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Ask HN: After 20 years of programming, what do I do now?

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Re: Ask HN: After 20 years of programming, what do I do now?

#21

Post by RefactorCareer »

noir_lord wrote: post #12

I'm in a somewhat similar boat in that I've too much developer experience to be a junior programmer but not as much experience in modern stacks (I've about 5 years on modern web dev but two of that was mostly Drupal) before that it was all line-of-business internal stuff for business. I solved that problem by bootstrapping a startup with consulting/development for other startups that are viable but weak technically,…

I have a bootstrapped project already, but as you probably can infer in my postings, I'm not good at sales. I'm toying around with finding a business partner and maybe get more out of it. Side projects will probably always be a part of what I do, but I really want to find something to replace the 9-6 I have now.

Re: Ask HN: After 20 years of programming, what do I do now?

#23

Post by RefactorCareer »

1arity wrote: post #15

apply your self ( most valuable asset, since that has yielded you success so far ) to learning MVC, and maybe Reactive or single direction of data flow architecture. here's the kicker: only learn so much that you know a little more than the other guys in the companies doing web forms, and then market yourself as the guy who knows the legacy code base, knows the organizational in and outs, knows the systems, and who's…

This does sound like a path, and like I mentioned in another post, it'd be easy to take an opensource webforms project and convert it. I'll probably try that out soon.

Re: Ask HN: After 20 years of programming, what do I do now?

#24

Post by qzcx »

RefactorCareer wrote: post #14
rhubarbcustard wrote: post #5

I have interviewed a fair number of people for different positions over the years, here's my 2p: 1. I would look at your CV and see your narrow focus but I would still be wondering based on your experiences whether you could move to the technology we use. 2. Good/great developers seem to be in short supply, if you can prove your ability to understand code, build robust things and ship you would be just fine in my int…

I guess I wish the positions I applied for had hiring managers as open as you are. To be honest, with the majority of the places I've applied to, I get no response at all.

Got to watch out for the HR filter. Often at bigger companies, hiring managers don't even see a resume unless it meets the criteria they specify on it. That means people like you with related, but different experience get cut out when you could still be a good match. Broken system.

Re: Ask HN: After 20 years of programming, what do I do now?

#25

Post by RefactorCareer »

wooUK wrote: post #17

I was also in a similar position as you as a valued lead dev with 15 years of experience working in a company that didn’t want to embrace newer technologies (stuck on WebForms, not moving to MVC, etc). I was not interested in progressing into middle management and had hit the ceiling with regards pay so I became a contractor. I taught myself MVC got an initial bum-on-a-seat noddy contract which was doing MVC CRUD scr…

That sounds like a good path as well. Thanks for sharing your personal story; sounds like it would be worth it to take a temporary paycut to gain some experience.

Re: Ask HN: After 20 years of programming, what do I do now?

#26

Post by pjmorris »

RefactorCareer wrote: post #16
pjmorris wrote: post #13

> I kept my current job because of the money and flexibility they gave me to stay, > but now that working here isn't worth it anymore, So, what does 'worth it' mean to you? I see money and flexibility as the plusses of your current job... maybe that's all you need from the job. Could you keep this one and do something additional to get at whatever 'worth it' means to you?

I thought money and flexibility would be enough, but working on simple client requests is boring me to death, and I miss the ownership of working on a product. I'm sure I could milk this out until I retired, but there are other issues with the company, and I don't want to be miserable at something that takes so much of my day.

I've found the principle 'Run toward things, not away from things' to be helpful. If you don't know what'll really make you happy, you've got a shot at winding up just like you are now, somewhere else.

Finding, or starting, a relevant project, using technology you want to emphasize, seems to me like a step you could take independent of what you do about the job. As for the job, I think what they say about 'Change your organization, or change your organization' is true.

Of course, in similar shoes, I did something radical. I wasn't fulfilled in my monied, flexible job, so I'm taking a leap at what I really want to do: teach in college. It started when I came home from work one day, with a plan for how I could help local high schools with their AP classes and computer clubs, and my wife asked whether that would really do the trick of making me happy. I said 'No' and, 4 years later,I'm now ABD on a PhD, and could tell long stories of the highs and lows. It looks like it'll work out, but there's still a really strong case for having kept the boring job and looking for fulfillment elsewhere. Look up Eric Hoffer, who was a longshoreman by day, and philosopher and author by night.

Re: Ask HN: After 20 years of programming, what do I do now?

#27

Post by sdoering »

RefactorCareer wrote: post #21
noir_lord wrote: post #12

I'm in a somewhat similar boat in that I've too much developer experience to be a junior programmer but not as much experience in modern stacks (I've about 5 years on modern web dev but two of that was mostly Drupal) before that it was all line-of-business internal stuff for business. I solved that problem by bootstrapping a startup with consulting/development for other startups that are viable but weak technically,…

I have a bootstrapped project already, but as you probably can infer in my postings, I'm not good at sales. I'm toying around with finding a business partner and maybe get more out of it. Side projects will probably always be a part of what I do, but I really want to find something to replace the 9-6 I have now.

I had a web-version of my application (as a web/data analyst) in German[1] that nearly every time at least created a response.This differentiated me enough, to get around the HR-filter, that was mentioned in another reply to you.

I do not know the style you were using, but doing things differently, showcasing things you are able to do and just going the extra mile to show you really want that job oftentimes helps. At least here in Germany.

OK; the wording is somewhat cordial, but that is just to showcase my personality. I strongly believe, that being rejected for this just is a great selector for places, I would not want to work.

[1]: http://cv.schriftrolle.de/.old/tuicruises/ This is about 1,25 years old and I did get the job (but am not working there anymore, having found quite a better place to be).

Re: Ask HN: After 20 years of programming, what do I do now?

#28

Post by RefactorCareer »

alien3d wrote: post #20

I don't like mvc much.. But you can build good /powerful apps with json.net and webform. My biggest mistake was mvc itself.Too much file.Should focus on deliver instead of refining technology..

That sort of goes along with the question of is pivoting myself into a front end engineer worth the effort? I'm comfortable using ajax and json services to create a UI--that's how I write my "webform" pages today.

Re: Ask HN: After 20 years of programming, what do I do now?

#29

Post by RefactorCareer »

house9-2 wrote: post #22

You might be interested in https://info.covermymeds.com/ruby/ Ruby on Rails opportunity for java and .net developers; note:I am not affiliated with covermymeds, heard about it on the Ruby Rogues podcast.

Thanks, will check them out.

Re: Ask HN: After 20 years of programming, what do I do now?

#30

Post by busterarm »

atwebb wrote: post #11
giardini wrote: post #9

Study up on Microsoft SQL Server and present yourself as someone to fill a DBA role. Pay attention especially to the basics: backup, restore, migration, import and export of data and Microsoft Report Services. Read the fine print about SQL Server version differences (nobody else will). SQL Server is in high demand and most programmers have little interest in the DBA role, yet it is crucial (read "highly-valued") in m…

To add onto this, being a "developer DBA" can be clutch. OP has a background in application programming and can relate to other groups a lot easier and inherently understand pain points and reasoning behind certain architecture decisions.

As a young-ish developer mostly interested in database and backend work, what skills/path would you say is necessary to function in a full-fledged DBA role?

I'm finding in my contracting work that my database skills are above-average and usually one of the big things that I'm relied upon for and I think this is worth pursuing.

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