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Ask HN: Approaching 40 and trying to get a foothold into Software Engineering

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Re: Ask HN: Approaching 40 and trying to get a foothold into Software Engineering

#41

Post by zamnos »

Ooh your site's fancy.

Summary could use some rewording. Maybe something like

> Full stack web dev with experience completing projects on time and under budget and working with other teams. For my next opportunity I’m looking for ...

Skills goes up top, under summary. You want people to know your areas of expertise sooner so they know the rest is worth reading.

Keep education at the bottom.

Since you're coming from a non-traditional background (absolutely no judgement, just means we have to tweak the template is all), my idea is put your work experience and projects in one section. Organize them as relevant to the position you're applying to instead of chronological, with the most relevant up top, so start with Story Factory, then portfolio-v4.0-react (I'd drop the "professional portfolio" and just call it by the github project name) and continue on from there.

Re: Ask HN: Approaching 40 and trying to get a foothold into Software Engineering

#42

Post by savorypiano »

linuxftw wrote: post #5

Going straight to 'software engineer' is hard IMO. Unless you graduate from a 4 year degree in CS or have an internship or some other real professional software design experience, I think it's a hard field to break into. You might want to aim lower initially. Help desk or field rep for a tech company, etc. Ansible, terraform, linux automation, those kind of jobs are more widespread than straight software development…

Arguably this guy's portfolio is already better than most new CS grads, no?

Re: Ask HN: Approaching 40 and trying to get a foothold into Software Engineering

#43

Post by anonXae8ip7r »

anonXae8ip7r wrote: post #40

First of all, I'm not currently a manager, but I think your website is great; it definitely demonstrates that you have real skills and could be productive as a junior-level developer. So I'll focus on the resume, where I see a few things that could be improved: - You mentioned that you've worked automotive jobs with some technical aspects. I would strongly consider listing those jobs, even if they don't include any s…

Two things I forgot to mention:

1. I encouraged you to include more non-software jobs, but you mentioned that you were concerned that your resume would be two pages long if you accurately represented your work history. One solution to that would be to only list jobs going back a certain number of years, and to omit the bullet points for the jobs with no software relevance. You don't need to list everything you've ever done, just enough to give a clear and honest picture of your recent history.

2. I'm no one special and I don't have any expertise in this area, so please take all of this advice with a grain of salt. I just figured I'd share my gut reactions in case they're helpful. You might be able to get more useful resume feedback from a professional resume review service or even an experienced recruiter.

Re: Ask HN: Approaching 40 and trying to get a foothold into Software Engineering

#44

Post by platevoltage »

anonXae8ip7r wrote: post #40

First of all, I'm not currently a manager, but I think your website is great; it definitely demonstrates that you have real skills and could be productive as a junior-level developer. So I'll focus on the resume, where I see a few things that could be improved: - You mentioned that you've worked automotive jobs with some technical aspects. I would strongly consider listing those jobs, even if they don't include any s…

Wow! Really great list of suggestions. Thank you for taking the time. Most of these are things that I have plans to address so let me go through your points.

- So my reasons for not including these jobs is not out of embarrassment. It was more just trying to keep my resume concise. It appears that I have been taking the wrong approach and I am going to try to make my job history tell more of a story.

- The whole being vague about my education was an experiment. I've had a lot of people tell me it was a bad move, and I am going to change it.

- I don't like the summary either. I have heard suggestions to just leave it off. If you have any opinions on that, i'd like to hear.

- I have been doing everything possible to shoehorn everything I can into the real estate one page offers. Perhaps I was too overzealous. This is another reason why i'm considering leaving off the summary all together.

- I agree. I haven't really been tailoring my resume as much as I should. I'm thinking I need to create a few different versions. One that is front-end focused, full-stack, and maybe IoT, although i don't have much confidence I would be qualified to go into that space.

- I'm happy to hear this last point. Before making this post I felt like there were insurmountable obstacles between me and the career that I want. Hearing that there are problems that are actually fixable with my strategy gives me more hope, so thanks for that.

Re: Ask HN: Approaching 40 and trying to get a foothold into Software Engineering

#45

Post by platevoltage »

savorypiano wrote: post #42
linuxftw wrote: post #5

Going straight to 'software engineer' is hard IMO. Unless you graduate from a 4 year degree in CS or have an internship or some other real professional software design experience, I think it's a hard field to break into. You might want to aim lower initially. Help desk or field rep for a tech company, etc. Ansible, terraform, linux automation, those kind of jobs are more widespread than straight software development…

Arguably this guy's portfolio is already better than most new CS grads, no?

I actually had a few CS grads in my bootcamp. They really didn't have any real-world development skills, let alone a portfolio. Thank you for the kind words on my portfolio.

