Ask HN: Mid-life career crisis, need your help | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Mid-life career crisis, need your help

12 pointsat-fates-hands8 comments

The backstory:

I've been a "front-end developer" for the last 10 years or so. I'm quickly approaching my mid 40's. I've worked everywhere from small start ups to huge corporate gigs. All the roles I had were 100% HTML, CSS and JS (99% jQuery).

My problem:

About five years ago, I took a role at a large health care company. The first work they had me doing was AngularJs (brand new at the time - version 1.3), mixed with AEM (enterprise CMS) and Bootstrap. I was stoked, new JS framework just when everything was transitioning to full stack JS - this is exactly where I need to be! The project lasted 18 months. Then we lost the large government contract we were working on. The teams were all disbanded and pieced out to other teams. I was sent to another team which worked on portals. It was a 10-15 year old CMS. I was now back working with inline CSS, inline JS all over the place. I just kind of settled in to being a glorified content guy that fixes UI bugs. I just thought, "Well, this isn't the hardest job, so why rock the boat?"

This is where I am. Stuck in the middle of the road, during a pandemic that has everything shut down and nobody is hiring. Yes, I still have a job and a "career" but I'm not happy and I realize I need to do SOMETHING to find a more modern role where I can develop whatever skills I need to get out of this gutter I've slid into it. I realize this means taking a step down in pay, taking a step back from a senior level position to a mid or even entry level position. Aside from that, what other advice can you give me that will help get me to where I need to go? The last few weeks I've been focusing a lot on design tools - Sketch, InVision and Adobe XD. I LOVE working with JS, but I think the move to UX might be easier for me. I'm not adverse to putting in the time to hone my JS skills, but what other advice can you give me??

If you made this far, thanks for reading and any advice is always appreciated!

Forget side projects and all of that crap!

Apply, apply, apply.... Sent out 30+ applications for positions you are somewhat qualified for.

Polish your CV, make clear that you have EXPERIENCE and GETTING THINGS DONE.

When you get an invite to an interview, create a little project in React (or whatever framework they are using), follow best practices and publish it on GitHub.

I am freelancing for quite a bit, and what companies want are peopöe who get the job done and understand their business.

Demonstrate this. Everything else is just the cherry on top.

You can start learning React and Vue, but what you want is understandinh fundamentals about frontend work (which you probably have).

So yeah, apply everywhere until you have a foot in the door and take it from there!

Do you want to continue doing front end work or cease doing it? Could you learn/master React and add that to your portfolio?

Instead of switching quickly, consider picking an array of skills to develop that complement where you want to end up, and reposition yourself from "front end programmer" to user interface developer with experience across multiple libraries.

Don't allow anyone to con you into a lower level role, leverage what your skill set is for at minimum a lateral move if not a promotion.

Yes. Honing Javascript skills will land you better jobs. jQuery is not really used that much anymore. Angular demand is slowly declining and React is dominating. See https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=j...

If you want to hone your javascript, try a module I've created where I am trying to get people to quickly improve their JS skills (to where they can understand concepts such as callback, closure, arrow functions, ES5/ES6 syntaxes, etc): https://www.hackerhero.com/g/advanced-javascript-beta

Once you master these skills, then if you study React, I think a lot more jobs will open up for you. You can also use your updated JS language to learn Node.js and get familiar with Express. Also study socket.io to really study how socket is used, especially for building real time web applications.

Also beef up your resume by studying other tools such as LESS, SASS, Coffeescript, Typescript (and spend no more than a few hours on each of them). Beefing up your resume with more modern libraries will distinguish your resume from other resume that also state they know HTML, CSS, and jQuery.

Hope this helps.

Sounds like you need a side project! I have had one for years and it's great. I'm in charge and can make sure I use modern technologies and techniques.

I wrote about some of the benefits here: https://letterstoanewdeveloper.com/2019/08/02/personal-proje...

You know the core fundamentals of programming, and you simply need to be retrained. You may start with this basic JavaScript course to refresh your skills. If you are interested in learning more about training opportunities that could eventually land you to a better job, I will be happy to guide you.

Whenever I feel fear of failure, I watch this video, and it might help you too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkTf0LmDqKI

I think you should practice/hone your JS skills and bring them up to ES6/TypeScript level. I wouldn't bother learning another framework but instead focus on becoming highly proficient in the language details. I've been using executeprogram.com and have been real happy with how it is set up. Not sure if there are other options.

1. How about looking for a part-time job? It could be a single project.

2. Personal side projects could work too.

Same boat as you my friend :) I used to be a PHP developer now trying to transition to the JS world. I believe what we do from 8am to 5pm is the job but what we do from 5pm to 8am will move the needle. It is ok to start from scratch and let go because in 10 years from now your future self will thank you.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com