++, or whatever is so much different that you can't perform well in those -- because you can. Sure C is cryptic and there is a lot of wasted code (because no one wants to remove the extra code because they don't know what it does), but the program logic and flow is no different than FB. In fact, how could it be different? For in the end they are all just pushing the same bits and bytes. So, my advise, always claim that you can do the job. For most (if not all) of the people on this list are accomplished, intelligent and well qualified for any programming project. Keep in mind that many of the "Information Managers" out there who will hire you, haven't a clue of how to get what they want -- they just want it. So, if you can visualize what they want, then you can deliver it, because you already have the ability. tedd -- http://sperling.com