Ask HN: How can an older worker going back to CS after a break find a position? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How can an older worker going back to CS after a break find a position?

#11

Post by balls187 » Thu, May 06, 2021, 2:27 AM UTC

lhorie wrote: post #5

Don't want to sound negative, but there needs to be at least some value proposition. An employer isn't going to be super impressed if the pitch is "I'd like flex hours, training, open to anything, gimme gimme gimme". Everyone is "willing to learn"; the difference is who talks the talk and who walks the walk. She needs to have some sort of target role and be at least able to demonstrate passing familiarity with some p…

> ...there needs to be at least some value proposition.

This is spot on.

I'd recommend signing up and completing a relatively well-known coding bootcamp.

Edit to add, in 20 years a lot has changed outside of just specific CS skills:

Cloud collaborative suites, conferencing systems, Slack/MSFT Teams, JIRA, git, just to name a few.

20 years ago, I was at my first role out of college--we used Outlook, MSFT VC++ 6.0, VSS, and AOL Instant Messenger.

Re: Ask HN: How can an older worker going back to CS after a break find a position?

#12

Post by tkinom » Thu, May 06, 2021, 2:29 AM UTC

https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=Cobol&l=New+York%2C+NY

Re: Ask HN: How can an older worker going back to CS after a break find a position?

#13

Post by rrdharan » Thu, May 06, 2021, 2:30 AM UTC

> (If you would like to hire such a worker in the NY area or remotely, PM me!)

Your profile is empty and Hacker News doesn't have a native PM function.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5186475

Re: Ask HN: How can an older worker going back to CS after a break find a position?

#14

Post by anonymouswacker » Thu, May 06, 2021, 2:30 AM UTC

Is she a disabled Veteran? Because if so, she might be able to apply for a non-competitive job appointment in the Federal government

Re: Ask HN: How can an older worker going back to CS after a break find a position?

#15

Post by robgibbons » Thu, May 06, 2021, 2:33 AM UTC

Dust off those COBOL books, Even in 2021 there's demand. In that regard, her age wouldn't even be a factor; in fact it may even be an advantage.

Re: Ask HN: How can an older worker going back to CS after a break find a position?

#16

Post by the_enigma » Thu, May 06, 2021, 2:33 AM UTC

lol 20 years

Re: Ask HN: How can an older worker going back to CS after a break find a position?

#17

Post by amichal » Thu, May 06, 2021, 2:37 AM UTC

Check out https://themomproject.com/ no affiliation juts heard good things and I respect their mission.

Re: Ask HN: How can an older worker going back to CS after a break find a position?

#18

Post by aaahq » Thu, May 06, 2021, 2:41 AM UTC

robgibbons wrote: post #15

Dust off those COBOL books, Even in 2021 there's demand. In that regard, her age wouldn't even be a factor; in fact it may even be an advantage.

Seconding this. There's been a resurgence in demand for Cold Fusion programmers too. Not quite the same era, but there's a market for out-of-favor flavors.

Re: Ask HN: How can an older worker going back to CS after a break find a position?

#19

Post by rossjudson » Thu, May 06, 2021, 2:42 AM UTC

Hmm. For at least the G in FAANG, experience with "frameworks" is utterly irrelevant. Apply.

Re: Ask HN: How can an older worker going back to CS after a break find a position?

#20

Post by paulhart » Thu, May 06, 2021, 2:47 AM UTC

(Not speaking on behalf of my employer)

IBM has offered “reentry” (my term, probably not the official or correct ones, my apologies) positions in the past for women who want to reenter the tech workforce. I don’t know the details or whether the program is currently active, but I recall seeing it and thinking “that’s a really smart and thoughtful thing to do”