Ask Slashdot: Re-Entering the Job Market As a Software Engineer?

First time accepted submitter martypantsROK writes "It's been over 15 years since my main job was a software engineer. Since then I have held positions as a Sales Engineer, then spent a few years actually doing sales as a sales rep (and found I hated it) and then got into teaching. I am still a teacher but I want to really get back into writing code for a living. In the past couple of years I've done a great deal of Javascript, PHP, Ajax, and Java, including some Android apps. So here's the question: How likely would I be to actually get a job writing code? Is continual experience in the field a must, or can a job candidate demonstrate enough current relevance and experience (minus an actual job) with a multi-year hiatus from software development jobs? I'll add, if you haven't already done the math, that I'm over 50 years old."

Comments

Good Luck

[najay]

As someone who just went through this, it is going to be tough

Ah ! The old US of A

[Anonymous Coward]

In the UK (and most places in the EU I guess ) asking your age is illegal, and screening old timers out would be suicide.

To top it all, you can request to see in which basis they didn't give you a job.

I know, I know, evil socialist Europe.

Don't tell them your age on your resume

[honestmonkey]

I went through this as well, and as macs4all above mentioned, if it hadn't been for a job offer at a place I used to work, where the people knew me and trusted I could do the job (as I'd already had), I'd still be out of work. Don't put your age down on your resume, that might help. I stopped putting my graduation date, and only put jobs 10 years old or newer. Before that, I lumped everything together, if I put it down at all.

Of course, it didn't really work for me, so who knows if it's even good advice.