Restart a career for ex-C programmer

Question

I'm trying to re-enter the job market after a loong break - 15 years. My last full time job was programming in C with Sybase SQL backend for a corporation. Recently, I did a few websites. You know, HTML, CSS, PHP, etc. But I feel JAVA is more closely related to what I did, plus I don't really like web development - web technologies change at lightspeed. My question is: where should I start? is there a chance for me at all?

I'm planning to take the Java Programmer's Certification Exam. From what I read from some other threads here, it doesn't count much, but I hope it add some points to my report card. I hope I could find some freelance projects in Java to beef up my resume, but I have no clue how to go about doing that. Everywhere I look, companies are looking for senior level Java developer. So where are the entry level positions? I hope someone here could shed some light on this.

Thanks in advance!

(btw, I have a M.S. in Computer Science and live in the Los Angeles area)

Answer 1

I won't pretend to know the answer to your question, but I do have some advice that might help:

While you are looking, get involved as a contributor to open source. It doesn't really matter what platform, but open source is a great way to beef up your resume while gaining real experience. Being a regular contributor to a big-name project can go a long way.

Good Luck in your job search.

Answer 2

As a quick start to your career - SQL and DB design really hasn't changed much in 15 years. In some ways the market in that space is better than ever. The whole IT market is now huge, which means that good old DB skills are actually pretty rare. How about downloading Oracle/SQL Server and training in that?

Answer 3

For what it's worth, we just filled a position for an entry level Java developer.

In this economy, the fact is though, that many Senior Java Developers are out of work and willing to take a position for much less than their fair market value. In the short term, it is difficult to compete with that if you are just starting out.

This rough economy, too, shall pass. If you are strongly interested in Java development (meaning you are likely to commit to what it takes to become good at it), it might be a good move to learn and practice. If your situation allows, you might consider going out asking for (unpaid or low paid) internships to build a work experience history. Such internships can well grow into a fully paid position. In addition/alternatively you might consider contributing to an open source project based on Java while searching for regular employment.

If you enjoy it enough to become very good at it, this career path should work for you over the mid-term. If you need an entry level Java position right now to make ends meet, that could be hard.

Answer 4

Java is rather on the decline except for a few enterprise jobs, and they all want senior people with N years of J2EE/EJB.

Have you considered C#? If you don't object to working on Windows, it's easy to pick up and most of the jobs are c#->SQL type gigs. People with any real database experience are rare.

The other option is mobile development = big opportunities.

Answer 5

I agree with @Andres. Working on an open source project will really help beef up your resume, it also shows a lot of passion and it will help you work in a team environment, etc. I also think it is really helpful if you find personal projects to work on at home. This will help you learn how to build things from scratch and will help you learn things that you may not get a chance to do in a work environment. I think showing a passion for programming goes a long way.

Answer 6

C and SQL experience is a winner. Web programmers is every where and everybody has different buzz words. But C and SQL is still the same but there are very few programmers around that can still do that. It will be harder to find a job but there will be very little competition for that job. And you will definitely be able to charge a large premium. The money and opportunities are not all where the crowds are heading.

You might need to convince an employer that you will quickly get back up to speed and put in some effort to study at first but my personal opinion is that you never forget C.

Answer 7

Hi May,

For you, I'd strongly recommend a career in configuring COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) products such as Siebel or Salesforce.com. Most of these companies -- and their partner implementation partners -- hire entry-level folks and pay to train them. A lot of guys start in this track straight out of school. It doesn't require a ton of prior technical experience, but it's a huge advantage to have a professional software engineering background, which most consultants don't have.

Another reason I think it's a good fit is that it's much quicker to get off the ground and start being productive (read: valuable). Becoming productive in a general-purpose programming language is tough -- and it's especially hard to go from entry-level to head-of-the-pack in this over-saturated market. COTS products are in a much more niche and less competitive market.

In terms of money, I'd say there's a reasonable chance that you'd start with a six-figure income if you have experience in an industry that's in need. If not, then I'm sure you could get there with a job change 1-2 years down the road, assuming you perform.

I know this isn't what you were thinking of, but I think it would be a better fit for you.

Good luck, Mike