How does one "get experience" in a technology that they have no opportunity to use at work?

Question

When companies place job ads, they often ask for "X years of experience in Y". My understanding is that when they say this, they mean professional experience. They don't want to hear about my years as a C++ hobbyist before I started my day job, they just want to know what I've used on-the-job, on a commercial project. Right?

So, how does one "get experience" in a technology that one's company has no interest in using? Let me use Oracle as an example, since I've asked a related question about Oracle. I've never used Oracle. My company does not use Oracle and probably never will. I would like to qualify for jobs that require "experience" with Oracle. How can I do this?

Does taking an Oracle training class qualify as "experience"?

Downloading Oracle Express and building a personal project for my own enrichment?

Actually buying a server license for Oracle and using it to build a personal project?

When you apply for jobs, what do you consider "experience" to mean? Do you mention technologies you've learned or tinkered with entirely on your own time? If you want to get "experience" with a technology you're not familiar with, what do you do? If you're a hiring manager, what do you expect when you ask for "experience" with a technology?

If it makes any difference, you can substitute "PHP", "Macromedia (Adobe) Flash", "Microsoft Sharepoint", or "J2EE" for "Oracle" in the above text. They're all things for which I often haven't the requisite "experience".

Answer 1

Doing training courses will help, but it's no substitute for hand on experience. You need actual real-life problems to really get into something. Personal projects also cut no ice whatsoever, unless you can point to a released product of that work.

Honestly, I think your only out is joining a community open source project, but that in itself is also no guarantee (I speak from personal experience here). However, any company which would reject demonstrable involvement in an OS project as not being commercial is not somewhere you really want to work anyway.

It's a bit of a bind really.

edit: fwiw, I believe (IANAL) asking for years of experience is actually now illegal in a lot of jurisdictions, on the grounds it's a form of age discrimination

Answer 2

Create a portfolio of projects that you have created using J2EE, php, etc .., this could be a website you direct them to. You could also get involved with open source projects that uses J2EE, php, etc .. Some way to say I know what I am doing but I just havn't had a corporate job doing it yet.

Answer 3

Grab the evaluation software and build a project yourself. Blog about the issues you're tackling with it as you go and you may help others in the same position. Too often you're faced with recruiters after a checklist of skills, with this approach you can at least point explicitly to what you have done, proves you have passion and interest enough to learn in your own time as well.

Answer 4

I don't think it's strictly "professional experience" that counts, they just want to make sure you haven't just read a book about SQL but never actually used it. If you can show them something hobbyist but concrete, such as a hobby website you built using the technology in question (where both the fact that you did it and that technology is used can be confirmed), it should count just as much. Participation in an open source project might be even better.

Of course, this assumes the hiring manager actually knows stuff and isn't just a HR drone ticking off a checklist.

Answer 5

Often what you put on your CV is open to interpretation in many ways.

In my career path I have tended to learn new technologies by trying them out (under the radar) whilst working on projects. However I have been lucky enough to work in enironments where I have been given the freedom to allow this.

In my opinion, and I have interviewed technical staff in the past, I take experience to mean an immersion in a technology (however that may have come about).

The danger is in ensuring that if you do get taken on that you have the knowledge to back up your cliams to experience.

Read blogs, RSS feeds and tutorials.

Try out some test code for yourself

Install the products at home if you can.

Try to convince those in power to let you undertake R&D projects with new technology for upcoming work.

Keep pursuing your goals!

Answer 6

Practice at home.

Answer 7

If you don't have opportunity to learn and develop your skills in technology X in your day job, then you have two choices:

• Get a different job based on your current skillset, and hope for cross-training at some point.
• learn about technology X in your spare time - the best way to create yourself a project based on some sort of deliverable, rather that just messing around with that technology. Treat is as real project that your business would require.

The first option is optimistic, but sometimes it works, but it's essentially a gamble.

The second option might not have the same weight as using technology X in your real job for a number of years, but it shows enthusiasm, drive and initiative. If you treat this learning vehicle as a real project, you will have plans, designs and ultimately a product to show for your efforts. This will stand you in good stead.

Another person in another organisation might have an additional option, which is to convince their boss to allow them to learn technology on-the-job. [Clearly unlikely in the case of an Oracle DB in a non-Oracle org]

Answer 8

You may want to indicate how well you were able to obtain other skills. This would let them know you have the capability to learn on or two missing requirements. There will always be a need for new learning. Employers need to feel confident you can get up to speed quickly and grow over time. Put your weaknesses in the contexts of strengths.

Answer 9

I think you need to find a role that doesn't require Oracle experience, but has involvement with it along with other things. Then when you've been there a couple of years, you'll have that experience to put on your CV. It's sad but that's the way it works most of the time.

Answer 10

It really depends on how central the skill is to the job you will be performing. I wouldn't apply for a job as an experienced Oracle DBA without solid professional Oracle experience. But a job as a developer may be different, especially if knowledge of multiple databases is expected. Often times job listings contain a string of technologies that you may or may not be required to work with, just like resumes often contain a string of technologies that the applicant may or may not have used in any significant way.

If the skill is a programming language or framework, then do a real side-project in that language and/or framework and make it publicly available. I personally would prefer to see that in a candidate then a claim of years of professional experience, because frankly lots of people have years of experience doing something very poorly. Code is something real that I can judge.

Answer 11

This is a slim chance, but it's better than none.

Some poeple have managed to establish professional crdibility in a different technology, such as Oracle, by doing pro bono work for respected non profit organizations. Local public television stations are a good place for this kind of project. Public TV has fairly high end needs for managing and processing information in about the same way that commercial TV stations do, but they have almost no money to pay for such things.

They have almost no money, but they aren't sleazebags. If you can do good pro bono work for them, they will respect you. And as far as networking with business type people goes, you are going to get to meet the best of the breed in the course of your work.

Your "years of experience" may not count for much in this endeavor, but your deliverables, and the testimonials you can get might be worth even more. Check it out. Find some people that have successfully converted pro bono work into a career step forward. See if you can follow this path.