Picking up programming after a lengthy time out.

Has anyone here ever tried to pick up programming of any kind after spending years not doing any at all? It doesn't matter what kind of programming, I'm just asking generally about getting back into computing really.

I graduated in Computing around 10 years ago and haven't touched any sort of programming since, but I'm in a job which isn't secure and I'm thinking that I perhaps should try to increase my employment prospects.

I've had a look at some old HTML and C+ assignments (that I wrote), and I couldn't understand a single word.

I'm not entirely sure what I'm asking, but maybe some feedback on what it was like for you going back to programming and how fast you picked it back up, if at all.

It certainly wasn't like riding a bike for me.

Programming is not a secure career these days, why pay someone in the UK 30k+ when you can get someone abroad to do it for 20% of that?

Ok, ask yourself this question. Do you think that the UK market is now asking for programmers? I don't think so. The IT personnel who exists now and the kind of work they have to deal with is actually more related to sustaining and troubleshooting. There may or may not be some developments, but there are few software houses in this country alone.

I think it is better if you enter the world of analysis and system analysis or even business analysis and project management. You can try and be a tester, which is more structured and it possibly helps.

I also am in the process of gutting out my own book shelf. I will probably keep quite a few books to be honest. I mean, the work that I did at university still has such a strong relevance even in my work now. I could not believe the lack of understanding and knowledge amongst my colleagues. But to be absolutely fair, what you will find is that, the decision never falls on you to decide and to design. It is always what the customer wants, the customer shall get. Just deliver, even if you think that the technical solution is bad. Just deliver it.

When I was at uni, I learnt about Zachmann Framework, business process re-engineering, business stimulation, business processes. This is still relevant today, as companies shrink and expand. IT professionals have to deal with such areas. I would actually go ahead and familiarise yourself with Zachmann. Once you understand this, you can always trace and track where the industry is moving towards, and I can assure you that it will indeed shift and changes too. Navigating the hiring processes, and convincing others that you can do the work is half the work in this industry, as the hiring people has no idea, and there has been a lot of bad press too. I would also definitely encourage you to hide in a more reputable IT consultancy if you can. Forget being inside an IT department of a company, cos you won't learn, and you will be treated ever so badly. If they can find a scapegoat, they will pin it on you. You will be so surprised at what people do to save their own asses. Unless you get lucky. If you are inside a consultancy, at least you are treated with far more respect, and with far more appreciation as your colleagues may also have similar backgrounds.

What you will also find is that, the industry also has been broken up such that, many individuals actually have their own companies to do outsourced work for larger and complex setups. The company themselves should have the master architecture, and create project plans based off that. There will always be work because government, or certain banking work can never be outsourced abroad. But it definitely does mean that you got to work your ass off.

If you want jobs, consider getting into BI now. Anybody who watched the industry always knew that would be the next phase of work to come out of the woodwork. IBM many moons ago stated that SOA is the way. Now that most companies are quite global, and to stay competitive, what do you do ? You mine your data. For me, I am in the area of sustaining data entry point. I've always stayed with distribution, manufacturing and corporate finances. Check out IBM's website. As well as Accenture's, or Deloitte's site. Consider BI work. Which means learn SQL. Learn how data is linked together and the table's relationships. Run and check how to abstract large sets of data. Do some prediction yourself, and play around with that. The other area to consider is securities. You may as well consider getting properly qualified. As this is in demand, but it still requires you to have a great understanding about the underlying tables and relationships and how to separate and segregate data or processes.

---------- Post added 11-02-2014 at 20:38 ----------

Also, read articles like this too.

http://www.contractoruk.com/news/0011384it_contractor_demand_rockets_15_year_high.html

This is actually quite inaccurate. A lot of IT professionals can and do know BI. They can run SQL commands and extract datas. There is a large discrepency between what HR thinks a person can do, and what IT professionals have been doing.

What I recommend you also do is to structure your CV in a way which shows which technology and skill you have done and at what level. This shows the other person a clearer picture of your skillset.

e.g.

SQL - basic level

C++ - intermediate level

Unix - Advanced level

BI - Cognos, Hyperion, Business objects

Ok, ask yourself this question. Do you think that the UK market is now asking for programmers? I don't think so.

Hmm, I guess I must be imagining these annoying recruitment agents ringing me offering jobs even when I've told them I'm not interested.

Programming is a sought after skill. If it weren't, the government would have more people opposing it's view to try and get more Computer Science/programming in schools, rather than the "IT" view of just how to use ICT/Office applications. People are still looking for good developers, rather than having to outsource to different places and then potentially losing control of a project, or having it go awry because of communications failures/issues trying to convey a potential solution.

Yes, I've had major skills gaps myself, but it is possible to get back the knowledge after some revision, it's just like anything and will take some work on your part.

HTML/CSS are scripting languages and will probably be easier for you to pick up again than C++. Javascript, whilst a scripting language, has certain traits that are akin to programming languages and may act as a bridge between the two worlds.

