36 ms·
Ask HN: I'm trying to start my career over again. Any good advices?
Hi all,
I will try to make a long story short. I'm currently working as a software developer in the financial sector of an European Nordic Country for 2 years (I am a foreigner, but still an EU citizen). I have both a bachelor and a master (finished in 2008) in computer science, but the problem is that I use pretty old technologies at work, which have some bad consequences:
- It is difficult to see software houses (and even financial institutions) that uses technologies from the 60s/70s;
- I actually don't want to work with those technologies - damn, they even hire people with no IT background for the same job. I don't want to be disrespectful for those persons, but I am not not learning anything technical since the first 6 months on the job... I don't think that is normal for a graduate/junior position... and furthermore, there is a reason why I studied for 5 years computer science and mathematics, and this job is not the reason why!
- The third big issue is that after 2 years, I don't have commercial experience with recent stuff like Java/C/C++/Python etc etc etc.
Yes, sure, you can definitely ask "so why did you take the job??". Unfortunately I was not aware of these problems before, I lacked experience and perhaps maturity. They also never mentioned that I would work only with old technologies, so I feel a little deceived as well. Once I was inside I tried to move to other departments where I could use recent stuff, however, I didn't succeed. Now, I am seriously afraid I have "doomed" my career with my decision of taking the job.
I am trying to find another job for quite some time. Since this is a small country, during the recession there were not many open positions) and the same happens now, so I am trying to move to London where there are more possibilities (and competition of course), but I am struggling with the following:
- As I said, I don't have professional experience in recent stuff - this reduces my search almost to graduate positions (and some junior);
- I have worked for 3 years in an open source project (mainly with Java technologies), but according to the recruiters "that is not commercial experience"!!;
- I have a website where I post some technical stuff that I do during my free time in order to keep active with recent stuff, but again that is not important for a recruiter/company;
- I already have 2 years of experience, so I am not really a graduate and I am a junior of something not really interesting for the majority of the companies;
- I have worked in part-time for a software company during my studies with web technologies, but it was only for 6 months (I needed money to help paying my expenses), so not much experience either from here.
So, I finally get down to my questions:
- How can I get a/any job using recent stuff?
- Would you hire me (figure of speech) as a graduate, even though I have professional experience in something else (no salary demands of course), or would you prefer a graduate coming from the university?
- Is it really realistic to change area?
Thanks in advance for your help.
- richardmarr 16y agoMy tuppence would be to attend events and meet people in person... as once you've established a credible relationship it's easier to convince a potential employer to give you a shot. From their perspective it's about risk. Commercial experience de-risks you as a potential hire, but so does a relationship, even a new one. If you make it to London get in touch with me and if I can help I will. My email is richard dot marr at empora dot com Edit: another route would be to take part in open source projects with a strong contingent in London.
- cmgv 16y agoThank you for your help and for your contact information. I will get in touch when I move to London. I understand what you suggest, however it is hard to attend events/meeting in London still having a job here. If I cannot find anything first, I am considering taking the risk of moving without a job and try to find one onsite. But that is something I really need to give a thought. On the other hand, joining another open source project with folks from London would imply perhaps another year before I could move... To be honest, I am not sure I could maintain my professionalism for such a long time and continue doing my job.
- auxbuss 16y agoYou sound like someone who most folk would welcome on board. Don't worry about limited experience so early, I know that's easy to say, but it really won't matter in the near future when you have moved on. Remember that to recruiters you are the product, not the customer. Adjust your behaviour and thinking accordingly. There are some great recruitment folk out there, but there are far more sales-droids. Don't let them define you or your career. Nothing is going to change until you change it. So, ... I'd attend some local tech meet-ups, and start talking to folk. Try to get involved in anything that vaguely interests you that involves the local network. Scan the job adds, determine the companies, then try approaching them directly. Email might work, but best would be to call them and try to get in front of the appropriate folk. But don't worry too much about experience. Folk will see that you are starting out and set their expectations accordingly. If you've learned one bunch of tech, chances are that you can learn another. That's what we do throughout our careers, after all.