[RESOLVED] Career Advice...

[osulliga]

I feel like I am up against a wall in the development field with only an Associates Degree that has some CIS classes attached to it (VB6). Each of the classes I took were basically entry level classes.

Currently, I am a project assistant on a systems team for a large healthcare organization(so basically I am at the bottom of the totem pole) and was originally hired for frontline support and getting access to websites for the office staff. However, since they hired another pa, I transferred most of those duties to another person and moved to report production and development with Crystal and scripting (Windows, Web, and Term Emulators) with a program that utilizes VBA on the backend.

I have designed a few scripts with this application(Boston Workstation) one of which has been rolled out to our office to pull scanned documents after gathering data from our billing system and is estimated to save up to 3 FTE/month for our office. I have also automated reporting processes that used to take several hours and have it down to 10 to 15 min a piece.

I know my ticket to higher places will likely be through experience as I don't have time or money to get a BS. Due to my title, I don't get the tools that our lead developer has and therefore I have a ceiling that I will eventually hit.

So basically, what I was hoping to gather from all of you is some guidance and if someone with very little education(pretty much self taught) in development can move up. I know that I have the ability to be a pretty good developer, but just need the opportunity to prove my worth.


Thank you in advance,


Garrett

[GaryMazzone]

ll I have is AS also.... I got started with out that even.... I volunteered for any project that any one in the department wanted.

I started with a DBIII app they wanted developed... then another project that the IT group did not have the people to work... again I volunteered for an Oracle app that the IT department wanted nothing to do with.

I bought the tools I needed on my own.... I have never looked back or regretted by choice to move job paths... I'm making a very good salary now and am basically self taught. Although now I'm more of a DBA then a full time developer.

[osulliga]

Thank you for the response. That is basically what I am doing now, just taking whatever project that the lead developer either didn't want to do or had to work on something else.

The scanned document pulling script was one that was identified as "big win", but the priority was low and I took the predecessor which had basically been sunsetted due to a lot of incompatibilities with other apps that most of our staff couldn't use it. I was able to eliminate the compatibility issues and added functionality to pull another type of doc that was previously unreachable.

It was liked enough that other departments in our organization were requesting it for their staff. So that feels pretty good.

How long did it take you to ascend to where you were getting paid for what you actually do?

Thanks again.

[NeedSomeAnswers]

Download your self a free copy of one of the .Net Express editions. Either VB.Net or C# would be good !

VB is an old language, and moving forward it would be good for you to learn a newer language. There are plenty of tutorials on the Internet (and even on this site - in the various FAQ sections) which can help you to learn.

Dont worry about being bottom of the food chain everyone's got to start somewhere, but if your work is not helping you progress then maybe you should look to help yourself !

[GaryMazzone]

Don't go by me I've been at this for over 20 years now. But it took about 2 years of doing the pick up work before I started doing it all the time.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I agree with NSA, especially his last line. I have an MS....in biology. Took some time to crack into coding as full time work (before that, it was a different kind of cod). I had written several programs that lots of people used, and that ultimately counted as experience and allowed me to apply for a position that otherwise I had no paper qualifications for.

On the other hand, if you work for a large organization where individuals rarely get noticed, that may not work.

[techgnome]

I too only have a lowly BS and only by the grace of the Air Force... my job training was converted into credits. Like gary, I've been at this for around 20 years as well. Professionaly I had some stagnation at my last job (which I had for 9 years) ... using VB6 that whole time. But I never let that stop me. I made sure that I learned .NET (both C# and VB) on my own, I made sure I stayed on top of trends (even if I never use or learn them, I am aware of them). That is what got me where I am. When I was laid off 18 months ago, I was sure my lack of degree was going to be a problem. But through my determination and the fact that I kept learning new things even though my job didn't require it, helped. It gets harder and harder to keep up with the new stuff, but as long as you have a direction and know where you want to go, keep at it. In 5 years I plan to have my supervisor's job. He's doing the things I want to do. I've even told him as much. Now it's paying off in spades. I'm getting a chance to join a team that's doing things I've been trying to do for years at my last job. Eventually it's going to take me out of doing development day to day, but it's a step up from where I want to be.

-tg

[osulliga]

Gary, that was the answer I was looking for. I am about a year or so into my various development/automation projects.

Shaggy, that is my exact issue. I work for an organization that is in a hiring freeze. It came at a time where a manager of one of the development teams was looking for me to shadow this web engineer for a few weeks because she liked my scripting background because all of the other candidates for this other web engineer position didn't have any. Would have been about 67% increase from where I am now. Now it is ALL dried up.

NSA, I have the express editions for the .Net languages, but haven't had any projects come my way that would utilize those applications and I haven't thought of any on my own thus far. I have been told that C# is the way to go as there are more of those jobs than vb.net. I personally would like to learn both. I have also dabbled with HTML, javascript, and vbscript at home.

Techgnome, I have my goal too, and that is to be 3rd coming of Jesus (to my company). The current developer is widely seen as the 2nd coming. I have tried things like going on CraigsList to look for low pay or no pay gigs that will get me the experience that I crave, but even those are hard to come by.

[techgnome]

Try developer.com or rentacoder.com if you want low paying contract gigs...

-tg

[osulliga]

That is awesome, thank you for those sites. I will definitely check those out when I am not at work.

[dee-u]

Or guru.com.