Software engineering career advice.

terrysgirl33

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I hope the title is OK, it's all a bit vague as I am not a computer person myself, so I may have some details wrong.

I have a cousin who worked in software engineering, mainly in de-bugging, her last contract ended in 2000. After looking after the family, she is now thinking of getting back into the workforce. She is thinking of doing a few programs for family members (one project is to write a program for a database for stock taking involving a barcode scanner), and some apps for android phones, so she has some current experiance before looking for a 'job'. To be honest, it sounds like a lot of faffing about, which is putting off the evil day when 'work' has to be done. But I don't know enough about the industry to know if this is completely mad, or a reasonable idea. I would not interfere in someone elses life, but I'm just wondering if my impression of this idea as 'daft' is completely off the wall, or what??

Thanks for any help!
 
Perhaps she is looking for an alternative to returning completely to "the big bad world"....Whilst experience does count for an awful lot she had previously had a career in that sector so previous experience would be evident...albeit 11 years ago + a lot of things will have changed since then......

Personally if I was in that position I would start looking for jobs straight away and continue with sideline projects until I actually found something permanent.
 
Thanks Dave. The problem, of course, is organising childcare and the changes that would happen with two parents working :(. There is no easy answer, the kids are young enough to still need a parent at home, but another few years will only make it harder to get back to work.
 
I would say its not completely mad. Shes out of the industry for 11yrs. She may struggle to get a job with a decent salary without bringing herself up to date. If shes gets a job now she may get stuck in a lower position that doesn't give her the type of work she needs to get up to date. Also if shes gets a lower job now, it unlikely she would have enough time to work on projects on her own time, at home, considering a busy home life.

Getting yourself up to date for a few months might actually be a smart move in the long run. That said you don't want to spend more than a few months doing it.

That said its a very vague question if you have no idea of what her skills and experience are. Or the software industry in general. IT is generally not interested in training people up, but simply getting people with very specific skills who can hit the ground running straight away.

From what i can see getting a job in IT isn't too hard if you have the right skillset and experience. Without both its quite tough. That said getting a job first is simply a different approach.
 
Well, she's been working on a programme for a relative for about a year now, it has taken longer than expected and it seems the programme needs to do things that it doesn't have the functionality to do (she has tried in C++ and visual basic, as far as I can gather).

Would it be a better approach to do a course?
 
Sounds like a bottomless bit to be honest. She needs to define an objective and a finite schedule to achieve it, otherwise you don't know if you've succeeded or failed. If the objective here was to get a job, then its not worked.
 
The downside of thinking up 'projects' for yourself is there's no real-world pressure to get it done, and you don't encounter real-world problems that you would in a business application. Also, while it may be a nice idea to get a 'real' job and do this in spare time, with a family that's a lot easier said than done. To learn a new computer skill requires many hours of deep concentration, for hours at a time, not something you can dip into between making dinner and putting the kids to bed (for either spouse, I mean, not being sexist!).

It's true that in 11 years a lot has changed, and Android experience, for example, would be a definite plus on a cv. If a personal Android project was undertaken with a view to actually SELLING it/them on the Android Market and making some money from it, it might focus the mind better and provide better experience. Good ideas for apps, with global appeal, are obviously required first though. Other 'real world' projects, such as the stock app for the relative, would also provide realistic experience, but should be attempted in the latest technologies, e.g. Visual Studio 2010 / C#, perhaps 'cloud computing' (great buzzword for a cv, and easy to do with free/cheap cloud space from Amazon etc)
 
I think agree, its too easy to get sucked into a project, and then lose focus of the original object. Get back to work. Its sounds like that's what's happened here tbh. Shes needs to lift the head up and get her bearings. Getting a job may mean dropping the home projects. So be it.

Doing bespoke software as described is often not the best way forward either as often your re-inventing the wheel when there's some application that already exists.
 
The downside of thinking up 'projects' for yourself is there's no real-world pressure to get it done, and you don't encounter real-world problems that you would in a business application.....

Agreed

The other thing I think she'll find is that because she's working away on it on her own, she won't be pushing herself to learn new skills. She is probably putting it together using the same languages/technologies that she knew 10 years ago.

I kind of drifted out of programming and into sales about 5 or 6 years ago and I think I'd find it very very hard to get back into it now. 10 years is a long time.

I think if she is serious about getting back to work in the area her best option is to re-train. Pay for a good course in a particular technology, possibly on-line if she would be disciplined enough to do it at home. I know there is a shortage of php programmers around at the minute so this might be an area to look at.
 
I second what has been said.

A potential employer will not care about her personal projects.
They will only be interested in her work experience and recent training.

Her plan should be

- Look at the job ads and see what it being looked for, in the field that she has most relevant experience in.

- Do her CV and send it to an agency. They will quickly tell her what jobs they sonsider her suitable for ( Their answer might be NONE)

- Based on the above, decide on an area to focus on and re-train.
 
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