Considering a career change. Any suggestions?
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I have been developing software for the last 10 years in C, C++, then C#, primarily windows forms applications. I have a 4 year degree in computer science. When I think back I realize that developing software is not a career I enjoy. Since I was a child I have enjoyed working with computers but I am not a techie. I do not know the latest trends in software or in hardware. When I read industry books they are usually about agile development practices or user interfaces. I do enjoy working directly with the users and designing software. I am just not quite techie enough to be able to tell you exactly how Framework 2.0 is different from 3.0 and I have no interest in learning it (although I know that I could if I applied myself). It is time for me to either get a new job or get new education. With the job market the way it is I am in a quandary. So to summarize. My question is... What is a good degree, skill set, or secondary career that I could get into that would utilize my programming background?
Maybe try your hand at an architect position. You get to think at a bit higher level that the 'nitty gritty' nuts and bolts, but then, depending on where you work, you might be able to have some fun and poke your head into part of a project for a while. Its a bit more technical than being a project manager and part of your job is to stay current on new tech that can help your projects.
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I have been developing software for the last 10 years in C, C++, then C#, primarily windows forms applications. I have a 4 year degree in computer science. When I think back I realize that developing software is not a career I enjoy. Since I was a child I have enjoyed working with computers but I am not a techie. I do not know the latest trends in software or in hardware. When I read industry books they are usually about agile development practices or user interfaces. I do enjoy working directly with the users and designing software. I am just not quite techie enough to be able to tell you exactly how Framework 2.0 is different from 3.0 and I have no interest in learning it (although I know that I could if I applied myself). It is time for me to either get a new job or get new education. With the job market the way it is I am in a quandary. So to summarize. My question is... What is a good degree, skill set, or secondary career that I could get into that would utilize my programming background?
I have not read the others' answers, but if you want a guaranteed job, go into the health care industry. Either get a nursing degree (some can float from hospital to hospital and make $30 per hour and have their major expenses paid) or become a doctor.
Back in the blog beatch! http://CraptasticNation.blogspot.com/[^]
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I have been developing software for the last 10 years in C, C++, then C#, primarily windows forms applications. I have a 4 year degree in computer science. When I think back I realize that developing software is not a career I enjoy. Since I was a child I have enjoyed working with computers but I am not a techie. I do not know the latest trends in software or in hardware. When I read industry books they are usually about agile development practices or user interfaces. I do enjoy working directly with the users and designing software. I am just not quite techie enough to be able to tell you exactly how Framework 2.0 is different from 3.0 and I have no interest in learning it (although I know that I could if I applied myself). It is time for me to either get a new job or get new education. With the job market the way it is I am in a quandary. So to summarize. My question is... What is a good degree, skill set, or secondary career that I could get into that would utilize my programming background?
Speaking from my own personal experience I think you just graduated basic software school and went on to leading/management. My reasoning is: 1) After being round for 10 years you'd likly have enough experience to go round. 2) Not caring about getting to use latest technology lets you focus on important things: - What would be best for my company revenue? - What would enable me to deliver faster and more reliably? - What would get me to get home faster? Trust me when I say customers and your company CEO don't care if you know the diffrence of .Net 3 to .Net 2.0, they only want to know you can help developers write faster code and not do a mess while at it. I've seen cases of people that talk to you in Hexa decimal and can recite windows API backwards, most of them couldn't design half decent products or analyze why projects had problems.
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I have been developing software for the last 10 years in C, C++, then C#, primarily windows forms applications. I have a 4 year degree in computer science. When I think back I realize that developing software is not a career I enjoy. Since I was a child I have enjoyed working with computers but I am not a techie. I do not know the latest trends in software or in hardware. When I read industry books they are usually about agile development practices or user interfaces. I do enjoy working directly with the users and designing software. I am just not quite techie enough to be able to tell you exactly how Framework 2.0 is different from 3.0 and I have no interest in learning it (although I know that I could if I applied myself). It is time for me to either get a new job or get new education. With the job market the way it is I am in a quandary. So to summarize. My question is... What is a good degree, skill set, or secondary career that I could get into that would utilize my programming background?
