I have a vague plan for long-term career satisfaction. Since it's vague, I've decided to make a much smaller short-term job change to just make me a little bit happier about working. I'm not quite sure I'm doing this in the most super effective way, though.
I'm a software developer that's been at the same company for almost four years, working on Windows applications that I can never get all that excited about. It's boring, but at the same time, it pays decently and is easy compared to the neverending death march job I had before it. For years, the following justifications kept me afloat:
- Hey, better boring than brutal.
- Work's not supposed to be fun, get over it.
- Since it doesn't wear you out, you can go home and work on what you like, and then eventually make that into a career.
Well, those justifications periodically collapse, most recently this last week. The third one still holds true, except the part about making the personal projects into a career. I'm afraid I'm going to get to the point at which I can't motivate myself to even do the basics of the job.
So, I figure a good short term fix is to change jobs. Even if I change to a job that's pretty much the same thing, at least the newness will keep me interested for a little while. However, I think I can do a little better than that. I'd like to move to a job (that's still in my region) that is similar to my current job, but also includes some other stuff that I enjoy doing.
I like writing stuff in Flash and Perl. I like doing things in Photoshop, even boring tasks like changing color schemes in a logo or making 32x32 pixel icons. (And no, I can't do these things very often at my current job.) However, I only have a tiny bit of
professional experience doing this stuff. Much in the same way that legislators slip their pork in by attaching them as riders to bills that are likely to get passed, I'd like to land a job that involves both C++ or C# (which is what most employers would want me for)
and some "fun" (for a while) technologies.
Here's the problems I'm running into:
1. There seem to be far fewer jobs like this than I figured there would be. Right now, I'm looking on Monster, Dice, LinkedIn, and Craigslist, and I've only found three in the past week (and gotten an employer response for one), and even with those, it's not clear from the job description whether or not the "fun" technology really is part of the job. Is there a good source I'm missing?
2. Are recruiters even worth it? They tend to ignore or attempt to dissuade me from what I'm looking for and then cram me into a job that's all C++ or C#. (And what the hell is with always wanting to talk to me on the phone instead of just emailing me?) Some dude actually gave me this long-ass spiel about how if I want to be a manager, I'm going to have to stick with Windows technologies.
3. What would most employers be looking for in a Flash sample? And unless I list "X years of Flash", would an HR person even bother to look at one?
Any suggestions? Is trying to get hired as anything but a specialist unrealistic these days?
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You are someone's dream though. I'd expect a pretty small place. I once worked for a small web dev company doing .NET stuff amongst graphic artists. I got to dabble a little with graphics and the like and keep something relevant on my resume. But I guess going to Craigslist route pretty much covers that angle.
Another option is to look at how you can use your spare time now to build your portfolio. Maybe start by building up your personal site to show your capabilities, then use that to volunteer to help others. There's plenty of people/charities/noble causes out there who need a good site and would like a free helping hand. It's a great way to build a client relationship and also build your experience up on the resume. You can graduate to places like rentacoder.com, but it's a very tough marketplace.
Another angle is also to look at sites around now and how they can be improved. Talk to people and explain that either their current web design circa 1997 is doing them no favours, or explain how your services might help build their brand. You can build a reasonable client base this way, and you're there to help people who might not be as tech-savvy as you.
As for recruiters, I've often thought of them as a necessary evil. A few too many are probably just skimming for key words on the resume. If you told me you had 2 years flash development experience I pretty much wouldn't believe you unless I could also see references to the job where you did this.
posted by kaydo at 6:21 AM on April 6