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Ask HN: Been writing code for 40 years and can't get hired

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Re: Ask HN: Been writing code for 40 years and can't get hired

#91

Post by adamredwoods »

therealdavesky wrote: post #68
Flankk wrote: post #4

Big tech is very much ageist. It goes beyond discrimination during the interview process. Companies like this will take steps to weed older folks out of their company for good, it's awful. What programming languages and skills do you have on your resume?

I didn’t expect so many replies, thanks for the help! Over the years my skills have been spread across a variety of platforms: >>Most types of UIs: text based, old school assembly code, weak in react but strong in iOS >>2D / 3D interfaces and data visualization: 3D simulators and demos for aerospace >>Multimedia / Transmedia : After Effects plugins, music videos, analog studio expertise >>VRML visuals: did lots of li…

Oh, iOS experience? Your skills are in demand in the e-commerce space. The past two companies I worked for were always looking for iOS/Swift developers. Keep applying!

Re: Ask HN: Been writing code for 40 years and can't get hired

#92

Post by therealdavesky »

cc101 wrote: post #45

I have two suggestions. I'm 75 with 54 years programming experience. I got a job because the employer (a university) couldn't find anyone to do the work at a pathetic salary. That's suggestion number one: find an employer who is desperate. The misconceptions and prejudices of the employment system would prevent my resume-application from ever reaching the person making the hiring decision. The second suggestion is pr…

thanks. i hear you on the desperate employer thing, that got me a job in 2001 working for DigiEffects when their code broke going from iOS9 to OSX

Re: Ask HN: Been writing code for 40 years and can't get hired

#93

Post by therealdavesky »

tomcam wrote: post #17

Some tough love here, from the parallel universe you. It was people like you in the late 1970s who inspired me to be a programmer (literally, talking to Hughes aircraft programmers on the bus to high school about the JOVIAL language), but one thing I knew by the time I was about 12, say, 1973 or so, was that aerospace engineering in the Hughes aircraft world was boom and bust. I did not learn programming until I was…

swift seems like a good choice for me, and i am about to release an AR app in swift that produces algorithmic music ... what do you think about swift?

Re: Ask HN: Been writing code for 40 years and can't get hired

#94

Post by therealdavesky »

musesum wrote: post #64

Have been writing code since the mid '70s. But, that has been mostly with startups. YMMV Two years ago, I ran out of money. So, I started interviewing. One example was interviewing for the Apple Watch team. My experience included the design and code lead of an Apple Watch product, which was featured by Apple. But, I failed the Coderpad. Why? The interviewer wanted me to use a new Swift generic syntax, which I had nev…

great observation wrt using your own keyboard to enter stuff...

it has to be remote for me for now because i am stuck in hawaii due to $$ probs

they bay area would be a great place to live, but its hard to get there and i know about the networking prospects when you "just show up", i was in berkeley for a few years back in the 80s: you never know who you will run into over there.

big island? welpers, larry ellison has a huge house over here but he doesnt show up at the supermarket very often...

Re: Ask HN: Been writing code for 40 years and can't get hired

#95

Post by wackget »

globular-toast wrote: post #67
wackget wrote: post #62

As a web developer who works almost exclusively in PHP/SQL and devops, if I was presented with a "Leetcode" challenge or any other intentionally esoteric / purely theoretical bullshit interview technique I would immediately but politely excuse myself from the process. That nonsense is utterly non-representative of what the average programmer will be doing on a daily basis. Even Leetcode's most "easy" problem just see…

You think finding two numbers in an array is ridiculous? How do you think software like the OS, web browser etc. is made? Someone has to do stuff like this...

Yeah I totally get it. It's just not nearly as relevant for my industry (web dev) as it is for actual rocket science, for example.

Re: Ask HN: Been writing code for 40 years and can't get hired

#96

Post by hardwaresofton »

Have you considered learning COBOL? Maybe not the most inspiring language to work in everyday but the ecosystem that uses it has money and has intense demand.

You could even do something crazy like write tooling for COBOL that makes programmers more productive and be loved forever (or make a lot of money).

Re: Ask HN: Been writing code for 40 years and can't get hired

#98

Post by hellisothers »

Looks like a lot of advice here is around learning new languages and “staying current”, it seems like this can become a treadmill/rat-race best suited to more junior positions. If you have them, I would advocate you play up your leadership “high leverage” skills, not management mind you, but technical leadership. These will age the best over time, can offer high returns on effort, and get you more appreciation. You still need to interview well but the focus becomes less on what specific language you know and more on how you can deliver for the company.

Re: Ask HN: Been writing code for 40 years and can't get hired

#99

Post by mech422 »

I'm over 50 as well, and my last job search took 4 months (being fairly picky about what I wanted..).

The key is to 'work the ends' - the demand in tech is in really old tech (COBOL, RPG, CICS) and really new tech ('cloud', Rust, tech-de-jour). Middle ground (Java, C, python (sorta), perl, etc) is either low demand/pay or saturated with people all ready.

Also, trite as it seems - two best resources I have for leads are LinkedIn and personal network. Make sure your LinkedIn provides a good indication of not only what you're good at, but also what you're interested in.

First of the year is coming up, and that always brings a slew of new positions! Make sure everything is up to date, and keep an eye out for positions that seem interesting!

Good Luck!

Re: Ask HN: Been writing code for 40 years and can't get hired

#100

Post by gopher_space »

mavelikara wrote: post #59
gopher_space wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> people don’t care what you’ve done. They care about how you perform in the interview. I think OP is expecting a level of competence from interviewers that simply doesn’t exist anymore. He’s from a time when the initial conversation would be engineers only and absolutely focused on past projects.

> I think OP is expecting a level of competence from interviewers that simply doesn’t exist anymore. No. OP has not realized that the job market has plenty of charlatans who can talk well, but can't do the job.

That’s why you need competent interviews. Charlatans don’t make it past engineers.
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