Advice for an older software developer looking for a change
My father is nearly 70. He works as a Cloud DevOps engineer for a large hospital. He seems really troubled with his current job, especially the fact that the people he work with don't value good engineering (my interpretation). He wants to move to a more tech/engineering driven company, but obviously with his age this is tough. He always talks about how he wants to move to a better job, but then says there's no point at his age. I do think he's a really competent engineer (I say this as, I think, a fairly competent software engineer myself, currently working at a major-ish tech company), and so I'd like to see him work somewhere he can thrive but worry it might be too late. Any advice on this?
Edit: Don't mean to be cynical, but as a potential plus, he does look quite young for his age (I'd say a solid 10-15 years)
20 comments
[ 0.22 ms ] story [ 44.4 ms ] threadThis should not be a question. It is none of your business.
There can't really be a shortage for more support engineers if he likes that, but if he wants to do more core engineering then of course go for that. Most of the big enterprises should have room for him in many different departments and he might be comfortable and safe.
As for concrete advice: Just go looking for jobs and weigh pros and cons. You can do it on his behalf and bring a few to him for discussion.
Don't be pushy if he's not into the idea and just feels like complaining a bit. Sometimes all a person needs is a bit of acknowledgement and not a solution.
He should absolutely check his employment agreement, though, and make sure he doesn't:
* use company equipment
* do any work for a competitor
* work on company time
Contracting also is helpful because it is something he can dip his toe into without a large time commitment (as opposed to a job). I'd suggest he reach out to people he has worked with in the past that have left the company (LinkedIn is good, but Facebook might work well too). My go-to phrasing is:
"Hiya, hope you are doing well. <Anecdote, like 'remember when we shipped project X? Guess what, it's still running today'.>
I'm reaching out because I'm looking to do more contracting and to expand my network. In particular, I want to do <the type of work he wants to do>. I'd prefer to do it off hours, about <X hours a week>.
Do you know anyone who is looking for a hand? If you do, or think of anyone, I'd sure appreciate an intro."
This phrasing is far less direct than "Do you need help" but conveys the same message.
He should also think about a rate that he'd work for, as that will likely be one of the first questions any possible client will have.
Can you please elaborate?
You should not put yourself in a position where a customer owes you a lot of money. I define "a lot" as an amount I would consider legal action to recover. Charge for deliverables with clear expectations and definition of "done." If you get a sketchy or slow-pay customer who argues about your bills, drop them, they're not worth it.
Anecdotally I have known lots of freelancers in my career and slow pay/no pay is not a big problem for the freelancers who deliver what they promise and avoid the fringe customers. It's the customers who want you to clone eBay for $5,000 in a month who won't pay you. Reputable companies and organizations might take a while to cut a check but they won't screw you.
It's been a few years, but here are a couple of tips:
* Start with a warm intro from someone you've worked with in the past. This lowers the risk for both parties. This is why I suggested reaching out to former co-workers; they know you and (hopefully) will vouch for you.
* Begin with a small project first. Again, this is about lowering risk. Is there a project you can do for a couple hundred bucks? Can you write a planning document, or do an analysis of the current infrastructure with a read-only account? Or a small enhancement/bugfix?
* Document your expertise in a way that others can find you. This could be code, gists, a blog (I have multiple :) ), articles in places like dzone or the stackoverflow blog, or podcasts. This is good for finding new clients, too.
* An entirely different option is to use a contracting company, where they find the work and take a cut (a large one, typically). This way the company has trust that you can leverage. It's been decades since I walked this path, so I don't know how available it is now.
One other thing: contracting is risky for both sides, not just for the client.
For the first project or two with a new client, don't ever bill more than you can afford to lose. I've never been stiffed 100%, but one time I had to pursue a client for months to get a 4 figure paycheck. Here's that story: https://www.mooreds.com/wordpress/archives/2650
The companies I've worked with in the past have even the dev environments on the cloud pretty locked down and access to any higher environments are usually locked down even more. Given that cloud has a lot of important data and companies are usually very selective in how they give out access. How do you do freelance work when it comes to cloud?
Can you please elaborate? If cloud freelancing is something that looks like it could be within my reach it would make my family and I's life easier in so many ways.
PS: I'm from a relatively third world country so please factor that in.
Some of my customers just give me the cloud credentials -- they have no idea what any of that means, it got dropped on them when the last sys admin quit or stopped returning emails. Some know how to manage their cloud assets and create an IAM user with appropriate permissions. A few have made me work with/through their IT department.
Generally I ask for a privileged user login to their cloud control panel (AWS, GCP, Azure, Rackspace, Digital Ocean) and an ssh login with sudo permissions. I may get some or all of that, depends on what they need. My involvement ranges from reviewing existing cloud setups and offering advice to fully managing cloud infrastructure and servers.
I kind of fell into this from programming work. I would notice problems in the customer's infrastructure, or they would tell me about problems, and I told them I could help so they gave me the keys. I tend to keep my customers for a long time (years, a couple over a decade) so they trust me already.
You might look at consultancies that focus on security and see if you can work through them. Security experts usually need the same kind of access I need. Very often the first time a company needs a cloud expert/system admin is when they get hacked or something crashes, so security consultancies and IT support companies get those calls, and you can freelance for or through them.
A cloud expert/engineer certification can't hurt. I don't have any certifications but I have gone through the AWS materials. I got started with cloud admin early-on so I've kind of grown with it as it exploded. I have prior system admin experience that helps.
Lots of smaller companies have cloud infra that they paid someone to set up for them, but that person/company has moved on and doesn't maintain or support the customer anymore, so that's where you look for opportunities.
Also, all things considered equal, would you consider this an interesting line of work?
Does your dad (and the cloud devops team) work with folks at their cloud provider and is it one of the big ones azure, gcp, aws. If he has close relationships with them then that might be a way in. Or is it a 3rd party contractor running the hospital-cloud interface?
There is a lot of engineering to be done at the interface level even at the devops level. Right now cloud "devops" for hospitals is a big growth area and since he has experience in in that environment, I would think the bigger cloud providers would want his expertise as a solutions/support engineer.
The other thing for him (and maybe you) to do would be to start a 3rd party cloud/devops integration company!
There are also med-tech companies that deliver services through the cloud as well. Devops itself is arguably being eaten by software as things progress (as devops ate sys admin).
As for advice - I am not sure! Just keep applying. Don't let the age be a factor for him, and then if it is a discrimination factor for employers then it is unfortunate but keep applying anyway. There are plenty of people who appreciate talent.