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Leveraging Development Skills in Other Fields?
It Can't Be All Bad asks: "I've been working as a programmer for a few years now, and I really love the work. I'm trying to think ahead of possible ways to leverage my skills into more specific areas where programmers are welcome and can find work. Areas like bio and chemical informatics appear very interesting ,but for the most part they seem to be for chem/bio majors with masters degrees. My biggest problem is that I'm self taught with only about a years worth of college experience. At this point in my life (with a family, kids, and bills), going back to school just isn't an option anymore. I wanted to know if anyone has had any success utilizing their development skills in specific fields that don't require masters degrees, and what areas I could be overlooking. Like most people here, I just want to be a part of exciting projects with some sort of purpose behind them."
I have found it well worth while to find jobs at small companies that are related to the field you are intrested in.. sure there isn't a huge ladder to climb up but you get a few years in the field and if your company is any good you get a good reputation.. then you can move up and to a larger company that is what you want.
.. they want to see it get bigger.
if you don't have the papers you must show your experience - best to start out small as they are the most likly to let you try - and if you can prove your self you can open doors..
but on the other hand i went back to the small company because i like the work better and the people are nice and not just out for a paycheck
'...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
Assuming it's informatics you want... Find out where the people who you want to be like hang out - Informatics blogs, IT Toolbox groups for informatics apps, etc. Just absorb for a while. Then get the to know the tools they use - there is uaually a way to get an evaluation copy or at least a white paper. Ask polite questions when you don't understand, and get to know the more kindly regulars. You CAN work in informatics without a subject matter degree, but it's harder - you need to be able to buddy-up with a scientist and do the computer things he does not want to, without becoming 'just the computer guy' (who is expected to do all the low-level computer stuff).
There are some college-level statistics courses available for free, too - I think MIT has one.
This method will work for any semi-advanced but not too esoteric field these days. Those internets, amazing things.
Look for a tie in. It's easier to squeeze it in the nonprofit sector.
I did the exact opposite of your question (leveraged other skills to get into development), but I suppose the concepts are the same. I have a dregree in history from Penn State, but since I was wee ittle I've been tinkering with computers. Hell, I broke the computer so many times when I was little my Mom had to have her company's tech guy come out and lock it down so I couldn't screw it up again.
At this point - pretty much 15 years later (8-23) - I'm an experienced network admin and web developer regardless of whether or not I've had formal instruction in them (I took Intro to C++ at Penn State before getting forced out of the Computer Science program due to low grades - I went and got myself addicted to a MUD. But that's a differnet story. Heh.)
Anyhow. My specialization in history? The US Civil War. My job? I'm the one man IT department for these guys.
ACs are modded -6. I don't read you, I don't mod you, I don't see you. Don't like it? Don't be a coward.
I'm using six years of video game testing experience on a help desk for a large corporation. Instead of dealing with clueless producers as to why the game shouldn't ship with fatal bugs, I'm dealing with clueless customers who can't find the ON/OFF switch. The hard part is not die laughing while the user is on the phone.
Although I mostly studied programming in my college Comp Sci major, most of what I actually learned (other than syntax) was problem solving. Self-taught or not, if you have what it takes to be a good programmer, you probably have what it takes to be good at other jobs which are about finding the solutions to problems. OK, maybe not social work or politics, but anything combining analytics with creativity... so if anyone asks about your academic credentials, point out what your real qualification is.
Find something that interest you, not where you think there are jobs...
Not to sound rude or anything but the best thing you can do is pick some area that you are actually interested in. You mentioned that you are interested because you can get work in those areas. You have a much higher chance of succeeding if you don't pick your career path based on potential jobs but truly on what you find fascinating. This will allow you to pick it up much quicker and if you express this interest in your work you will certainly do better work and be able to advance quicker. I am sure this might not be you, but there are way too many people that say they're interested in getting into Bioinformatics/Chemoinformatics/etc. I love the field and wouldn't want to work anywhere else, but it's dissappointed to see the applicants flooding with people who have no true interest, or experience for that matter, in any of the relevant fields.
but do you really want to? The perspective on problem-solving gained through computer programming is useful for virtually any task repeated more than a couple of times. I worked in an industrial-strength kitchen popping things in and out of the oven, and knowledge of things like modularity, latency, pipelining, and resource locking made me an incredibly efficient baker. Using the idea of symmetric multi-processing made me faster when working as a cashier because I used both hands to wave things past the bar code scanner. Knowing how sorting algorithms made me really good at a desk job moving papers around based on index numbers.
Then I discovered that if I had absolutely no interest in what I was programming I didn't get depressed when management sabotaged it. So now I work for a megacorp and just code what they tell me to code. I get my "working on something interesting/important" fix by working on open source software in my spare time.
How we know is more important than what we know.
Don't forget divorce. There's lots of options.
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
It is more complicated and it isn't. I didn't go into all the details of what my family went through, but it included no money when the car needed repairs, the same dinner for many nights because there wasn't money to pay for more and other problems. Life is complicated, but you've got a choice: you either make your life better or you don't. Nobody will do it for you. I have yet to hear someone successful say, "I wanted to take classes and learn more or get more qualifications, but I just could not afford it, or just didn't have the time, or just couldn't do it." Yet I often hear comments like this from people looking for jobs that can't do the work well or say they want to be in management in a few years, but don't know how to get there and think somehow they'll work it out.
Newsflash: life is not fair. You can complain about how complicated it is and not step up to the plate, or you can stop complaining and do it. So, in the long run it is that simple: you either find a way to make it work, or you can stop wasting your time dreaming because it won't happen without your effort.
Make excuses or make an effort and find a way. One makes thing better. One does not.
I think you misunderstand the point of going into these fields.
The point isn't for the programmer to go around and cure cancer. The idea is that while the medical and chemical engineers are great at what they do, they are not so great at computer science.
So you go into this field *to help them* do their work.
BTW to the OP I'd say look into the fields numerical analysis and informatics. The idea is that when you have to compute a *lot* of data knowing how to best use the processing power is important. It's also very important to know how to mitigate potential errors. And perhaps how to throw together a computation cluster or two.
even if you don't feel like you need it, go ahead and get your degree. It will pay off in the long run. Find a way to do it, go to night school, live off of your wife's salary, borrow, take part time contracts, go to overload classes. Get your degree.
The harder, more difficult, more math intensive your degree the better. The sooner you can get it, the better.
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Programming skills + subject competence(science, history, etc) = desirable person
Programming skills only = code monkey
People outside the IT department (managers, small business owners, potential consulting clients) are MUCH more likely to take you seriously with a degree in something. If you did get into something like cheminformatics and were able to learn some science as you go, that would be useful too. -