Live data from Hacker News

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

news.ycombinator.com

1–10 of 53 posts

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

#1
I recently spoke to a woman in her 40s or 50s who would like to go back to work after two decades of not being in the workforce. She worked for the US army as a programmer before she had kids, but took a long time off to raise them. Just talking to her I could tell she was quick, conscientious, and would learn fast, but she doesn't know current frameworks in depth. (For reference, she learned COBOL in college.) She's also looking for flexible or part-time hours, so that she can be home for her kids.

I think there are a lot of companies that would like to hire people like this - not FAANG perhaps, but smaller companies who would want someone smart and with life experience, and are willing to train a new employee in their specific technologies. She'd be happy to do a trial period or internship first. But we weren't sure how to reach such companies. Does anyone have experience finding jobs that would fit this profile? Where would you look?

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

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

#2
She may be able to get a job based on her past experience, but 20 years is a long time ago. I imagine the thing that would most convince hiring managers is a recent project (in a technology that she wants to work with) that shows that she still knows her stuff. I'd recommend she take a couple of weeks (or a couple of months depending on how urgent it is that she gets a job) to build such a project.

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

#4
In this case her Army experience is going to be the thing to focus on. She could look for small government contractors who need tech work (because they’re government, the tech lags cutting edge which is good for her) and subject matter expert work. If she can do both it’s a big win.

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

#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 popular technology.

As for cold networking, two options are:

- talking to recruiting agencies, which often have a pool of employers that they have relationships with and can help open doors

- good ol' cold calling - research companies that you feel are good matches and are hiring, send a resume and go from there

A third potential option is to do freelance w/ local mom-and-pop shops, at least temporarily, to build up a small portfolio, dust off tech chops and getting the google-fu up to speed.

Often times, non-tech companies have less strict/technically challenging hiring processes. These are good companies to aim for.

For her old experience specifically, I hear that there is demand for COBOL in some government niches. Might be worth looking into.

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

#7

In this case her Army experience is going to be the thing to focus on. She could look for small government contractors who need tech work (because they’re government, the tech lags cutting edge which is good for her) and subject matter expert work. If she can do both it’s a big win.

I agree. Defense contractors.

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

#8
read Steve Dalton's "2 hour job search" (abridged version: http://career-prospectors.com/pdf/CP-Part2-2HJS-28Jul2020.pd...)

This lays out a process which works counter to the conventional wisdom of applying to open positions on job boards (a "Satisficing" approach). I'm trying it now, because I'm in a similar position.

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

#9

In this case her Army experience is going to be the thing to focus on. She could look for small government contractors who need tech work (because they’re government, the tech lags cutting edge which is good for her) and subject matter expert work. If she can do both it’s a big win.

I used to work for AEPCO a federal contractor. It was US Army contract work at an Army base for logistics. It was 1996 and they used all kinds of legacy systems. I was in the US Army ROTC which helped learn military terms. But I upsized databases from DBase Lotus 123 Clipper to MS Access and SQL Server and Oracle PL SQL. This skill of converting data from legacy systems to modern ones pays a lot.

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

#10
I have interviewed and hired older workers and have worked with older workers in all of my previous companies. Age discriminatin is a real thing, and yet someone hired those older workers, so it's not an insurmountable thing. You often hear things like "well, you need to keep constantly learning new things", which is true, but older workers don't need to pretend to be younger workers as they have their own advantages and disadvantages, and are better off pushing their advantages than insisting they don't have disadvantages. The advantages of older workers are: * better judgement, more emotionally mature, more likely to see projects through to completion, more likely to stay at the firm longer. Play up to the advantages. Assuming these are, in fact, actual advantages of this person.

Also, be aware of the overall climate. She should be able to land a dev job in the current climate where standards are being so dramatically lowered and people are getting promotions/raises merely because of the tightness of the labor market. This is a seller's market - just the right time to jump in, regardless of your age.

My main advice would be the same advice I give to everyone else:

* Don't lie on your resume. It's OK to say "I can pick up skill X because it's similar to skill Y which I already have" or "I didn't use X at my last job, but it is similar to Y and I've been brushing up on this as more people need it" (assuming you have been learning X on your own time). But don't say you know skill X if you don't. Don't wing stuff.

* Read the requirements of the job posting and spend some time trying to understand this problem space and company. Really think about the things they need, and then study up on and practice these things.

* Adopt the attitude that you are there to help them solve problems in exchange for money. So try to be helpful and have appropriate expectations of compensation commensurate with the value you add. Do not adopt the attitude that this is some kind of courtship and they need to woo you, or if they turn you down that you have been personally rejected, or that you have a career arc and they are there to boost you along the arc. The job will not give you meaning, it will not save your soul, it is an exchange of your problem solving skills for money. It may well help your career arc, but that's not going to land you the job.

* Do not hop from job to job, and be prepared to have a good explantion if you did. Be aware that it is a red flag to see a sequence of 4 one year positions at different places, because you start being really productive at the end of that first year. If that's when you look for greener pastures, the firm hiring you should dramatically downgrade the estimate of value a rental will provide as you will be leaving before the time invested in training you starts to pay off. Similarly, don't say "I really want to be a manager, and I thought this dev role was a good way to get into that". Apply for a manager job if that's what you want to do. If a firm is looking for a rental, they'll let you know. Usually they are not looking for rentals but people who will learn the tech stack and then deliver a stream of value rather than dissapearing.

Post reply on HN