I.T. Crossover

Feelgood

Hi folks,

I am just wondering has anyone successfully crossed over in different areas of I.T?. Been a sys admin now for about 10 years and its getting pretty boring to be honest, has anyone moved into a programming role from support?. How would you even go about doing it?.

I have good scripting experience across lots of platforms, obviously studied SQL, C++ etc at college though haven't touched it in years..

Any recommendations?.

Cheers for any insight.

nads

have tried this. to no avail, i'm doing a part time masters now to prove i'm not a sys admin monkey.
basically tell them you've been doing nothing but scripting for 10 years and have done some app programming too - lie your a$$ off

ntlbell

nads wrote: »

basically tell them you've been doing nothing but scripting for 10 years and have done some app programming too - lie your a$$ off

Why lie?

Just learn how to code.

Eoin

I started off as a SysAdmin about 9-10 years ago, and switched to web development 3 or so years later, which I've been doing since. I started off by doing the tech support unit's intranet site, including some very simple database driven stuff. This was pretty much at the height of the .com era, so my company needed as many web developers as possible, so I was offered a move to a development role.

I don't know what advice I could give now, as the market has changed so much. Do you do any scripting of any description as part of your current job? If so, this could be quite transferable to a few areas of development. If your company doesn't have a dev role you could move laterally to, you will most likely take a big hit in pay moving elsewhere, as you'd be starting from scratch pretty much.

BostonB

Feelgood wrote: »

...I am just wondering has anyone successfully crossed over in different areas of I.T?. Been a sys admin now for about 10 years and its getting pretty boring to be honest, has anyone moved into a programming role from support?. How would you even go about doing it?....

Yes. See a need and fill it. I started by building applications to help my in my own job. Over time I got asked to do more and more, and it became my main job.

nads

ntlbell wrote: »

Why lie?

Just learn how to code.

i already know how to in several languages!

this is the exact sh*tehole attitude i've been up against in interviews

ntlbell

nads wrote: »

i already know how to in several languages!

this is the exact sh*tehole attitude i've been up against in interviews

Eh what now?

You're advising someone who is looking to change from an admin role to a dev role by telling the guy he can code when he can't, i'm all for the odd fib in an interview but bluffing the whole role? I think you might get caught out somewhere.

Sounds like you have the world on your shoulders buddy, relax.

My point is simple, if you want to start moving into dev then start learning to code, there's nothing else to do it.

BostonB

I don't think lying is a good idea at all.

the_syco

Lads, he says he knows how to code, but others are saying that unless he says he has been coding for the past while, they won't take him on.

BostonB

I think theres a difference in scripting, coding in college, and actively coding in the present. You need to be at a point where you can write code that will pass a code review by a senior developer.

Theres too many bad programmers, and people who can BS their way through non technical interviews. As a result, to get to interview these days people expect to see certifications, and most that you can pass a technical exam of some sort, in my experience these are either based on certification type questions anyway, or very practical questions that you'll know how to answer from your experience in writing applications, and solving development problems.

Very few places take people with little experience and train them up. You'll have to get there yourself. Doing projects for yourself to help you at work is a great way to start. Usually when people realise you can code, it snowballs from there and you'll get asked to do other stuff. As long as it doesn't conflict with your work etc. Regardless of experience if you have a couple of decent even impressive projects done, that you can talk through every part of, then that will get you a long way.

Some of Joel stuff is worth reading. Then having a hard look at your own skills.
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/GuerrillaInterviewing3.html

learoy

why dont you try getting certificates in programming, like java sun cert or .net or whatever your language your interested in, it will look good on the cv and show you are interested in programming..
you can study it in your own time and they cost about 200e each i think.

super-lloyd

Try to get professional coding experience in your current job.
Maybe write some app that could help increase your own productivity?
Maybe study the life of your co-worker and strongly advocate an in-house IT solution for some of their simple problem that would be written by you !

Once you got this experience inflate your resume accordingly and change job or try to get an internal promotion first.

Personally I managed to change my java programer resume to .NET programmmer by pushing hard the .NET technology with my previous employer.

trellheim

I've changed tack 3-4 times over the last 16 years

Interviewers don't usually know how to select tech people right - they work off the questionnaire; so make sure you tick all those boxes that say "I've been a developer for more years than I care to remember" :):)