Carreer change advice

Hello All,

Im just looking for some careers advice rather than a job,

I am currently a controls engineer meaning I program PLC (Programmable logic controllers). These operate machinery. They are mostly programmed in a low level scripting language or ladder logic. However this is becoming a fairly small part of my work. Mostly what I do now is I program the graphical interface for these devices. (in order to let the operator control the machine) this is done using various applications by companies such as siemens and are not used outside of the industrial sector.
However, these applications have a VB and C thread so I have spent a lot of my time programming Ansi-C and VB. I also use other Pascal type scripting languages.

My query is what would I need to do to make the transition from my current field to becoming an application developer in either C or VB?

My main hurdle I would imagine will be my lack of certificates. I did a BTEC in IT at college and a HNC in plant and processing which wont count for much. I am 27 and I have been working in this field for around 9 years. Also I don’t have much knowledge of anything web based. I can set up a website etc but not much more since the industrial systems don’t usually connect to the net.

Any help appreciated.

Stuart

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Originally Posted by Stu_Cyrus

Im just looking for some careers advice rather than a job

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Then your thread is better placed here. :)

Moved To General Developer

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My main hurdle I would imagine will be my lack of certificates.

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Get some then :) You can buy an exam book on VB.NET or C#.NET for about £30 and then take an official MS exam on the subject for about £60 (I think) and voila, you are now a certified developer. The main reason to do this other than for the certificate though is because you would learn a fair bit from doing it.
I think it is worth you getting at least one qualification but just like most jobs, people are more bothered about experience than certificates and i think the fact that you have got some experience in programming (even if its not the exact area of programming that you are trying to get a job in) will help a bit.

At the same time consider that this has become a crowded job market, with many people having multiple years of experience looking for work. This has let low-balling predators enter the field, pulling down wages and lowering working conditions. Web development is the low-rent district of the field.

There is work to be had if you are willing to share an apartment with 3 other people to make a go of things. ;)

You might think about sticking to development for embedded systems. There is less competition there than in general data processing development.

You might also want to consider getting some database developer experience/certification. That way you can learn working with databases and SQL along with procedural language of database you chose (PL/SQL for Oracle, T-SQL for SQL Server) without having to worry as much, or rather immediately, about myriad front-end/reporting technologies.

Front-end tech comes and goes... database tech is mature and can be used across industries.

That's a good point from leinad31. Also, database design and management are a very well payed jobs, especially Oracle experts.

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Originally Posted by baja_yu

That's a good point from leinad31. Also, database design and management are a very well payed jobs, especially Oracle experts.

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yeah but they are well paid jobs because its not easy to just read a couple of books on the subject and then really know what you are doing.

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Originally Posted by chris128

yeah but they are well paid jobs because its not easy to just read a couple of books on the subject and then really know what you are doing.

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True if you are referring to DBA. But there is a niche you can capitalize on if you are willing... who will act as liason between DBA and Systems Development especially for post development tuning and minor enhancement purposes? SA often already out of the picture, and this is not something support should be doing on a regular basis (development, SA, and QA are not performing their jobs well if such were the case), they can just endorse it back to development

You don't need to know backup/recovery, installation, patching, physical, etc aspects of database... just the logical, design, and optimization related aspects. And development will be more aligned with best practices and proper interaction with database.

I'd disagree with Chris about the certs (sorry, Chris:)). He's not wrong but my experience has been that they're alot more expensive than that and they're surprisingly easy to fail on minor technical issues. That said, any cert is an extra string to your bow and it might be worth giving it a try if you can afford to (potentially) lose the money.

On the other hand Chris is 100% right in this statement:-

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people are more bothered about experience than certificates and i think the fact that you have got some experience in programming (even if its not the exact area of programming that you are trying to get a job in) will help a bit

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The only ammendment I'd make is that it won't just help a bit, it'll help ALOT.

Also, you're asking the wrong question. You've asked how to make the transition to an app developer but I'd say you already are one. If you've ever written code that achieves a goal then you're an application developer. Really you should be asking "how do I get someone to pay me as an application developer". For that I'd refer you to my posts in this thread. The approach I advocate there is free and really does work.