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Need advice for restarting my career

3 points by sashmaaan ↗ HN
I have a bachelor degree in Software-Engineering, worked for 2 years as an IT-Consultant in a company which produces product configurators. The whole software is based on an own language, own IDE, completely own environment, specialised for customers like machine engineering companies which can enter their products in their configurator via different methods (e.g. wysiwyg mouse handling), so easy to use for somebody who doesn't know how to write code. Then I worked 2 years for another company which customises ERP Software, regular software development with VB.Net, VBA, MS SQL. After this I worked part time as freelancer for a project in which I worked before from my first company, so again the company-own stack. Here and there I had smaller projects, but nothing complicated. After a while I quitted all that projects and started to work as a dive instructor in Thailand.

Now after 1,5 years I want to relocate and work abroad as a software developer, but my skill set is limited through my jobs before. I would say I am a fast learner, but I don't know where to start. Most of the job offers demand couple years of experience in that stacks. I would love to find smaller projects which use the current web technologies. Of course I don't expect to get paid like in my jobs before if I don't have any projects done before with the needed skill set. On the other hand, the jobs i found on upwork are mostly underpaid, right?! I even thought about to contribute to os projects on github, to build up a portfolio, but I don't know what. Always when I start somewhere I think that this doesn't help me in my ongoing job search. Also it´s hard for me to work on something when i am not using the particular software by myself.

tl;dr Fast learning software developer with limited skill set and no portfolio, needs advice on how to restart career. Perfect would be a junior position with small payment, as long as i learn something new and fill up my portfolio with it... realistic?

2 comments

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new_guy
> Most of the job offers demand couple years of experience in that stacks

Recruiters put that in their requirements to stop people applying they think won't be good enough. If you feel confident enough just apply regardless and fudge on your resume, you'll do great!

peheje
You need to rethink your worth.

Seems like you are quite the profile. Demand the pay you deserve. Bachelor in SW-eng, 4 years of professional diverse work, dive instructor - working under pressure, meeting people, outgoing, seeking new challenges.

Yes technology changes, but really if you have a deep understanding from your universities you will catch up up quick.

Just because you don't know all the current buzz-words the HR recruiters put on the job offer (that they probably do not understand themselves) you should not feel like you need to compromise on your pay.