Coding and Design Jobs

[NateB]

I have spent a good amount of time this year contemplating my future. The healthcare field is changing for worse. 20 years of EMS work takes a toll on one's body where I don't think I am capable of another 20 years. The downside to being so specialized is I don't have very many transferrable skills outside of what I already do. Fortunately, I have time to explore options for a plan B and no immediate need for a new job.

The only other education I have was starting web/graphic design degree before becoming a medic. I learned Basic/Visual Basic as well as HTML and CSS in high school in the late 90s, expanded to the fundamentals of Javascript, PHP, MySQL (including some regretful things with Flash and Actionscript) in the early 2000s.

Since then, I have not kept up with newer programming languages or commonly used frameworks, but I can relearn or learn. Given waves of layoffs from tech firms in the news, what direction is software or web development heading? For those who are involved in hiring, what languages and portfolio projects standout to make a recruit attractive?

 

[Art Upton]

Last I was in the business a few years ago and tracking what former employees of mine are doing today they Need System Architects to tell the off shore coders what to produce. That is only my experience not the entire industry.

 

[bjphoenix]

My neighbor's son graduated with a degree in computer engineering and is having a hard time finding a job. I thought there were plenty of jobs available related to computers but maybe not.

I've noticed that 4 somewhat local colleges are building health science buildings or medical education buildings. Have you considered teaching?

 

[Art Upton]

Health Science at the local Community are booming here. My EX got lots of dental work for almost free for the kids to work on her.

 

[Peartree]

Our daughter made $12 to $15 per hour (where the minimum wage was around $8) as an STNA (state certified nurses assistant) while s g e was in high school, then in nursing school. There's a huge demand for both STNAs and RNs. If you were an EMT or paramedic, the class for STNA should be easy and you should consider nursing school because the money is really good.

 

[spaceship<=>operator]

Stuff like html and css are a given these days.

If you’re looking for coding, learn a modern front-end framework like React or Vue and round it out with knowledge of modern JavaScript like ESX. And get familiar with GraphQL or other API frameworks.

 

[cerving]

My neighbor's son graduated with a degree in computer engineering and is having a hard time finding a job. I thought there were plenty of jobs available related to computers but maybe not.

I've noticed that 4 somewhat local colleges are building health science buildings or medical education buildings. Have you considered teaching?

All of the entry-level jobs are going offshore, they make pennies on the dollar compared to US coders. A lot of that movement has been fairly recent, so somebody that started their CS degree just a few years ago thinking that they'd be sitting pretty when they graduated may be finding out that it just ain't so.

If they're looking for a job opportunity, have them learn Cobol. Yes, Cobol. There are a lot of companies that have big $$$ invested in custom apps in Cobol, and they're not getting rid of them anytime soon. Web coders are a dime a dozen, not so much Cobol programmers.

 

[spaceship<=>operator]

All of the entry-level jobs are going offshore, they make pennies on the dollar compared to US coders. A lot of that movement has been fairly recent, so somebody that started their CS degree just a few years ago thinking that they'd be sitting pretty when they graduated may be finding out that it just ain't so.

If they're looking for a job opportunity, have them learn Cobol. Yes, Cobol. There are a lot of companies that have big $$$ invested in custom apps in Cobol, and they're not getting rid of them anytime soon. Web coders are a dime a dozen, not so much Cobol programmers.

Yep. I just got laid off from a company that is hiring coders in Brazil.

As for cobol, that’s not inaccurate but a little extreme. Learn cobol if you want to work on > 40 year old code.

 

[Bill S]

It seems that website design related fields are going to be very vulnerable to AI. Look into what careers are going to be fairly resistant to being replaced by AI.

I have this concern with my 15-year old son - what career field to go into, how not to waste a ton of money getting a degree that he won't be able to find a job in due to AI.

 

[NateB]

All of the entry-level jobs are going offshore, they make pennies on the dollar compared to US coders. A lot of that movement has been fairly recent, so somebody that started their CS degree just a few years ago thinking that they'd be sitting pretty when they graduated may be finding out that it just ain't so.

That is exactly what I was afraid is happening. Schools seem to lag behind the tech industry and with jobs moving off-shore, getting experience is more difficult.

It seems that website design related fields are going to be very vulnerable to AI. Look into what careers are going to be fairly resistant to being replaced by AI.

Just like factory automation. Using AI tools seems to be what is necessary for a future. I thought I was in a safe career aside from injury, but now I am not as certain.

I've noticed that 4 somewhat local colleges are building health science buildings or medical education buildings. Have you considered teaching?

Colleges around my parts are expanding medical education, there are 2 universities building or expanding facilities on our hospital campus right now.

At the same time, our hospital and others of similar size are laying off or not replacing non-clinical staff like educators and biomed equipment techs. They have also laid off department managers at satellite hospitals, making 1 person in charge of the same department in separate hospitals in different counties. Small rural hospitals are closing all together.

The path the medical industry is on right now is not sustainable. Schools are expanding because there is a large cohort of staff beginning to retire. Our population demographics are requiring more medical care, more staff, and more facilities but the finances are making it difficult. We are expected to do more and more with less resources.

 

[Ron Soto]

I have spent a good amount of time this year contemplating my future. The healthcare field is changing for worse. 20 years of EMS work takes a toll on one's body where I don't think I am capable of another 20 years. The downside to being so specialized is I don't have very many transferrable skills outside of what I already do. Fortunately, I have time to explore options for a plan B and no immediate need for a new job.

