Is it time to find a new field? or expand my skills?

Question

I am a coldfusion programmer, at least that's what people have been hiring me for. Even though I am good with oracle/sql server, can design/model databases, rewrite queries for better performance...

I really do love the work, but it seems to make me so unhirable. And I have no idea why?

I am 47 years old, been programming since 1997, when i first brought open my Instant HTML book, and started to learn to code.

I passionately love it, I just don't feel very appreciated or wanted or respected.

For the last 4 years, been pretty horrible, very hard to find or get jobs. And I've had time periods of no job, because of economy, or because I don't have a portfolio.

I don't pretend to be a great programmer, but I am above average.

I am always the guy at a job, improving the quality, getting us to use source control, getting a project management process, always pushing us to be better and better...

But it seems so many people just don't care, unless it's whatever the current hot trend or fad is.

I would love for once, to be supported for training or education, instead it's "Go learn xyz on your own time..."

I don't come here coming to expect to make big bucks, but would be nice to be appreciated...

I am currently at a part time job, would love to go full-time, but not very likely happening in this economy.

Simply, they can afford to hire people at far cheaper rates, and keep them there, because there just isn't a lot of job openings.

So I am considering moving on to another career, whatever that is lol.

Part of the problem of being a programmer, I have nothing to prove my skills, designers can have portfolio's, I've had a professional blogs.

But my blog got flamed constantly because I didn't write according to the popular trends.

So where am I supposed to go lol?

I really do love to program, i think, dream code..

Answer 1

Then I think you might want to have a look rather at

Stack Overflow Careers

I have mentioned this before, and I belive that you can get away with some good opensource experiance and some personal projects under your belt to show as your skills...

Answer 2

So where am I supposed to go?

Stay where you are at right now, with the bad economy you are fortunate you have one.

In the meantime, you can either branch off into what interests you and gain experience or stick with what you know and settle. I firmly believe, you should stay where your at, branch off and continue to learn as much as you can.

Also, start rebuilding your resume with all your skills and newly learned skills and keep up the search.

I would love for once, to be supported for training or education

Alot of the times, support may not descend from the job, but rather from outside support. I have been fortunate enough to have my employers, both past and present, to encourage me to go back to get school, but I also received a lot of support from friends and family.

Unless of course by support, you mean financially wise. As far as I know, there is no such thing as wasted education or training. What you learn can be used in the future. Remember, no matter how the support is given, there is nothing but positive results to be gained.

Part of the problem of being a programmer, I have nothing to prove my skills

As a programmer look into contributing to open-source projects where you can not only gain experience but you are able to showcase your talent and passion.

Answer 3

I find your question interesting because I've been wondering if we (fellow programmers) will eventually reach the same point where we find ourselves either unable or unwilling to learn "the new stuff".

Although it's nice when employers support and encourage the continuing education of their developers, I certainly would not expect this. It seems like your asking them to pay you not to work (on something productive) in order for you to learn something that may or may not be of any value to your employer.

If I found myself in your circumstance, the first thing I would do is learn the new stuff. This is easier than ever to do, in my opinion, due to the huge amount of good and free online material that has become available in the last several years. The second thing I would do is get some real-world experience (a portfolio, if you will) with the new stuff via either my own project(s) or contributions to relevant open-source projects.

If you're right about your present hire-ability and you're not interested in learning new things, then I agree that your only real option is a career change.

Answer 4

My take is that you have experiences that go beyond cold fusion that could be used with other technologies. I assume that you have skills in user interface design, usability, aesthetics, prototyping, and working with users. Skills like these are very valuable to many organizations. Some organization look for people that specialize in interface design. Through such a position you would be able to learn whatever UI technologies that are used by that organization.

This serves as a good launching point to dig deeper and learn more about other technology stacks.

Answer 5

I've been in a similar situation over the years where I felt like, "should I dive in and learn XYZ, and how...". Luckily, I'm challenged at work enough and able to try out new things as they're applicable. If you're doing ColdFusion, you probably also know a fair amount of javascript, which may help you learn AJAX, which then becomes more portable to another language.

From your post, I'm not sure if you're love of code is ONLY for ColdFusion, or if you have an interest in other languages. Get on a cheap ISP and see if you can do some PHP, Python, Perl or Ruby on Rails development. If you're not working full time, you may be able to pick up either a pro-bono project for a non-profit where their expectations and demands would be lower and you'll sharpen some new skills to help you get future projects.

Good luck