Is there any value to a CS degree at 50?

Re:Is there any value to a CS degree at 50? by brent_noorda on Wednesday December 18, 2013 @10:57PM (#6932778)

I'm your age, with a similar story, and completely understand where you're coming from. 25 years ago everybody wanted to hire me. Now it's depressing. I don't have a solution yet to getting hired into today's market where 6-figure income flow to kids performing skills it only took a few months to learn. Some ideas: (1) send your resume and practice interviewing with someone who will give you an honest respnose about why you're not getting offers (real companies won't give an honest response). (2) spend a couple of months putting up a free website on heroku with whatever are the "hot" products of the moment (arduino? raspbery? node? angular? go? mongo? zurb? etc...) then instead of a resume showing how old you are send a resume showing the stupid-but-well-paying stuff you can do with what's hot at the moment. (2a) put it all on github and show HN (3) go to meetups where the people you want to work with are and talk to them, show something in the lightning talk, and say you're looking for work. (4) go to hackers/founders things, buy beers, and say you're technical. (5) get tattoos, skinny jeans, and a skateboard, stop posting anything anonymously (nobody but old fogies believe in anonymity any more) and pretend you're only 20.

If ANY of those work, please let me know so I can follow my own advise.

As for school, only go if what you want to do is to learn more and if you think that's the way to learn.

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Re:Is there any value to a CS degree at 50? by random_user on Friday December 20, 2013 @10:43AM (#6941904)

Yup. Twenty-five years ago I could walk out of a job and into another within hours. Things change.

I've done the meetup thing. I'll say that most tech meetups have been a total waste of time. "I have an idea for <x>. Could you be my tech co-founder and build it for nothing?". Please.

The other aspect of meetups is that a lot of them are loud drinking parties. I don't drink. No, not some prudish thing. I just don't drink. The stuff doesn't attract me at all. And, of course, if I my intent is to meet people I kinda want to be able to hear them. So driving to a meetup an hour away, at a bar, with loud music and booze isn't my idea of something productive. Could be wrong.

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Re:Is there any value to a CS degree at 50? by brent_noorda on Friday December 20, 2013 @04:49PM (#6944274)

Tru dat (I'm feeling more youthful already, saying something like 'tru dat'), most of these networking things will not workout, but most of anything doesn't work out, maybe you have to do 100 for that 1% chance of a chance. Yes, the kinds of alcohol-based meetings your talking about aren't the best. I'd recommend instead the educational meetings, like user groups where people are giving talks showing off their latest use of X technology. E.G an arduino group, a python group, a goggles group, whatever tech floats your boat. The people in those kinds of meetups, in my experience, are more than not serious about the tech and not just looking for a drink.

Another thing I didn't mention is the personal email to someone at some company, being honest about some real connection why you and them should be together, not in response to a job listing but just in response to why you'd think they're a good fit, or praising them honestly on something they do. I at least tend to get responses, if nothing else, from these outside-the-box attempts.

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