Career dilemma

[mizee]

I am in a dilemma.

I have a 5 years plus plus experience in VB6 but less than 2 years in VB.Net. Currently I'm maintaining a legacy system in VB6 and 1 or 2 small project in dot net. I'm earning about 4.5K

My problem is I've been attending interviews everywhere for a .net developer position but got rejected. This is because with an expected salary 4.6 or 4.7K they are expecting some1 like a team leader who can lead the .net developer team. For sure with a less than 2 years experience in .net I'm not qualified for that position.

What should I do?? Am I supposed to downgrade my expected salary to less than 4K ??? to a maybe 3.5K in order for me to start as a junior developer .. although I have more than 5 years experience in VB6 programming? or is there any other way for me to maintain my salary but at the same time get hired for a .net job???

I'm a bit worried if I'll get stuck doing VB6 for another 5-10 years. What will happen to me if all the legacy systems are migrated to a new language such as .net or java? I don't think any company would want to hire some1 who's earning 6K but little knowledge on .net .. I guess it'd save them a lot if they just hire a junior for less than 3K right?

[RobDog888]

Is that a per month rate?
What is your country/state as location may be a factor.

[mizee]

Is that a per month rate?
What is your country/state as location may be a factor.

Rob .. that's per month .. for Malaysia.

In this country .. fresh grad would be getting less than 2.3K and if you are very lucky u'll get 2.7K. Less than 3.5K for a not senior and not junior .. and more than a 4.5K for a senior/team leader

[RobDog888]

Ok. What you may want to be looking for is a company that works with both and is working on migrating their apps over to .NET. You can be a valuable asset knowing both and in aiding the migration. There are still alot of companies using older active VB6 apps but also have new apps written in .NET. This will give you time to get deeper into .NET too.

Also consider that you need to present yourself as an asset with that experience as 1/2 of programming is logic and logic is generic. Different programming languages may be summerized as just different syntax but the design, logic, and flow are all universal

[FunkyDexter]

It's a tricky one. To be honest I think there's a failing in the companys' selection criteria here. I'd argue that a devloper with 7 years experience including 2 years of .net is likely to be far more valuable than someone with e.g. 4 years of .net and nothing else. As Rob says, logic (and good practices) are universal. As far as syntax and language subtleties are concerned, 2 years of .net should be plenty to learn 99% of what you'd need to do, and you've got VBF to cover the other 1%

That doesn't really help you though, if the recruiters want that much .net experience then that's what they want so you need to find a way of dealing with it. I think I'd still attend senior dev interview and see if you can make the argument above (you never know, you might come across an enlightened interviewer) but I'd also be prepared to take a hit for a more junior role if you find you can't move into .net any other way. Realistically, the clock is already ticking on your VB6 career. There'll be legacy work around for ages yet but it's likely to be less and less well paid as time goes on.

[mendhak]

I'd take the hit to be able to move away from VB6 if my situation was favorable enough for me to take on the lower salary. Else, continue the search.

[oceanebelle]

In the name of career advancement (in this case programming) it is suitable to weigh options and decide what matters to you most. If you think that delving into an entirely new direction (like a new language for instance) is the right way to do it, then go for it no matter what the cost is.

Like for instance, I interviewed one girl that really wanted to become a technical writer because she just discovered her passion for writing and wants to further enhance that skill. She applied for said position despite having a degree in Accounting and practising that for 7 years already. It's a totally new world she's immersing herself in. She has no prior experience in computers (except clerical) and in systems development and analysis but despite that she was willing to go for it even if that means her salary will go down by 25% - 30%. She has totally discarded the Accounting path now and her license left at the side and she's now full time logic engineer. In the entire year of working with her she seems quite happy and contented.

So I suggest, just know what do you think is best for you and stand by that decision.