The only other education I have was starting web/graphic design degree before becoming a medic. I learned Basic/Visual Basic as well as HTML and CSS in high school in the late 90s, expanded to the fundamentals of Javascript, PHP, MySQL (including some regretful things with Flash and Actionscript) in the early 2000s.

Since then, I have not kept up with newer programming languages or commonly used frameworks, but I can relearn or learn. Given waves of layoffs from tech firms in the news, what direction is software or web development heading? For those who are involved in hiring, what languages and portfolio projects standout to make a recruit attractive?

i'm retired now. this said i was a stay-at-home-dad for 2 years.. i was a systems administrator working directly with the servers and routers for a global bank just prior to staying home. after being home for 2 years, that put me out of the systems admin. I ditched the whole coding (c++, SQL), admin/server/networking.. and became an RRC (think waterproofing consultant from below grade to roofing) and worked for architectural engineering companies. (this was no small feat.. the testing for the RRC is 4 hours long and a built-in failure rate of 35%. it took me about 14 months of studying after work and on weekends. it paid off though.. i got a big raise )

i started in computers in 1975 and rode that wave for 26 years.. for technology... you HAVE to keep learning, or get pushed aside by the newer / younger people coming up..

there is one thing though... i found that people that moved around from IT job to IT job got more money, and made it to a manager role much quicker than people who stayed at the same company for several years.

r-

 

[r1dermon]

I have spent a good amount of time this year contemplating my future. The healthcare field is changing for worse. 20 years of EMS work takes a toll on one's body where I don't think I am capable of another 20 years. The downside to being so specialized is I don't have very many transferrable skills outside of what I already do. Fortunately, I have time to explore options for a plan B and no immediate need for a new job.

The only other education I have was starting web/graphic design degree before becoming a medic. I learned Basic/Visual Basic as well as HTML and CSS in high school in the late 90s, expanded to the fundamentals of Javascript, PHP, MySQL (including some regretful things with Flash and Actionscript) in the early 2000s.

Since then, I have not kept up with newer programming languages or commonly used frameworks, but I can relearn or learn. Given waves of layoffs from tech firms in the news, what direction is software or web development heading? For those who are involved in hiring, what languages and portfolio projects standout to make a recruit attractive?

If you are into IT you may have some transferable experience in the growing medical Diagnostics field. I'm a field engineer and most of our skillset is fixing mechanical, chemical, or electrical issues with Diagnostics instruments. The field is becoming more and more integrated with Middleware, not to mention the functionality of the instruments themselves. Self diagnostics and onboard software functions for troubleshooting anything from electrical connections to assay chemistry issues, etc. We're looking for IT people to handle all of the IT side work that we don't have dedicated first level support for. Not to mention sometimes connectivity issues can be an all day affair, and require a semi-network engineer skillset, where most of the field is skilled in fixing mechanical failures, chemistry issues, electrical failures...etc. Could be a pursuit that is strongly correlated with your experience in the EMS world, and would provide you with a remote/hybrid work environment and work alongside many medical professionals you're used to seeing anyway. Just a thought.

 

[cls]

Nursing seems to pay well these days, especially traveling nurses, eye popping $/hour, but it's a lot of school to get there, and ... Nursing is physically demanding, just like EMT. Many nurses retire early with injuries, disabilities.

Don't confuse computer programming with IT. Do it if you enjoy it. Your previous experience puts you in with the basics, but all of that is not even in the rear view mirror anymore.

There will always be a place for local IT staff. That can't be offshored. But it's a treadmill. Always suffering with technical debt (unfixed bugs), always need to be learning the next thing (Azure ops for Win13 AD or whatever)... Always on, pager duty 24/7. Not a place for anyone from the caring professions!!

 

[jderimig]

Skip "coding". That will soon be dropped into the "trade" class of jobs except the job is tradeable offshore.

If you are going to learn a "trade", choose something like plumbing, electrical or welding. Good income and not able to be done offshore.

 

[loopy]

Another possible route is UI/UX design since you seem to have most of the visual aspect of it in hand. Entry level development positions are hard to find, it seems, but most of the design/requirements are still happening here. I know people with degrees in graphic design that are designing interfaces now.

 

[COSTransplant]

I've been helping mostly large defense contractors hire engineering folks for more than 20 years now. And I have to say (sorry), I have never helped a hiring manager find someone to work on Cobol. That said, I have helped alot of companies (recently) hire entry level folks that know Java, folks that know IT, folks that can do Cyber, folks that can work a help desk and / or monitor a system for alerts, etc. If you want a job -- in my opinion -- and you are just starting out / getting back into a technical role, learn hard cyber skills.

 

[BrettN]

20+ years of experience in tech (developer, admin/architect and now management). My experience is aligned with a lot of the comments above. Being able to write code is pretty much a given in most roles and a lot of that is being sent offshore anyway. In the corporate world where I have spent my career, I can say the shift is more towards looking for people who can understand business processes and implement technology to support those processes. Much of our stuff is moving to cloud platforms so the focus is more on finding people who can learn, implement and integrate those platforms whereas 10-15 years ago we had armies of developers building a bunch of custom stuff. I'm in the same boat as you, just going the opposite direction (looking to get away from tech at some point)