Ask Slashdot: Best Training To Rekindle a Long Tech Career?

New submitter SouthSeaDragon writes "I'm a computer professional who has performed most of the functions that could be expected over a 39 year career, including hardware maintenance and repair, sitting on a 800 support line, developing a help desk application from the ground up (terminal-based), writing a software manual, plus developing and teaching software courses. In recent years, I've worked for computer software vendors doing pre-sales support generally for infrastructure products including applications, app servers, integration with Java based messaging and ESB product and most recently a Business Rules product. I was laid off recently due to a restructuring and am now trying to figure out the next phase. With the WIA displaced worker grants now available I am attempting to figure out what training would be good to pursue. I am hearing that 'the Cloud' is the next big thing, but I'm also looking into increasing my development skills with a current language. I wonder what the readers might suggest for new directions."

Comments

Android Development

[eljefe6a]

Since you already know Java, give Android development a try. I know a few people who have rekindled their love of programming by doing some mobile apps.

Be realistic

[arth1]

If you have a 39 year old career, that means you are likely just a few years from retirement.
A company that hires you will likely hire you for skills you have experience with - not any new skills you have no experience with. Those jobs will, unfortunately, go to young grads.
My recommendation is to take one of the skills you have plenty of experience with and get a formal training in it. Even if it bores you, it will likely boost your employment probabilities more than anything new and interesting like the cloud. Because it is new, companies will be looking for young people who (a) are cheap, and (b) hopefully will stay after gaining experience, so the company can take advantage of that experience down the road.

Sorry if this wasn't what you wanted to hear - I wish things were different, but we old timers aren't all that attractive for things we don't have experience with.

Re:Be realistic

[Hatta]

Embezzle as much as you can from your current employer. You'll end up in a minimum security federal prison. You get three hots and a cot, plus free health care. There's a gym and a library. It's probably better than you'll get in your retirement. Our country is more willing to spend money on its criminals than its elders, might as well take advantage of that.

Re:Home-calling consumer services?

[Ol Olsoc]

Only in a law of averages. My observations of old people are they either give up intentionally, the brain freezes up, and they're hopeless, or they keep using the brain and they're more focused than a 20-something. It seems much like muscle mass and health in general as people age.

That's pretty much the ultimate ""your own fault" approach. There is a fairly widespread subset of th epopulation that thinks that any ailment is the sick person's fault.

Perhaps the giving up happens when the person's brain isn't working as well as it used to. Sometimes stuff like age happens, and despite our best efforts, no one get out of here alive.

Though it is appealing to think that as long as I do Sudoku, I'll never die or become senile........naahhh, I hate frickin' Sudoku!

Re:Home-calling consumer services?

[Anonymous Coward]

Age discrimination sucks, but people will take a 20-something a lot more seriously than anyone 35+. It is just how the business goes.

Only a 20-something or younger would say such a thing.

I'm 28.. I've run a couple of internet businesses over the last 10 years, and I've met _A LOT_ of 20-something year olds. Most of them are--and I cannot stress this enough--fucking idiots.

Their SINGLE advantage is that they are cheap. As long as you can prevent them from fucking up too badly, you'll be able to save some money.

Re:Home-calling consumer services?

[the_Bionic_lemming]

Heh, One experience I had illustrates the fresh developer vs seasoned. I was hired in to help a couple of younger guys that wrote an application so I could help speed it up.

One of the better guys was struggling to find out why his queries for data wasn't pulling back what he thought he should be getting. He'd been staring at his stuff for the better part of an hour before he asked me.It took him 2 minutes to explain his problem to me, and it took me two minutes and a whiteboard to scope out why he was thinking wrong.

He was pretty well taken aback and asked me "How the fuck did you figure it out that fast?"

I replied "Cause I had the same issue a long time ago and asked someone who knew what they were doing."