Ask HN: How did you switch technologies?

#1

Post by deval » Thu, Mar 02, 2017, 8:11 PM UTC

I'm primarily a PHP/Node.js dev, but contracting with those skills (at least where I live) is a lot less easy than .NET/C#.

I know a bit of C#, but I haven't had any real industry experience. I'm also reluctant to take an entry level job for a year or two just to get those skills. I have bills to pay, etc.

Has anyone else been in this situation before and managed to successfully switch technologies without taking a cut in earnings?

Re: Ask HN: How did you switch technologies?

#2

Post by PaulHoule » Thu, Mar 02, 2017, 8:27 PM UTC

I have often switched stacks for the needs of a job, either the one I already have or another that is already offered.

Re: Ask HN: How did you switch technologies?

#3

Post by tlack » Thu, Mar 02, 2017, 8:33 PM UTC

No comment about C# (wouldnt be my first choice)

To build knowledge, cred, and potential customers: find an open source/side project that excites you to death, use NewLanguage to do it, and then publish it on Github and relevant online communities. You may turn out not to like NewLanguage afterall.

To slowly work new languages into existing projects: microservices have been a great way to sneak new technology into old systems. I've employed Erlang in PHP projects (autocomplete), Q in Node.js projects (websockets/in-memory tables), etc.

Re: Ask HN: How did you switch technologies?

#4

Post by deval » Thu, Mar 02, 2017, 8:42 PM UTC

tlack wrote: post #3

No comment about C# (wouldnt be my first choice) To build knowledge, cred, and potential customers: find an open source/side project that excites you to death, use NewLanguage to do it, and then publish it on Github and relevant online communities. You may turn out not to like NewLanguage afterall. To slowly work new languages into existing projects: microservices have been a great way to sneak new technology into ol…

Interesting, this sounds like a decent idea. Thanks.

Re: Ask HN: How did you switch technologies?

#5

Post by RickS » Thu, Mar 02, 2017, 11:00 PM UTC

Internal transfer is a great path to this. If you can't get hired in stack A, but can in stack B, get a job somewhere that employs B but is short A.

PMs will often take any willing candidate, and in no time you'll be "one of the employees that does A".

I've accidentally transitioned from a product designer to a front end developer, even against my will, at least 4 times this way. There is no chance I could pass any serious front end interview, but I'm well enough equipped for the boring realities of the things that need to be updated in prod.

Once you're in the door, you're measured against the realistic "what needs to ship" bar, not the bright and shiny "we only hire the best" bar.

Re: Ask HN: How did you switch technologies?

#6

Post by stephenr » Fri, Mar 03, 2017, 4:21 PM UTC

I switched from pure infra (working in a technical college IT department) to front-end web dev (of which I had no prior commercial experience) pretty much through knowing enough to get by, and a good attitude towards working collaboratively and being flexible.

I beat out a guy with 10 years experience because his attitude was terrible.

Note: this was many years ago, and was with a federal government department so hiring practices may be different to "normal"

Re: Ask HN: How did you switch technologies?

#7

Post by thedirt0115 » Fri, Mar 03, 2017, 4:31 PM UTC

Are you free to move to the Bay Area? Unless you're applying as a super-specialist, companies out here don't care too much what languages/frameworks you know as long as your fundamentals are solid (data structures and algorithms). For example, the tech stack I had used for the previous 5 years isn't used at all where I work now, and they didn't care when hiring me.