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Ask HN: A bit of career advice, por favor?

8 points by lolyaright ↗ HN
I posted this over on Reddit but didn't get any response so...perhaps HN has some input?

I currently have about 6 years of (reasonably) viable experience. I spent three of those years at one company programming in PHP (this was mostly during college) and the next 3 working at .NET companies (one of those years was also during college). I've been out of college for about two years.

I'm looking to move on now. I've spent some time tinkering with Ruby on Rails lately and I really like that platform. It looks like I have a decent chance at a RoR position but I'm wondering what this will do to my "career," jumping around platforms like that. Aren't I expected to reasonably become an "expert" on one platform?

Anyway, any advice you guys can shell out would be most excellent!

6 comments

[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 21.9 ms ] thread
patio11
You are not a programmer. You create value for companies that employ you, occasionally using computer code to do so.

Your source of competitive strength is not expertise in a particular platform. Expertise in a particular platform can be found in India, for one quarter what you desire to make. Your source of competitive strength is that you consistently deliver measurable success. If you consistently deliver measurable success, no one will care what platforms you know. If you get hired by a Rails shop without knowing it in advance, you'll take a week or two to write your first production code, and ramp up in capabilities very rapidly after that.

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hcho
And to deliver measurable success, some sort of domain expertise in a business area is needed. My answer to anyone asking which language/platform should be learned is; pick your favourite, get to an average level, have basic knowledge of all others and after that work on acquiring business domain expertise.
hasenj
Jumping between platforms and languages is good. People who spend ten years working only on one platform and one language get boxed in that platform and they can't think or do anything outside it.
AngeloAnolin
As I see it, I think you're simply adapting to change, brought on by the fact that the companies who have taken your services have provided you with different challenges on different platforms.

I think software development, to some degree, regardless of language, platform or operating system tend to have the same structure to build good code. You employ TDD, continuous integration, agile methodologies, user feedback and so on. The important thing for you is to think of how you can bring your talents and acumen to your next gig.

ScottWhigham
I don't have advice necessarily but I have thoughts :)

Here's what others aren't telling you: you did not provide us with enough info to give you anything beyond superficial. You did a great job explaining your job history and that you are technically capable but you in no way explained your strengths, your goals, and your aspirations. Without those things, how can you expect random strangers on the internet to give you meaningful advice?

Not to pick on anyone else who has responded but how about this response: "Jumping between platforms and languages is good. People who spend ten years working only on one platform and one language get boxed in that platform and they can't think or do anything outside it."

This response assumes that you want to be a career developer. Do you? I don't know because you haven't provided us with what you want your career to be.

I'd be motivated to answer in detail if I didn't have to preface every single suggestion with, "If you want to be a ... then do this. If you want to be a ... then do that."

Tell us what you want out of your career and I bet you'll find we can give more specific advice/thoughts.