Reply to: Coming back into IT - Your thoughts please

[sasguru]

To answer your question:

Don't.
Next ...

[RobWoz]

I'm surprised Fleetwood hasn't picked up on your doomed marriage to spout his usual wife-hating tirade that he manages to turn nearly all threads towards!

Oooo! Is that so? Maybe he'll turn up later with that.

Well, in my case I'm quite lucky. My ex-wife is a great mum. Something I've always been thankful for.

[ladymuck]

I'm surprised Fleetwood hasn't picked up on your doomed marriage to spout his usual wife-hating tirade that he manages to turn nearly all threads towards!

[DaveB]

What a great bunch of folk in this forum! Very encouraging indeed. But where are the decenters? Does anyone have the opposite view? It's often difficult to post to a thread with a negative comment, when everyone else is trying to be supportive. But I want to avoid false hope. Right now, after your collective posts, I'm feeling pretty good about my chances. But kind-minded people do tend to have that effect.

Rob

Anyone know who he's talking to? Doesnt sound like anyone we know here.

btw. Dissenters.

[RobWoz]

...I was out of contracting for 3 years, and I managed to get back in (if you regard VB6 as old hat, try getting back in with IBM iSeries and RPG - think "green screen" and "text editor")... ...I picked up an old AS/400 on EBAY for £50... ...I've now been back in for six months, and hope it keeps going.

That is truly amazing hattra. I clearly remember the AS400's because there were a couple of them sitting next to the Wang VS12000 that I worked on when I first started contracting (1996). I never envied the AS400 boys from a technology point of view because the dev environment on Wang (called PACE) was excellent in comparision I thought. But Wang was dying off while AS400 was going strong. Then the UNIX boxes came in and everyone's apple cart went over.

I hope you're good fortune continues hattra, I really do. Thanks for your input.

What a great bunch of folk in this forum! Very encouraging indeed. But where are the dissenters? Does anyone have the opposite view? It's often difficult to post to a thread with a negative comment, when everyone else is trying to be supportive. But I want to avoid false hope. Right now, after your collective posts, I'm feeling pretty good about my chances. But kind-minded people do tend to have that effect.

Rob

[hattra]

Just keep plugging away.....

... and make sure your CV matches the job spec as closely as possible. I was out of contracting for 3 years, and I managed to get back in (if you regard VB6 as old hat, try getting back in with IBM iSeries and RPG - think "green screen" and "text editor"). I'd kept my skills reasonably sharp (I picked up an old AS/400 on EBAY for £50) and I was back up to commercial speed within a couple of weeks. During my time out I also worked from home as a self-employed PC Support techy (advertising in the local small ads), so I could show that I was still actively involved in IT and told the interviewers about how it was a lifestyle choice, so I could have more time with the family. Some companies respect that, others think you're mad. I've now been back in for six months, and hope it keeps going.

Now I've got to upgrade my skills as well.

Where's that VB6 manual... . . . .

[RobWoz]

Just wanted to wish you good luck with the job hunting Rob, one thing to remember, you obviously have good comms skills, that coupled with a little bit of bully re: past history, you should have no trouble getting back into IT.....just don't take no for an answer and don't turn your nose up at something if offered. You really need to get that CV and experience back up to date. Good luck mate.

Thanks man! I appreciate that very much :-))

Where in the UK are you looking for work?

Anywhere in Yorkshire will do. I'm right in the middle of all the ridings (as they used to be known). In the past I've worked in Birmingham, Wolverhamption, Coventry, Glasgow, Edinburgh, plus the odd visit to Londinium :-) So as long as I can cover my expenses Ok, anywhere is acceptable to me, always has been.

[DimPrawn]

Where in the UK are you looking for work?

[lORD lUCAN]

Just wanted to wish you good luck with the job hunting Rob, one thing to remember, you obviously have good comms skills, that coupled with a little bit of bully re: past history, you should have no trouble getting back into IT.....just don't take no for an answer and don't turn your nose up at something if offered. You really need to get that CV and experience back up to date. Good luck mate.

[RobWoz]

vb6 is fine .... i read recently that things are at 50/50 at the moment between 6 and .net... ...You sound a little lacking in confidence tbh... which is understandable but not appropriate.
Sing it like you mean it.. and good luck.

Absolutely right! I do lack confidence at present, but I'm a confident person by nature. If you can see that in what I wrote, it only because I wanted to get the true picture to you. But when I'm in an interview, I do just what you suggested there.

SQL Server and VB6 not very marketable because of its close association to Windows. With the SQL have you linked it to any other language ? ... ...try DB2 (Seen a contract on Jobserve recently for 11000 per month for DB2 role) or Embedded C they are more niche and will lead to greater rewards.

The problem with 'niche', apart from the obvious, is that you are usually up against better quality candidates. Particularly in the case you suggest of DB2, which is an area I have no knowledge at all.

Do you really mean that? about 'SQL Server and VB6 not very marketable'? Oh, I think you meant that combination.

[RobWoz]

Cool good luck with it mate and let us know how you get on. I'm doing app development with vb6 and vb scripting for a bank so it's not dead.

Thanks for the good wishes Joe, and AlfredJPruffock. Not dead huh? That is interesting. I think reading that has done me some good. I don't want to waste more time pursuing something that won't happen though. I've done enough of that these last years. Still, 'not dead' is encouraging.

Don't think that I'm hoping to sit in a VB6 contract for months and not progress. I want to bring my skills up-to-date. In my past experiences I've found that you can go in with a legacy skill and come out with a current one. That's how I got VB (v4 I think it was at the time). I went in on cobol and 4GL and came away with VB. I'm sort of hoping that can happen again. I've already done a lot of ground-work with .net. Studied it a lot. But I don't list it as a skill because I've no commercial experience in it.

Rob

[Bitbucket]

Thanks for the advice Bitbucket, but will anyone call? that's the question. Is VB6 still a marketable skill? OK, SQL Server is timeless, but what about VB6?

Rob

I have just agreed 425 per day on a C++ contract.

SQL Server and VB6 not very marketable because of its close association to Windows. With the SQL have you linked it to any other language ?

If its pure Windows environment then you will have your work cut out , I would start to look at other avenues by studying an alternative whilst your looking , try DB2 (Seen a contract on Jobserve recently for 11000 per month for DB2 role) or Embedded C they are more niche and will lead to greater rewards.

[kramer]

vb6 is fine .... i read recently that things are at 50/50 at the moment between 6 and .net (although sliding rapidly)
and of course SQL is a perenial favourite so get gunning.You sound a little lacking in confidence tbh... which is understandable but not appropriate.
Sing it like you mean it.. and good luck.

[Joe Black.]

Thanks for the advice Bitbucket, but will anyone call? that's the question. Is VB6 still a marketable skill? OK, SQL Server is timeless, but what about VB6?

Rob

I'm doing app development with vb6 and vb scripting for a bank so it's not dead.

[AlfredJPruffock]

You could always say you worked in a Data Warehouse.

Good Luck whatever you do ... and remember ... Nothing really matters.

PS I think warehouse work could be more satisfying than IT office
work.