Career Advice/Help

[madcowdungbeetle]

So I'm not really sure how to post this, and I'm not the best at asking for help. Some of ya'll have met me in person at events or exchanged parts me, so I figured I would reach out since Defender owners are pretty connected.

After a really rough year in 2019 (anyone who ordered rock sliders from me already knows what a shit show of year this was for my girlfriend and I) I decided to leave my job doing Manufacturing Engineering to take a break and go back to school for Project Management, with the goal being to career pivot into the digital realm of IT/Software Development Project Management. So I went back to school, got my Project Management graduate certificate, took Lean Agile & Scrum release training classes.... and then Covid and all the fun it brought.

Long story short, I feel I have all the transferable skills, and I can learn anything I need to on the fly, but the one thing I lack is quantifiable IT/Software/Agile/Scrum experience on my resume, and it's been my Achilles' heel interviewing for jobs. So what I'm hoping to get out of this is to find an internship, even unpaid, but something to get me some practical experience and exposure that I can put on my resume. Any insights, thoughts, hilarious personal insults, career advice, or LinkedIn connections are greatly appreciated.

Thanks ya'll.

-Jon

https://www.linkedin.com/in/thejoncarter/

 

[RDavisinVA]

Jon:
Many of the municipalities take on IT interns and then try and keep them on a permanent basis with full time offers.
While municipal mediocrity isn't really your style, it will give you the experience you are lacking.

The other area to research is OSIsoft.
PI is one of the best kept secrets in the world of software development and engineering in the control system transducer data capture, storage, and manipulation realm.
Knowledge provides you with "your own ticket", especially if you know some GIS.

 

[Napalm00]

Sent you a connection request

 

[WoldD90]

Let's help Jon find a great opportunity. He is brilliant!

 

[galen216]

Sent a connection request. Pretty much did the exact same thing a few years ago. Are you willing to move?

 

[1of40]

John, look up Fluence Energy, LLC based in Arlington VA, just across the Potomac from DC.
We are a battery storage EPC company owned 50% by Siemens and preparing to go public. I’m their VP Tax but will help anyway I can if you see something they’re looking for that you like. We have project all over the world and every project has a couple PM’s so you never know.

 

[rocky]

Jon:
I sent you a linked in connection invite.
I’m not sure quite what a scrum master does. Yes I did play Rugby.

take some time to rework/update and refine your Linked in resume. Does it really reflect your abilities and your aspirations. Does it sell?
Linked in can be a fabulous job market. My own son has used it with great success.

Networking. There are many business to business networking groups out there. BNI, Network USA, meetup (get the app). Go attend their meetings, usually remotely, and take the opportunity to improve your pitch to prospective employers. They may not be there, but every time you sell yourself, you learn how to improve and get comfortable within your own skin explaining what you can do. You never know if one of the people could introduce you to a prospective employer.

if you are not laid off yet, get a home equity loan to ensure you have liquidity.

 

[RDavisinVA]

Chris:
I played second row and the eighth man in the scrum for about 7 years.

Jon:
Did you get a chance to look-up OSIsoft PI?

 

[LostChord]

Jon - don't know what a scrum master is either, but will send a linked in invite too. My world is not software development, but who knows what can happen. Our parent company is headquartered in NY, and they carry a fairly large corporate IT staff with a broad range of skill sets.

 

[Napalm00]

Scrum master is a product/project manager personal quality for "agile" style software development. It's like a certification someone hiring a product manager would look for in a junior/mid level employee.

Background: I am a product manager.

 

[rocky]

I played second row (lock) to Doug after being in the front row until about age 12. Too slow for #8.

 

[hillstrubl]

I might be able to help, I had a similar post on the other forum about 8 years ago and ended up being hired by Jonesy. I've been at Comcast (on my 4th position there with several promotions!) ever since. Sent you a connection request, can you DM me?

 

[madcowdungbeetle]

First of all I want to thank all of ya'll for your thoughts, opinions, support, and LinkedIn connections. This is a great community, and I've got to thank Scott Wold for encouraging me to reach out. I've got some DM's and emails to send to some guys from this board. I'll be doing that tonight and tomorrow AM.

Robert: I did look at OSIsoft PI, and I'm going to dig deeper the next couple days. On the periphery it reminds me of the Emerson Delta-V software I've used in the past when I was doing Industrial Automation work.

Rocky: As far as my LinkedIn profile goes, I know I need to work on it some more. I'm still figuring how to "sell" myself and "tell my story." I was going to all the local Agile and Project Management meetups here in Charlotte and I was gaining traction fairly quickly. I was amazed at how supportive people were of my career pivot and I actually surprised myself as to how quickly people were beginning to recognize me and reach out to me, I made several contacts that I keep up with and talk to regularly and I honestly think had Covid not happened I would have landed something already. I recently have started doing the Zoom and online meetups, so we'll see if I can get some of my momentum back. Unfortunately a home equity loan isn't a possibility for me at this time.

 

[chris snell]

I've been working for Internet tech companies for over 25 years now. I'm a principal SRE for a large San Francisco-based public company that some of you may use daily. I've been around the block a few times with this industry. Most of my jobs came from networking and word-of-mouth.

For tech jobs, I recommend Hacker News's Who's Hiring and Who Wants to be Hired posts. On the morning of the first of every month (or Monday, if the first falls on a weekend), they put up a pair of posts for users to post their job openings and job-wanted ads, free of charge. There are many quality companies posting here and I've used it to find candidates and find a new job for myself.

Before 1 Sept (when the next one happens), spend some time reading last month's post to get the vibe of the audience and an idea of the tone of the postings so that you don't look like an outsider when you post up.

HN is an excellent resource for you if you want to join this industry. I read it daily.

Another piece of advice for you is to begin to acquire some technical skills. You're an engineer, so it shouldn't be a huge leap for you. In terms of tech, there are a bunch of directions you can go but I would strongly advise you to consider either software engineering (SWE), site reliability engineering (SRE), or or solutions engineering (SE). Those are three areas that pay well and will still be viable in five years. Stay away from IT careers and low-level web app development (i.e. learn-to-code Javascript and Node.js bootcamps). Those fields are actively being replaced by automation and no-code platforms.

It is possible to teach yourself these skills. I am completely self-taught, with a degree in Geography. It just takes hard work, dedication, and faith in yourself. In fact, I've had to re-invent myself twice during my career when the industry changed. Teach yourself to learn quickly and stay abreast of trends and you'll get there.

If you're desperate for some income, another avenue is building websites for people. It's not huge money (at least initially) like the SWE and SRE fields, but it has a fairly low barrier to entry and just takes some ability to learn, some drive, and some hustle. For this, I recommend learning a tool like Webflow. Webflow will let you design and build high-quality sites for people graphically. They have an incredible set of tutorials that will get you going and building in no time. Once you get good at it, you can build and host sites for your customers through the platform. (disclaimer: I am a former Webflow employee)