Re: Ask HN: Approaching 40 and trying to get a foothold into Software Engineering

#46

Post by anonXae8ip7r »

platevoltage wrote: post #44
anonXae8ip7r wrote: post #40

First of all, I'm not currently a manager, but I think your website is great; it definitely demonstrates that you have real skills and could be productive as a junior-level developer. So I'll focus on the resume, where I see a few things that could be improved: - You mentioned that you've worked automotive jobs with some technical aspects. I would strongly consider listing those jobs, even if they don't include any s…

Wow! Really great list of suggestions. Thank you for taking the time. Most of these are things that I have plans to address so let me go through your points. - So my reasons for not including these jobs is not out of embarrassment. It was more just trying to keep my resume concise. It appears that I have been taking the wrong approach and I am going to try to make my job history tell more of a story. - The whole bein…

Good question about leaving off the summary. I don't feel qualified to offer an opinion one way or the other; like I said, I'm just some guy on the internet, and you should probably consult with someone with real hiring or resume-writing experience before taking any of my advice. But whatever approach you take, best of luck to you!

Re: Ask HN: Approaching 40 and trying to get a foothold into Software Engineering

#47

Post by deafpolygon »

platevoltage wrote: post #37
deafpolygon wrote: post #15

When I look at your site, I can't tell what your bread & butter is. I think that needs to stand out... what is it? Your site says to scroll down - how can you tweak it, so I don't have to read that to know what to do next? It took me a while to figure out you had a live demo of each of your project. Make that button stand out. Add some color to your site - it's black, and depressing. You want the person going to your…

I don't really know what my bread and butter is. I make whatever I want to make. If a tool is needed that isn't in my arsenal that I need to make the project work, I learn it. I'll take your portfolio suggestions into consideration. I know for a fact that around 95% of my applications don't result in my portfolio being looked at, but maybe putting the boring headshot I used for LinkedIn on there is worth doing.

> I know for a fact that around 95% of my applications don't result in my portfolio being looked at

At some stage, it will be. And if it comes down to you and this other guy, the portfolio page is going to be a deciding factor.

Re: Ask HN: Approaching 40 and trying to get a foothold into Software Engineering

#48

Post by dieselgate »

First of all your portfolio is really good in my opinion. I finished a boot camp in 2017 after moving to wa state from Berkeley. One thing I think is tough about the industry now is everything being remote - I’ve gotten my two dev jobs through in person connections (and ironically of all the hundreds of jobs applied the only two I’ve worked are the ones I didn’t apply for). My suggestion (based on what’s worked for me) is to work in dev adjacent roles as a way to get your foot in the door. For me this was technical writing and qa/manual testing.

That way you’re getting real world experience and at the same time making quality connections.

There are also contract opportunities which can sometimes be worthwhile.

Based on your portfolio you are competent to be considered for an interview, dont get discouraged but possibly find the things you haven’t been doing and focus on that.

Applying online is a tough way to get a position, keep up the good work

Edit: not my first choice but have kind of found a niche as a Ruby on Rails dev. When starting out I think it’s good to have a specific stack to focus on, for looking for job postings and having subject matter expert experience in a single thing. Python is a widely used language and a good one to know (wish I had more experience and something I’d do differently if possible)

I also think your skills should be near the top of your resume.

Re: Ask HN: Approaching 40 and trying to get a foothold into Software Engineering

#49

Post by iamflimflam1 »

platevoltage wrote: post #36
iamflimflam1 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something that jumps out to me from the resume is the gap from 2011-2016 and then 2019-2021. This will be seen as a red flag by many recruiters and for anyone reviewing your CV - which may explain why you are doing well in interviews, but then not getting any further.

Yeah. The gaps look bad. I have no idea what to do to fill them, which is one of the main reasons that I'm posting here. Is there a way to mention "during this period, I worked an automotive job or 2" or most recently "I was a bicycle courier" without it sticking out like a sore thumb and taking up precious page real-estate? I'm not a college grad who entered their field right after graduation. I don't know how to ex…

Just in case you check back.

I wouldn't focus too much on the experience not being technical. Showing that you've been responsible for things is equally important. You can probably "dress up" any experience so that it is relevant - e.g. working as part of a team, managing complex instructions/requirements. Even just turning up to work on time...

Re: Ask HN: Approaching 40 and trying to get a foothold into Software Engineering

#50

Post by platevoltage »

dieselgate wrote: post #48

First of all your portfolio is really good in my opinion. I finished a boot camp in 2017 after moving to wa state from Berkeley. One thing I think is tough about the industry now is everything being remote - I’ve gotten my two dev jobs through in person connections (and ironically of all the hundreds of jobs applied the only two I’ve worked are the ones I didn’t apply for). My suggestion (based on what’s worked for m…

Thank you for the feedback! I've gotten the feeling that networking with people is the only way I'm going to get hired, so I've been doing a lot of that lately. I have looked at things like QA roles, but in a lot of cases, I'm even less qualified for those positions. They all want you to have done QA testing for several years already.

I do have a stack of choice, but I'm also pretty language agnostic. I've been focusing on Node/React jobs since that's my bread and butter.

I'm redoing my resume and I have seen the error of my ways. Skills will go at the top.

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