Not being able to write cursively has never hindered me. I made a conscious decision in my early years to forget cursive and write fixed letters. My handwriting is neat, legible and has been commented on by various people over time as having a nice aesthetic. BUT, having handwriting so poor you can't read it is a disaster. I have to get people to write their passwords down and it amazes me the number of people who can't read back to me what they've written! It also seems to me that spelling is getting markedly poorer over the last 10 years. I see spelling mistakes in national newspapers, not to mention company emails, signs, you name it..
I would strongly suggest you consider another line of work. I'm 42, I have a Master's degree and it seems not to be worth the paper it's printed on. I worked for 4 years as a 'senior' software developer (coding Java) in the US after completing my Masters and then elected to spend 18 months in Japan learning Japanese before returning home to Australia. Upon returning, I was completely unable to find work in software. The recruiter's comments I spoke to were essentially 'you haven't done any coding in the last year..well..that will be tough'. Having worked in IT since my late teen's, I couldn't even get an interview. After six months, this became '2 years' and I eventually changed my perspective and got a job working a help desk. Which I still do and in some ways, enjoy the fact that I don't have to think about work when I'm not on the phones. And when you learn how to handle/relate to people, the job becomes easier.
Also, bear in mind, that just graduating out of a CS degree does not mean you are regarded as prime programming talent:-) You are considered as someone who could possibly be taught.
I was once told that you should look around and see where the grey-haired people are working in your workplace. Those are the roles where there is long term employment and if none of them are doing what you are doing, you may need to reconsider your long term plans. I often wonder where all the older programmers go...
My personal choice has been to become bi-lingual and so I am working every day towards passing an advanced level language test. There are a fair number of Japanese+English jobs in Australia and I suspect not a lot of candidates.
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Not being able to write cursively has never hindered me. I made a conscious decision in my early years to forget cursive and write fixed letters. My handwriting is neat, legible and has been commented on by various people over time as having a nice aesthetic. BUT, having handwriting so poor you can't read it is a disaster. I have to get people to write their passwords down and it amazes me the number of people who can't read back to me what they've written! It also seems to me that spelling is getting markedly poorer over the last 10 years. I see spelling mistakes in national newspapers, not to mention company emails, signs, you name it..
I would strongly suggest you consider another line of work. I'm 42, I have a Master's degree and it seems not to be worth the paper it's printed on. I worked for 4 years as a 'senior' software developer (coding Java) in the US after completing my Masters and then elected to spend 18 months in Japan learning Japanese before returning home to Australia. Upon returning, I was completely unable to find work in software. The recruiter's comments I spoke to were essentially 'you haven't done any coding in the last year..well..that will be tough'. Having worked in IT since my late teen's, I couldn't even get an interview. After six months, this became '2 years' and I eventually changed my perspective and got a job working a help desk. Which I still do and in some ways, enjoy the fact that I don't have to think about work when I'm not on the phones. And when you learn how to handle/relate to people, the job becomes easier.
Also, bear in mind, that just graduating out of a CS degree does not mean you are regarded as prime programming talent :-) You are considered as someone who could possibly be taught.
I was once told that you should look around and see where the grey-haired people are working in your workplace. Those are the roles where there is long term employment and if none of them are doing what you are doing, you may need to reconsider your long term plans. I often wonder where all the older programmers go... My personal choice has been to become bi-lingual and so I am working every day towards passing an advanced level language test. There are a fair number of Japanese+English jobs in Australia and I suspect not a lot of candidates.