What programming niche/technologies would you recommend for an aging programmer?

Question

I have a friend who is in his late forties, and for reasons we won't go into here, never really developed his career. He learned basic programming skills in .NET a few years ago, and got a job with that, but now he's found himself unemployed again, with nothing to differentiate him from the rest of the pack.

He's a very bright guy, and capable of learning new technologies. I recommended to him that in his unemployed time he should try and learn a niche or emerging technology, so that he can have some feature on his resume to distinguish him. But I don't really know what's out there, our how in demand any given technology is.

What would you recommend he learn?

Answer 1

Whatever he find interesting enough to dedicate to.

Answer 2

Well to be honest this field is very dynamic and age does play a big factor because its a indicator (although weak)of enthusiasm to learn with each passing day.
Having said that if your friend really loves the programming world then nothing can stop him in getting a decent paying job.
a) He should polish his .Net skills,as he is already into it.
b) Try to join some open source project to keep his motivation high also nothing shine more in resume than contribution to a open source project.
c)Read others code(Open Source project) .This will give him perspective on his current abilities.
d)Work as freelancer ,their are lot of such sites available.
http://www.bizreef.com/

Answer 3

I'm not sure any language that he puts on his resume is going to get him a job. When I read resumes, I generally skip right by that section and go into the projects a person has worked on. I never hire somebody for what languages they know, but for how well they can learn, adapt, and grow. We work in too volatile of an industry to do what amounts to an inner join on languages/technologies.

That being said, my best advice for him would to be getting involved with an open source project that forces him to learn new things. Not only would he get the aforementioned new technology, but he would also have a project to talk about (a much greater impact, IMHO). Also, his experience in getting ramped up and then contributing to that project will be a great story for interviews.

I don't often get folks with open source projects on their resumes, but when I do, it lights up my little heart. They definitely are a step ahead of the competition walking in the door.

Whatever he does, though, make sure that he loves doing it. There's a chasm between projects done out of love and projects done out of necessity. Make sure it's the former.

Answer 4

Tell him to have a look around and test the water a bit, a lot of languages are out there, it's majorly down to preference. A quick easy language to freelance in will help him stay on his feet until he has time and/or opportunities for a new job.

Answer 5

See my answer to a-cobol-programmer-thinking-about-switching-to-the-modern-world. Experience in a somewhat forgotten technology might be an asset. You can look for places that must support legacy systems.

Being an aging programmer, maybe your friend already knows COBOL (though you describe him as a little too young for that).

Answer 6

There is likely to be a up tick in demand for any industry associated with the stimulus package. Estimation software for road construction, award systems for contracts in construction, and CADD systems are likely to get white hot very soon. The other area waiting to explode is data scrubbing methodologies as HIPPA becomes as visible as SOX and PCI did several years ago. Skill at getting anonymous data into test environments will likely fetch a pretty dollar. Make sure to encourage him to keep active and positive.

Answer 7

Assuming that web and web applications are "emerging technologies" then I I would recommend first to get involved with some design patterns like MVC. Then I would advice to choose a language which has a directly implementation of this. Ruby on rails or Groovy will fit for this.

Answer 8

1) Having interesting projects on the resume is more important than just mentions of the new technology. Yes, new techonlogies are cool, but the main thing is the project.

2) What did he do in pre-.NET times? Can he leverage his previous experience and pick a hobby project that is interesting for him and uses some of his non-programming skills?

Answer 9

I can recommend that he should think about doing some kind of certification that fine tunes his skills and ramps up his confidence

Answer 10

G'day,

Is going for "yet another technology" really the best way to go?

Does your friend have special domain knowledge? Or has he found he enjoys particular sections of the project lifecycle. Maybe architecture and high-level design, or the estimation side, testing, refactoring, etc.

I'm just wondering if learning "the next hot technology" is really going to help him distinguish himself from the hordes of people also learning "the next hot technology". Emphasising the experience gained over his long career would make him stand out.

Businesses want people who can understand the business and the technology. If the friend has business experience in some field, I'd suggest applying to businesses in that field and emphasizing the relevant business and technological experience. - David Thornley from comment below.

If "tnht" really is the way to go, what about learning Python and playing with Google's App Engine?

BTW Working on a open source project is a great idea to both gain experience and make contacts.

HTH

Good luck.

cheers,

Answer 11

Here's my suggestions though it doesn't involve any new technologies:

I'd recommend he learn the game involved in getting a job. If there are firms that place programmers then going there to see if they can offer suggestions may be a good idea as they would know what is out there or if you browse their job listings to get an idea or two. Another thought is to break down all his previous work experience to tailor it for various positions, e.g. what did he do with those .Net skills in terms of things like databases, UI, and platforms.

Another thought would be to go back to school possibly that would give him a couple of benefits: 1) He would know what the recent grads know in terms of current technologies and 2) Be able to show employers that he is prepared to work and learn when needed.

Answer 12

Learn a specific technology not a language, developers do not get hired for learning a language but you can get hired for product skills.

Maybe try learning oracle web logic really well. I am guessing over the next couple of years its gonna be playing a much bigger role in the large enterprise.