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Ask Slashdot: Career Advice For an Aging Perl Developer?

Posted by timothy on from the by-the-time-you-read-this-you're-even-older dept.

New submitter ukrifleman writes: I've been doing UK based perl, JS, light PHP and JQUERY dev plus Centos/Debian sys admin on a freelance basis for over a decade now. Mostly maintaining older stuff but I also undertook a big, 3 year bespoke project (all written in legacy non OO perl). The trouble is, that contract has now finished and all the legacy work has dried out and I've only got about 2 months of income left! I need to get a full time job.

To most dev firms I'm going to look like a bit of a dinosaur, 40 odd years old, knows little of OO coding OR modern languages and aproaches to projects. I can write other languages and, with a bit of practice I'll pick them up pretty quickly. I really don't know where to start. What's hot, what's worth learning, I'm self-taught so have no CS degree, just 15 years of dev and sys admin experience. I've got a bit of team and project management experience too it's quite a worry going up against young whipper snappers that know all the buzz words and modern tech!

Am I better off trying to get a junior job to start so I can catch up with some tech? Would I be better off trawling the thousands of job sites or finding a bonafide IT specialist recruitment firm? Should I take the brutally honest approach to my CV/interviews or just wing it and hope I don't bite off more than I can chew? What kind of learning curve could I expect if I took on a new language I have no experience with? Are there any qualififcations that I NEED to have before firms would be willing to take me on? I've been sitting here at this desk for 10 years typing away and only now do I realise that I've stagnated to the point where I may well be obsolete! Have a question for Slashdot's readers? Take a look at other recent questions first to see if someone else has had a similar question. And if not, ask away! The more details and context you include, the more likely your question will be selected.

9 of 271 comments (clear)

  1. Things to Learn by VorpalRodent · · Score: 5, Funny

    Checklist of things to learn:
    - Hindi
    - Mandarin

    --
    Take it to the limit, everybody to the limit, come on, everybody fhqwhgads.
  2. Quite the Opposite by rnicey · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Time to move to management. Fluff the resume a bit and put yourself out there as someone who can manage a decent term project and get stuff done. Job interviews, much like everything in life, comes down to 10% what you say, and 90% how you say it. Come across as wise not old, confident not down on yourself, and have an air of "If you don't hire me you're a f'in moron" without actually saying that, and you might be surprised what you get.

    1. Re:Quite the Opposite by zacherynuk · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Bollocks. This is the one thing that is killing older techs like us. IF WE DON'T WANT TO MANAGE, WE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO!

      I'm lucky enough to have a diverse enough job now I can pick and choose the things I want to do - indeed I get to delegate managers (I delegate managers to manage me!) and I never delegate decent techs to manage! - they are two very different jobs and mind sets. The payscale, the HR ladder and you, are simply wrong. It's a different job mate. "know your strengths" - if you like doing something you will be good at it, if you are good at5 something you will likely enjoy it.

      If now, at the the age of 49, I was told I couldn't do the things I enjoy doing (for paid work money) I would... I would probably just die, to be frank.

    2. Re:Quite the Opposite by dowens81625 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "Personally, I hate it when I have managers that don't understand what I'm doing. It's like having someone in charge of you that doesn't even know how to do your job"

      I need to disagree with you,

            1. You have your job because the company you work for felt you were the best person to do it.
            2. Your manager has their job because the company you work for felt they were the best person to do it.
            3. Your manager is not there to do or understand your job.
            4. Your manager is there to ensure you do your job, to support you, to coordinate with the rest of the business that your job interacts with, leadership, users, finance etc.
            5. Your manager should be looking to you as the expert in your position. If they are not then you are not doing your job.

      I could go on an on about the differences between an Engineer, a Tech, a Manager, and a Team lead.

      It sounds like what you are looking for in a manager is really a team lead position.

    3. Re:Quite the Opposite by Ecuador · · Score: 5, Funny

      I agree with your notes on team lead, architects and IT managers. But I don't think you really get what Prime Ministers do, or how easy it is for the OP to become one.

      --
      Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
  3. First of all by bferrell · · Score: 5, Insightful

    40 is not a dinosaur. I'm 57 and have NO difficulty locating work. Fortunately (for me, not so much for employers). Employers have discovered that experience DOES count (and least those with more brains than a raven, those who don't... I don't want to work for anyway).

    I also don't insist that I *deserve* every perc on the planet and that my work always be interesting.

    Keep in mind, it's your work, not your life.

    1. Re:First of all by rycamor · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Bingo. The real key is to go deep on something and specialize. As a web application developer approaching 50 who did a lot of database work, I realized I had put serious time into learning the ins and outs of the relational model, SQL, business rules thinking, etc... and I had also put lots of time into understanding Linux. Turns out database and Linux skills are in high demand. So I've dropped most of the web app programming (Honestly, in that domain you are competing with a worldwide talent pool, most of whom are willing to work cheaper than you) and really strengthened my enterprise database skills. I now do PostgreSQL consulting almost full-time, and really it is a pleasure to do more serious knowledge work instead of constantly scrambling for scut-level web application work.

      Also as you age, put more time into the things that change least. SQL isn't going away anytime soon. Ditto for Linux. Web app frameworks change every freaking *year*. Leave that stuff to the young guys.

  4. Re:Moose, Moo, Mo by sjames · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you plan on staying with Perl, I would highly recommend checking out Moose and the other derivative packages that append object systems to Perl 5.

    Then learn to affect a cheesy eastern European accent and tell the interviewer you are after Moose and Perl.

  5. Re: WTF by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 5, Funny

    Because the definition of "older" follows Moore's law in this industry. Every 18 months, old is one year less.

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.