| Topic Name: |
Graduating in May, seeking some advice on career options |
| Message Name: |
Tough one but here goes |
| Date Posted: |
12/08/2003 |
| In Reply To: |
My wife works for HP/Compaq here in Houston so I am looking only in Houston and the surrounding areas.
I do think about my career, and I know what you mean. But, this job has taught me so much. My first job out of College and in three years I made manager, of a team of eight, three of whom have 20 years or more experience. I don't just code in C. I use PERL, Kshell, Tuxedo, HTML/cgi. all things I had absolutly no clue about four years ago. So this has been a great stepping stone in my mind.
I could use some advice about where to go from here thought. I like programming, but I have the skills to lead as well. I just don't have a real broad knowlegde of the industry ins and outs, etc.
Thanks for your input. |
| Message: |
Remember, I don't get paid for this advice, it simply comes from a lifetime of work and keeping my eyes open. I can be as right or wrong as the next guy. Although you've been in the work place for a few years, your situation isn't much different than that of ks0128 above. If anything your experience could make it more difficult for you to find something. Good old ks is fresh out of college and has no labels or current salary to hinder him/her. On the other hand, you have a label that paints you as a batch programmer/manager and you have a salary that people will typically expect to match or exceed when making you an offer. Which they probably won't want to do if they're going to take you on in a new capacity. Quite frankly, you will be lucky to even get an interview as a technician outside of your current experience. If you have the good fortune to find a similar position, you stand an excellent chance of getting hired but I suspect that such positions are thin on the ground and further suspect that, regardless, you would rather drop that label and venture into the more exciting aspects of our profession. Tough one with the competition out there from people like ks and others who already have appropriate experience. So, what to do? Here's what I would do. 1. Keep looking for a similar position and take one if it comes along. Read my reply to ks for more info on that. 2. At the same time, look for a pure project management position, heavily emphasizing my management skills and down playing my programming skills. I am a "great" project manager and systems designer who knows how to get things done and my skills are way more important in such a position than knowing the details of a particular technology. Of course be able to speak intelligently about any technology arena that you might be entering. The advantages and disadvantages are a good place to start. 3. I wouldn't lie on my resume, but I would write one that emphasizes my programming skills and down plays my management skills. If I know C++ in addition to C, I'd make a big noise about that and also Visual Basic. If I didn't know either, I'd learn them first before putting them on my resume. Remember, no blatant lies but maybe a few white lies that you know you can backup with answers if you're given a tough tech interview. Learning Java would be a good thing too. Even though you probably couldn't work that into your resume as "experience," showing (and being able to demonstrate) that you know it will earn you brownie points. Don't forget other areas to which you might be able to gain access. For example, good technical support staff are hard to come by but the position can pay well. If you like dealing with people in a fast paced environment, you might want to consider it. You always hear about the abuse support staff take but, that's because most are less than adequate. A good techie is like gold. There are also LAN/WAN admin areas that you could look at but that would probably require you to go through a Chubb type training program before you would even get a look. Not a bad choice though for a long term goal. Well, I've got a job to do so I have to go. Hope these ramblings might ignite something that you will find useful. Good luck my friend.
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