Hi, maybe you don't need a career change at all - maybe just a change to a smaller firm. Sometimes when you work on a big team you can get very stuck in one area, and you tend to be developing very critical applications that do require you to make the absolute most out of the framework etc - 1 second loading time makes a big difference each day if you have 10,000 users etc etc. Often when you work for a smaller firm you get to do the full lifecycle of development - the analysis, the design, the project management, the development, the testing (it couldn't all be good), then the user training and delivery. How well the software scales, whether or not you can change the database from SQL to MySQL to Oracle all in two days, whether it uses the 2.0 Framework or 3.0 or 3.5 generally doesn't matter. I find it gives you a sense of ownership, you get to work closely with the users, you get to truly see what they are working on etc. In terms of other related careers some software people are good at looking at business processes and helping redefine them, that sort of thing can be interesting - but you really need to find someone who will take you under your wing to achieve a career change like that. Most things are going to require you to start from scratch and if you are going to do that you might as well try something you think you will love. Personally I'd love to leave the software industry and maybe do something wine related - but it aint going to pay my mortgage or kids school fees so for now it is a no go. Andrew
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I have been developing software for the last 10 years in C, C++, then C#, primarily windows forms applications. I have a 4 year degree in computer science. When I think back I realize that developing software is not a career I enjoy. Since I was a child I have enjoyed working with computers but I am not a techie. I do not know the latest trends in software or in hardware. When I read industry books they are usually about agile development practices or user interfaces. I do enjoy working directly with the users and designing software. I am just not quite techie enough to be able to tell you exactly how Framework 2.0 is different from 3.0 and I have no interest in learning it (although I know that I could if I applied myself). It is time for me to either get a new job or get new education. With the job market the way it is I am in a quandary. So to summarize. My question is... What is a good degree, skill set, or secondary career that I could get into that would utilize my programming background?
when I read what you have written I feel like I have written myself. I have 8 years of experience . I had my own software company startup. But now I have closed it up and working for a software giant. I like working on a computer but as you said I am not a techie. I am also a c# developer. I face the dilemma similar to you but I have learnt that this is how it is going to go ahead. I cant waste all my experiences and go in to a new career. But no body stops me from having a parallel career. I like writing a lot. I like to speak on politics and spirituality so I have started my own website www.BeginWithDisbelief.com[^] here I go ahead with a career I like. It does not affect my actual way of life. I have done this very recently and I need to put a lot of work into it. This is how I like the change to be maybe you too can follow the same. dont waste those long years of experience you have acquired
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I have been developing software for the last 10 years in C, C++, then C#, primarily windows forms applications. I have a 4 year degree in computer science. When I think back I realize that developing software is not a career I enjoy. Since I was a child I have enjoyed working with computers but I am not a techie. I do not know the latest trends in software or in hardware. When I read industry books they are usually about agile development practices or user interfaces. I do enjoy working directly with the users and designing software. I am just not quite techie enough to be able to tell you exactly how Framework 2.0 is different from 3.0 and I have no interest in learning it (although I know that I could if I applied myself). It is time for me to either get a new job or get new education. With the job market the way it is I am in a quandary. So to summarize. My question is... What is a good degree, skill set, or secondary career that I could get into that would utilize my programming background?
Rag picker out behind the supermarket?
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I have been developing software for the last 10 years in C, C++, then C#, primarily windows forms applications. I have a 4 year degree in computer science. When I think back I realize that developing software is not a career I enjoy. Since I was a child I have enjoyed working with computers but I am not a techie. I do not know the latest trends in software or in hardware. When I read industry books they are usually about agile development practices or user interfaces. I do enjoy working directly with the users and designing software. I am just not quite techie enough to be able to tell you exactly how Framework 2.0 is different from 3.0 and I have no interest in learning it (although I know that I could if I applied myself). It is time for me to either get a new job or get new education. With the job market the way it is I am in a quandary. So to summarize. My question is... What is a good degree, skill set, or secondary career that I could get into that would utilize my programming background?
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I have been developing software for the last 10 years in C, C++, then C#, primarily windows forms applications. I have a 4 year degree in computer science. When I think back I realize that developing software is not a career I enjoy. Since I was a child I have enjoyed working with computers but I am not a techie. I do not know the latest trends in software or in hardware. When I read industry books they are usually about agile development practices or user interfaces. I do enjoy working directly with the users and designing software. I am just not quite techie enough to be able to tell you exactly how Framework 2.0 is different from 3.0 and I have no interest in learning it (although I know that I could if I applied myself). It is time for me to either get a new job or get new education. With the job market the way it is I am in a quandary. So to summarize. My question is... What is a good degree, skill set, or secondary career that I could get into that would utilize my programming background?
I ran into the same wall a few years ago. My life was on a treadmill of work, eat, sleep. Lots of deadlines, little sleep, and the kids and dogs and wife were noticing my increased apathy for the whole mess... So I took a welding class. Arc, TIG, Oxy-Actylene were covered at the local high school's vocational ed. evening classes. Yup, 10,000 degrees of pure energy. I had always enjoyed working with my hands and tinkering on stuff when I was growing up. Made my own bed (litterally) and dresser and desk. Now I can hook really big stuff together in a snap without using those ancient and crude friction-based fasteners. Perhaps, and I'm only projecting here, you don't need a completely new direction, just a diversion to channel some lost creativity or passion into, or out of, your work-a-day world. [Hey, reatding back, it is pretty non-committal and new-age sounding, but this is the lounge.] :-D
-Bob
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amymarie3 wrote:
I do enjoy working directly with the users and designing software.
That might the answer to you own question. It sounds like a nutshell job description for a "Business Analyst" or some such. Is there a way for you to transition to more of management or analyst position with your current employer? You'd end up doing less coding so you wouldn't need to keep up on Frameworks etc. Or or you looking to get away from software completely? If so, what else interests you? Follow that.
