Career change from Pharma to programming

noiniho

Hi,

I am posting in the hope of getting some advice, at the moment I am considering a change in careers.

Firstly I will give my background:
Education: Leaving cert 400 points, Primary degree in Chemistry and a Msc in Organic Chemistry, Post grad in health and safety
Work experience: Process Development chemist
Age: 32 years

Basically the industry I am in is going through a lot of difficulty at the moment as is my current place of employment, prospects for the company look pretty bleak and instead of waiting around for the inevitable to happen I am trying to be proactive about it and maybe try and use this as an opportunity to make a change.

Obviously it is a big decision and I don’t want to rush head long into anything without getting as much info as I can.

One option I am investigating is a career in programming, but like all the avenues I am investigating I want to be fairly sure that it is right for me and that I am right for it you know? I realise that just because someone like searching the internet and is the one selected to update family members computers etc does not mean they are suited to this career choice J.

With that in mind I have decided to try to learn Java and see if I have an interest or an aptitude for it, as a starting point I have bought the book Head First Java and have found a series of lectures on the web from UC Berkeley... it is early days yet, but I am really enjoying it so far, the logic behind it seems to make sense to me and to be honest it has almost turned into a new hobby. After years of Chemistry I expected it to be a bit of a slog, but instead I am almost excited about learning something that I have an interest in.

So to get to the point, what options are open to me:
Is it possible to get a job as a java developer without a computer science degree?
With my educational background, would a java certification be of any use to me in getting a job?
Would doing a post grad converter course be of any benefit?

If anyone can recommend a course in Munster that would be great. I looked into a part-time course in UCC but for some reason it is on weekdays 9-5 which is no good to me, unless I actually lose my job!.. I would like to be on the road before then.

Thanks in advance

srsly78

You should be looking to leverage what you already have, so look at the areas where programming intersects with chemistry. Stuff like computational modelling or bioinformatics?

BostonB

In short its harder to get a job without qualifications and experience. Increasingly you won't even get an interview without a qualification and experience.

Brussels Sprout

Hey OP,

I was in a similar boat as yourself not so long ago. Working in a pharmaceutical company as a chemical engineer. In my case I didn't like the pharma work environment (everything seemed to be dominated by red tape and health & safety) and wanted to switch careers. I decided to quit the job completely so as to do a full time conversion type Masters in UCC.

For what it's worth I really enjoyed it and and it gave me a lot of confidence in terms of picking up other new programming languages on my own. I graduated a few months ago and I've had a few interviews so the qualification seems to have some appeal for prospective employers.

PM me if you've any questions.

amen

everything seemed to be dominated by red tape and health & safety

I love this. You were working in an industry producing pharams where a wrong step, incorrect amount of substance etc can have a dramatic affect and possible kill someone and you are moaning about red tap and health and safety ?

You do realise that the red tape is every industry. If you are working in Finance as a programmer you many have to obey the Sax rules, if you are working in the auto industry as a programmer you will have to make sure you software won't cause people to be killed.

Every industry has its red tap and Health and Safety. The red tape normally occurs after someone did something accidentally that caused a person or the company some harm.

BostonB

My personal experience of software for Pharma was the documentation of magnitude far in excess of anywhere else I'd worked, including, medical or finance companies. Only thing that was anything close was a public sector, unionized environment, where everything is done by committee. Obviously peoples experience varies enormously. But I can understand why someone would choose to take a different path.

Brussels Sprout

amen wrote: »

I love this. You were working in an industry producing pharams where a wrong step, incorrect amount of substance etc can have a dramatic affect and possible kill someone and you are moaning about red tap and health and safety ?

Yes I am, absolutely. I don't want to derail this thread but all I'll say is that if the same regulatory standards were applied to our drinking water treatment plants, for example, every single plant in this country would be shut down.

noiniho

Thanks for the replies, PM sent to brussels sprout