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Ask Slashdot: How Do I Stay Employable?

Posted by Unknown on from the drive-your-enemies-before-you dept.

illcar writes "Hi, I am a 40-year-old working as a senior developer for one of the biggest investment banks. I have always worked as a full time employee in my career; however the last 5-6 years have been very tough for me because of office politics, outsourcing, and economic conditions. The financial industry is not doing well, and we may be at the brink of another round of layoffs. My family is growing, my spouse does not work, and I still don't own a house. I am worried regarding my job security & career growth. Considering Medicare does not kick in till 65, I am still looking at 25 long years of career. I am wondering what the best way would be for me to stay employable in the coming years?" illcar continues: "1. Should I stay technical, and be ready to work as consultant/contractor? How does medical insurance work in that case?
2. Should I capitalize on the domain knowledge, and move onto business/managerial side?
3. Will the MBA degree or alternate career help?
4. Any other suggestions?

Thanks."

4 of 708 comments (clear)

  1. Apprentice to a plumber by Beryllium+Sphere(tm) · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It can't be outsourced, and have you ever heard of an unemployed plumber?

    It's meaningful work, too, work which has saved more lives over the centuries than doctors have.

    (Even I can't tell if I'm serious about this).

  2. Re:stop doing grunt work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Don't sell yourself short.

    Hey. That gives me an idea.

    The guy's in the financial industry. He already knows tech. With a year's education (and his employer may well cover the cost), he could do a hell of a lot better job than most sell-side analysts do.

    Half the barrier to entry to finance is jargon. (Kinda like how they see tech, LOL.)

    Anyone with a 4-year degree in CompSci can handle any of the math required for a CFA Level 1 (even if, at age 40, you'll need to dust off some stuff you haven't used since college). It's basically a 4th-year-college/1st-year-of-postgrad course.

    Whether he uses the acquired knowledge to be more useful to his employer (in that he'll be able to understand the needs of the people his code supports), or to switch careers at his current employer (downside: wearing a suit, upside: possibility of membership in the 1%), or to jump ship and work for another employer, or even if he just wants a skill that can pay the bills outside of work (you don't need a job to have a trading account, and if the markets ever shut down for more than a few weeks, everyone's out of a job except for the survivalists), is up to him.

  3. Some suggestions to stay employable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    (1) Stay physically fit and active, and keep up your appearance. Nobody wants to hire a middle-aged slouch with a pot-belly, tattoos, and greasy hair. Your spouse will appreciate this too.

    (2) Learn another human language. Spanish, Mandarin, Arabic, etc.

    (3) Participate actively and meaningfully in the open source projects of your choice, using your real name (not a goofy pseudonym) so that you will have examples of your work to show to potential employers.

    (4) Participate in local charity and volunteer organizations. This will help improve your people skills.

    (5) Turn off the TV and read books instead. Non-fiction is best, but even fiction is better than nothing. Keep improving your mind.

  4. Re:Question: by wmac1 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I am 40 years old right now. I used to be a senior developer, software architect, network admin of a bank and finally manager of "networks and hardware" department in that bank. I finally got fed up of the work pressure and office politics. I remember that at one point in time I became sure that I will 99% have a heart attack in the next 6 months. Then every day I would worry whether today is the day (just imagine a retail bank with hundreds of branches, thousands of users, shitty communications infrastructure of my country, many disconnected branches at any time and hundreds of angry customers waiting to do their job).

    In order to save my life I resigned and returned to Academia and did a PhD hoping that teaching and working in Academia will be more peaceful. During the study my financial situation became weak, my wife of 10 years cheated and left with a very rich man (15 years older than me and 20 years older than her).

    Now I am almost finished with the PhD, have no life and no job. I have a teaching job offer (pending PhD graduation). The pay for a PhD lecturer is around $2000 in the current country I stay and $1500 in my own country.

    By your standard, I have no right to marry again (let alone have a kid) and you would perhaps suggest me to do software development (presumably open source for free). Have you ever thought marrying, having kids and a family are fundamental rights of a human (and even an animal)?