Re training

Energy13

Hi there.
I previously programmed in VB5 and VB6 for about three years ( this about 10 years ago now). Although I qualified as an engineer I was employed as a programmer and I really like programming at the time. I found a permanent position in engineering at the time and moved away from programming. This is something that I have always regretted and would like to move back into programming now.
My question is:
Has my experience, obtained about 10 years ago become irrelevant at this stage?
What would I have to do to get a position as a programmer today i.e. a course, retraining etc?
Is there any possability of obtaining a position in IT at this stage even though I am still employed in engineering?
Thanks in advance.

SalteeDog

Yes there is but you may need to take a pay-cut. Also - you should brush up on .Net. Plenty of VB6 legacy code out there - but having up to date .Net skills will be a significant advantage. Also - make sure you emphasise your relevant engineering experience in any interview situation. What type of engineering was it?

Energy13

Hi there and thanks for the reply.
I'm employed in the civil / energy sectors. I've also experience in Lisp and MapX.
How should I go about getting back into the sector?
Should I do a course or could I apply directly for positions? Should I go through a recruitment agency? What agency would deal with it developers?
Sorry for all the questions.
Thanks again

Aswerty

With 10 years experience in the field you're in I expect, as said above, that there will be a significant pay cut if you move careers. To get a leg up your best bet is to look to work as a developer for the construction or energy industry since your domain knowledge will be transferable. Also your soft skills should transfer over and you should be focusing on roles where these are needed.

If you're serious about this then you should look at a career change 6-12 months down the line and put the work in now to research what sort of jobs are available and what skill sets you need to develop over the next number of months. You'll be starting from the bottom rung, graduate/junior role, and there is quite a bit of competition there. It's only once you get a few years experience under your belt that the job market becomes less competitive.

With regards to an agency I think your best off applying for jobs you like and then maximizing your opportunities once an agency gets in touch with you. In this way agencies that feel that they can place you will keep in touch and those that don't won't.

Energy13

Thanks for that .
Do you think that I would need to do a course in a language over the coming months or do companies hire people like me and train them up to suit their requirements?
Thanks again.

SalteeDog

Energy13 wrote: »

Thanks for that .
Do you think that I would need to do a course in a language over the coming months or do companies hire people like me and train them up to suit their requirements?
Thanks again.

Most companies will expect you to get up to speed quickly with a minimum of hand-holding. In any case, the less training you will need then the more employable you will be.

Energy13

Thanks again for the replies. Do you think that a course in c++ or .net would be more beneficial at this stage?

ChRoMe

Energy13 wrote: »

Thanks again for the replies. Do you think that a course in c++ or .net would be more beneficial at this stage?

.NET or Java if you are looking for employability.

SalteeDog

ChRoMe wrote: »

.NET or Java if you are looking for employability.

Since you already have VB experience I would suggest .Net. Lot's of places would have legacy code in VB6 and are likely to have newer applications or parts of their applications in .Net.

Of course if you can do some Java too then that would be even better. If you learn C# then Java will not look alien to you.

It probably goes without saying but get some up to date knowledge of web frameworks in whatever language you wish to to learn. The desktop is dead.

Energy13

From reading through other posts here it appears that java is THE language to be proficient in. Is this correct?

ChRoMe

Energy13 wrote: »

From reading through other posts here it appears that java is THE language to be proficient in. Is this correct?

As stated previously Java or .NET and if you are not a complete disaster will get you employed.

Patkerry

Hello again,
Would anyone know what the potential salary scales would be for a java / .Net developer from year 0 to year 3?
thanks

ChRoMe

Patkerry wrote: »

Hello again,
Would anyone know what the potential salary scales would be for a java / .Net developer from year 0 to year 3?
thanks

I'd say about 25k-35k, you are probably best off searching the job sites to get an idea

Aswerty

I'm still inside the 0 - 3 year bracket and have just moved jobs so did a fair bit of research and 35k as an upper bound is too low. I'd say it is more like 25k - 42k althrough I'll admit you have to push if you want to get over 35k.

Energy13

Does anyone have a list of typical questions asked at an interview for junior java developer positions?

ChRoMe

Energy13 wrote: »

Does anyone have a list of typical questions asked at an interview for junior java developer positions?

1st year computer science stuff generally, data structures, algos etc.