Re: Advice for mid-life career change (to programming)

"Walter" <walter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:xb2dnUkO-pODmgffRVn-qQ@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> "Tony" <someone@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:119j48ck7r1gt5d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> You know, checking it out - I don't know if it will help much.
>>
>> Problem is, "Tony Garcia" is not all that much different from "John
> Smith" -
>> Google the name and there are bunches. It would be hell to get even
> noticed
>> with all those references already existing.
>>
>> OTOH, I did add my sig - and the website (which has "tony23") - maybe
>> that
>> will help.
>
> In your case, suggest to your prospective employer that they check you out
> on the web, and to do so by googling on "tony23". Nothing works like being
> proactive about it.

I actually do come up fairly often with that search - problem is there are
some others who do, as well. The others include someone who is posting on a
lot of dating & sex personals sites!


>
>> Thing is, from everything I'm hearing back, it seems like you guys are
>> basically saying it will take me a couple years to be able to stand a
> chance
>> at getting a programming job. Am I reading that wrong?
>> Hardly seems worthwhile.. :(
>
> My suggestions are based on the presumption that what you're doing now
> isn't
> working, so you've nothing to lose (and everything to gain) by working on
> these career building paths. They're also based on the presumption that
> you
> enjoy programming and related activities (else why switch careers?), so
> these paths are things you'd enjoy doing for their own sake.

Hmm - why switch careers?

Well, I was a youth program manager for the past 5 years, and I've found
that apparantly that isn't enough experience for even an office manager
position at a small office. I've been doing Video production and Web Design
for about 7 years (ran the business concurrently with the manager position)
and that is just too competitive to even begin to eke out a living. The
video production field is pretty well wrapped up by the local cable
companies, and the web design field is full of hacks who work cheap and
produce cheap results - but just try getting anyone to pay for QUALITY...

OTOH, I have been working on computers and programming, as I said, since 78.
It's something I do anyways, and frankly, something that has made me
valuable to many past employers (a lot of times I was hired at least as much
for my computer skills as the other relevant skills). I've always been the
office computer guy - from fixing what was broke, to advising the boss on
new purchases, to writing simple menuing programs (pre-Windows) so the
office folk could actually USE the computer.

Faced with the choice of focusing on Tech or Programming, I decided on what
I enjoy best.

As for what I'm doing now not working - I'm too new to everything to know,
really. Thing is, I'm not even getting responses on my resume - so,
apparently, something is lacking there.

> If you don't enjoy them for their own sake, then I respectfully suggest
> that
> perhaps this isn't the right career move for you. Myself, I started my
> career as a mechanical engineer, and did programming for a hobby. After a
> few years, it became pretty obvious to me that I should swap the two <g>.
> I
> received much resistance from employers at first (what the heck is a
> gearhead doing applying for a programmer job?), but what eventually worked
> for me was showing an employer all the stuff I'd been programming on the
> side.

Fair enough - my question would be: how do I get an employer to look at it
in the first place?

Here's a good example: I recently applied for a web programming position at
SmartHome (they do home automation systems). Well, one of the web projects I
worked on some time ago was from one of their bigger industrial clients, and
it involved a JavaScript-based simulation of the "SmartLinc" panel, which
the company had under license from SmartHome. The SmartLinc panel, in fact,
was one of their premier products at the time.

I mentioned this in my cover letter. Didn't get a call or email - nothing.
My resume reflected knowledge of the material they wanted, so - what was
missing? Damned if I can figure it out...


I have no problem doing all that you suggest - I'd probably do it anyways,
now that I'm aware of it. Like I said, my biggest problem is how to get to
the place where I can present that material in the first place...

>
>> (BTW, is my sig coming through?)
>
> No.

Ah - I don't use sigs much - looks like it's not automatic in OE.

What would you suggest putting in it? I'm thinking name & website - anything
else?


--
Tony Garcia
www.dslextreme.com/~tony23/




.

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