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I've got a similar question (I'm a guy in a similar place to cmpeters), so as opposed to opening another HN on a very similar vein. Like cmpeters, I'm a recent

by JimmyL 17y ago

I've got a similar question (I'm a guy in a similar place to cmpeters), so as opposed to opening another HN on a very similar vein. Like cmpeters, I'm a recent college grad (BEng in Computer Engineering) from a top school in my Western English-speaking non-American country. I've got a good education, a respectable resume, a terrible GPA, and few peer networking contacts (I found people in my program to be boring, so didn't hang out with them). I also can't find a job; most companies that I get through to say - truth or not - that they're in a hiring freeze for the next six months. I mentioned that I've got no in-industry peer networking contacts, but I have a few very good ones in politics. Specifically, I've got a possible job offer through one to be one of the two or three advance guys for a very senior national politician. It would be a year of traveling around the country with them, likely including an election, and would be incredibly exciting. My worry is this: if I take this job for a year, will I be aged-out of most positions when I get back? I'm currently a little over 26, and if I do this for a year, would be 27 and a bit when I would be done. Going back into tech/software at that point, I worry that I would be over the normal age for a junior developer position, but would lack the professional experience to be hired as an intermediate one. I'd like to take this ops job, but worry that I'd be somewhat screwing over my future career. Any thoughts?

nostrademons 17y ago
I'm not sure if things are different in your country - business cultures vary from city to city. In Boston, it'd be harder but not impossible. In one of my old employers, we hired a guy in his early thirties who'd been a sysop in the military, serving a tour of duty in Iraq. He had no relevant work experience and his technical skills were weak, but he was taking programming courses at a local community college and seemed eager to learn and really excited about the job. Turned out to be a pretty good hire too, as he was eager to learn and excited about the job. If you do this, the burden will be on you to show why you want to jump into programming at such a late age and why you haven't done so already. People don't change on a dime, so your interviewers will ask you about this. (In my last job hunt, I got questions about why I was looking for a position in Mountain View when I lived in Boston, and why I wanted to work for a big company when all my previous experience was with startups.) But if you have good reasons for this (where good != "I wanted to make more money" (outside of the financial industry) or "I really wasn't any good at my last job, so I'll try something new"), most people are quite willing to give you a fresh start.

by JimmyL 17y ago

nostrademons 17y ago

I'm not sure if things are different in your country - business cultures vary from city to city. In Boston, it'd be harder but not impossible. In one of my old employers, we hired a guy in his early thirties who'd been a sysop in the military, serving a tour of duty in Iraq. He had no relevant work experience and his technical skills were weak, but he was taking programming courses at a local community college and seemed eager to learn and really excited about the job. Turned out to be a pretty good hire too, as he was eager to learn and excited about the job. If you do this, the burden will be on you to show why you want to jump into programming at such a late age and why you haven't done so already. People don't change on a dime, so your interviewers will ask you about this. (In my last job hunt, I got questions about why I was looking for a position in Mountain View when I lived in Boston, and why I wanted to work for a big company when all my previous experience was with startups.) But if you have good reasons for this (where good != "I wanted to make more money" (outside of the financial industry) or "I really wasn't any good at my last job, so I'll try something new"), most people are quite willing to give you a fresh start.