How do I continue my engineer career after I move to no IT job area?

April 2, 2012 9:04 AM

How can I stay competitive? Where to look for jobs? How to work as a freelancer?

I've been working in embedded device for 8 years, doing mainly embedded linux / c/ c++ and had one Android app published in market.

I had to move to a rural area due to my partner's job few years ago.
I managed to telecommute for my previous employer for about 2 years before I got laid off. I could not find any IT job here that matches my expertise within 100 miles drive.

I want to know what my options are for me to stay competitive:

1. If I want to have something put on my resume - what can I do to prove I have some experiences built up during this time?

2. Is it possible to make money in my situation?

2.a - I started Android app but figured out that doesn't help money-wise(I got only 300 installation after publishing for a week) .

2.b - I am thinking about telecommute jobs but don't know where to search for this kind of jobs

2.c - How about freelance works? How do I find opportunities? Can I do it by myself?

Not only that I don't know how to start, I am not so confident about myself. Ideally, I still want to work with a "lead" kind of person that I can go to if I have any questions.

In my previous jobs,although I was assigned features and finished those independently, I never tried to finish a whole "product" by myself and I am not sure if I can do it.

3. There are few Java jobs out there. Should I learn more Java?
- I am not familiar with Java(although it's not difficult to write android once I figure out how to utilize APIs following the online doc). I'm wondering if I should teach myself more Java, XML, HTML5..etc for me to get a Java-related work.

Also, I am not sure how long it takes someone for s/he to reach a status that s/he can claim her/himself a "Java developer". While I have 8 years in c/c++, can I apply for senior Java developer position? (I guess not). Should I then apply for junior Java position?

posted by kktony to Technology (4 answers total)

Really a shame that no one's been able to help you. I have nothing to offer except, on the off chance that it's new to you, a link to elance. That particular page lists all their categories (things like CMSs, programming languages, database systems, etc.). A lot of the jobs posted go something like:

Build us Amazon.com in two weeks.
Fixed Price: Less than $500

But it's something.
posted by jsturgill at 8:17 PM on April 2, 2012

Stay competitive by working on free software projects in your newly spare time.
posted by TimeDoctor at 10:32 PM on April 2, 2012

Response by poster: Thank you jsturgill and TimeDoctor.

I quickly browse the freelance work. Although it may not pay as good as FT job, at least I have some place to look into. It's helpful!

I am also trying to look into opensource projects. It seems best way to start is to help fixing those listed bugs. But I'm curious if it's something that I can put on my resume if I only do bug fixing for projects? (Like: 2012~2013 help on opensource project XXX-- fix various bugs)?
posted by kktony at 5:33 AM on April 3, 2012

I'd recommend working on one or just a few projects and look out for feature requests that haven't been implemented yet in their bug tracker. Once you've made a name for yourself in the development community for that project you should have no reluctance about putting it on your resume. Obviously the shortcut to this is creating your own project.

If you don't get that far it is still at least a talking point for interviews when asked "what have you been doing since you were laid off"
posted by TimeDoctor at 4:07 PM on April 3, 2012