All languages progress and evolve, but to some extent the core fundamentals remain the same. A loop is a loop, a variable is a variable, an integer is an integer etc etc. Get a good grounding in the fundamentals and it then becomes easier to transfer these skills to more easily learn other programming languages. e.g it should be easier to learn Java if you've a good grounding of C, as sometimes one language is based off of another as a derivative, to optimise for a certain set of goals.

Hmm, I guess I must be imagining these annoying recruitment agents ringing me offering jobs even when I've told them I'm not interested.

As I said they are outsourced pieces of work from the banking industry. Other than this alone, UK does not have many software houses. Even if there are developments for proprietary software, they are far and few between, or that they already have their coders within the business themselves.

Are you telling me that he should enter a saturated market than to enter a new area in the tech world itself ? Which way would you advice someone like himself, who wants to enter back into the industry ?

http://www.jobsite.co.uk/jobs/it/software-developer 461 jobs available

http://www.theitjobboard.co.uk/IT-Jobs/Software-developer/United-Kingdom/all/0/relevance/en/ 4481 jobs available

Thats just from a two second google queiry for UK software development jobs. There's probably plenty of others that haven't listed like that, as lots of places approach Universities as a first port of call to try and get fresh faced students that they may not have picked up bad coding habits, and they may be able to get stuff done cheaper by them if they haven't got so much experience 'in the field'

To say the jobs aren't available is a fallicy - you just have to know what people want and where to look.

I knew someone would do this. I also scanned too. Why can't people just trust what others say rather than to dispute ?

http://www.theitjobboard.co.uk/IT-Jobs/C%252B%252B/all-locations/all/0/relevance/en/?source=Search&Page=8&Currency=GBP

C++ , 427 jobs. I also skimmed, and filtered those wannabe agencies. Narrowed down to a few credible ones. Only a handful left. I skimmed through them, and can see majority are related to the banking industry, and their settlement systems, and the different tiers. They hire and fire as they churn over staff. Their industry is one that is volatile and that is why you will always see the jobs back online. They are the same jobs but that their rotation level is high. I know, cos I do have friends in this industry. Most of my friends who want a family will stay away from those jobs now. Cos it is the same set of jobs, and they will indeed also hire and fire easily as and when, and if you can or cannot deliver. It is quite a complex setup, and I do encourage a new starter to stay away from such areas, unless they also have some ideas or understanding of settlement systems. If they want to work in the banking industry, then I also encourage them to hide within the actual software house which creates the settlement system themselves. e.g. Wilco, or Fidessa etc. I know all this is because I have interviewed with them before as a graduate. I ended up in the ERP field instead.

Excuse me, but if you check that 4482 jobs list. A handful of them are these dummy agencies which are putting the adverts online but they do not have the actual contract with the company themselves. If you also check, your search term software developer picked other "developer" adverts. I saw some SAS ones. They are BI jobs. If you notice, there is an actual confusion even by the recruiter themselves as to what is classed as a true developer to what is a report writer/developer.

As a rule of thumb, I am more careful now and I do read the advert to see if it was written by a technical personnel or not. How they word the terms and the job role actually speaks volume of the level of technical expertise and understanding within the actual company itself.

Thanks all. Plenty of things to mull over.

I've pretty much done most things. Programming, networking, database design etc. I don't really mind what area I get into as long as it's realistic and preferably cost effective to (re)learn. Ie I haven't got the equipment to practice networking and I doubt Packet Tracer will cut it.

You do not need to relearn. Just send your CV through. I would suggest that you aim for a support role first before you work backwards into development.

As doing this can allow you to see the various different types of systems being used in the industry that you choose. Also, consider aiming for a particular industry first. Whether this is banking, FMCG, Pharma, etc etc. You will find that they all used different kind of systems. Working on a helpdesk for such a large company will expose you to a good understanding of the actual software itself. You will also be able to tell then what kind of code made these systems. It also helps if you know the architecture, as then you will know whether you need to know and learn programming, and what kind of language is used within which industry.

http://www.theitjobboard.co.uk/IT-Job/Developer/9171914/en/?xc=247&ClientId=2536574&ClientName=HMRC&source=search

Take the above job role for example. It is one of the few entities who have a structured development team. As in the advert, it states many different programming language to make integration work, but what you will find is that, you only need certain lines or the ability to edit existing codes, or modify it slightly, rather than to write from scratch too. It is often more about sustaining jobs and slight modification than writing the codes from scratch. Even though an advert like that seems daunting, but the fact that it states these languages can also allow you to ascertain their architecture as well. This advert is one of the better ones as it states which position handle which area of the development function.

The roles that I have been in has been classed as system analysts/business analysts/application support/european support/distribution support. But in reality, they by the vendor's training, actually includes at least 5 roles, but each section only touches like 20%. So, it does pay to work on a helpdesk (as 2nd or 3rd tier) to understand the architecture before deciding which way to go.