BDF People don't mind being mean; but they never want to be ridiculous. -- Moliere
I second Big Daddy's recommendation to consider a career as a business analysts. It could be a very good fit with your programming background and your desire to stay in the software development world *and* with the fact that you enjoy working with users. I don't know how the economy has affected demand for business analysts, but before the economy tanked, they were a hot commodity. I'm an editor with CIO.com, and we wrote a lot of stories about business analysts. So if you want more information on the role, a simple search on CIO.com for "business analyst" will yield a lot of info. Good luck!
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I have been developing software for the last 10 years in C, C++, then C#, primarily windows forms applications. I have a 4 year degree in computer science. When I think back I realize that developing software is not a career I enjoy. Since I was a child I have enjoyed working with computers but I am not a techie. I do not know the latest trends in software or in hardware. When I read industry books they are usually about agile development practices or user interfaces. I do enjoy working directly with the users and designing software. I am just not quite techie enough to be able to tell you exactly how Framework 2.0 is different from 3.0 and I have no interest in learning it (although I know that I could if I applied myself). It is time for me to either get a new job or get new education. With the job market the way it is I am in a quandary. So to summarize. My question is... What is a good degree, skill set, or secondary career that I could get into that would utilize my programming background?
It sounds like you are ideally suited to software project management -- either as a project manager or manager of software development.both make use of tech skills, but are abstracted from coding. A lot of people who enjoy development are being forced in that direction to grow (or keep) their careers... You are lucky to find yourself gravitating in that direction naturally.
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I have been developing software for the last 10 years in C, C++, then C#, primarily windows forms applications. I have a 4 year degree in computer science. When I think back I realize that developing software is not a career I enjoy. Since I was a child I have enjoyed working with computers but I am not a techie. I do not know the latest trends in software or in hardware. When I read industry books they are usually about agile development practices or user interfaces. I do enjoy working directly with the users and designing software. I am just not quite techie enough to be able to tell you exactly how Framework 2.0 is different from 3.0 and I have no interest in learning it (although I know that I could if I applied myself). It is time for me to either get a new job or get new education. With the job market the way it is I am in a quandary. So to summarize. My question is... What is a good degree, skill set, or secondary career that I could get into that would utilize my programming background?
Computational Sciences... Pro's: :thumbsup: No need to stay "up" with new language nuances... C or assembly are just great and if your parallel (C or Java) people will be interested in you. Programmers with a lot of experience can debug Scientific programs usually faster then scientists can. You get a small module to develop and can test (develop) against benchmarks (usually) Con's :thumbsdown: You'll need to go back to school and get at least a masters in physics, math, biology, or chemistry (or all of the above) You're time will most likely be spent 50% school 25% teaching 20% research and 5% research programming.. Depending on what area you get, and how lucky you are in getting a "good" project you may end up stuck back in the same position. or get lucky and get a 200K+ job. Or at least that is what I was told... I'm gonna do some art this summer and see how things go.:confused:
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I have been developing software for the last 10 years in C, C++, then C#, primarily windows forms applications. I have a 4 year degree in computer science. When I think back I realize that developing software is not a career I enjoy. Since I was a child I have enjoyed working with computers but I am not a techie. I do not know the latest trends in software or in hardware. When I read industry books they are usually about agile development practices or user interfaces. I do enjoy working directly with the users and designing software. I am just not quite techie enough to be able to tell you exactly how Framework 2.0 is different from 3.0 and I have no interest in learning it (although I know that I could if I applied myself). It is time for me to either get a new job or get new education. With the job market the way it is I am in a quandary. So to summarize. My question is... What is a good degree, skill set, or secondary career that I could get into that would utilize my programming background?
You like working with users, and designing software - that sounds like the descriptiong of a Product Manager, sometimes also known as a Systems Analyst. By whatever title, the role is one of interfacing with customers/clients to identify their needs that your employer's software doesn't yet address. Your software development experience will allow you to recognize the feasibility/usability, etc. of the ideas the users suggest - because often users suggest solutions, rather than presenting the problem and letting the vendor identify the solution. Best, of course, is when vendor and customer work together (iteratively) discovering (perhaps using prototypes) the best design/architecture/UI/etc. that solves the problem they have. Your preference for working with users suggests that this role of "helping the user to understand the problem they are really trying to solve, and designing an appropriate solution for it" would be fulfilling for you. Product Managers & Systems Analysts are often office-bound. If you think you'd like to be out on the road then Technical Sales is the equivalent position. A Technicals Rep partners with another (non-technical) sales person; the non-technical rep does the work of opening doors, haggling, negotiating, etc. At some point in the process the Technical Rep is introduced into the conversation to present the actual capabilities of the product being sold, and to demonstrate how they would solve the prospect's needs. None of the above would require a new education. Of course, if what you really want is to go back to college, then that's another thing. HTH, Chris