
Ask HN: When is it time to change jobs? - rbiter
I&#x27;m currently in a position where I&#x27;m well compensated and doing enjoyable work in a fairly stress free, relaxed environment. However, most of the development is being done in languages and frameworks (C++ &#x2F; Qt) that feel increasingly isolated from what most job openings are looking for (web &#x2F; app &#x2F; server development).<p>I&#x27;ve been in my current position for almost three years. The company seems relatively stable so I could (and wouldn&#x27;t mind) staying for the next 5-10, but I&#x27;m concerned that might effectively kill my career.  Is there a point at which I&#x27;ve been using older technologies for so long that it would be difficult &#x2F; impossible to get a different type of job without essentially having to re-train myself?
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nostrademons
Yes, there's a point where it gets very difficult to get a new job without
retraining yourself. When I started programming professionally in 2000, the
hot frameworks were Java Swing 1.3 and MFC 6.0. I could probably get a job in
these, but there's about zero chance it would be doing cutting-edge stuff, or
even anything other than maintenance programming. C++ & QT is probably in this
category already.

If you have an adequate cash cushion and accept the need for it, though, re-
training is not that scary. Six months and you can come up to speed with
whatever the latest hotness is, and then you'll have a leg up on new grads
(because you've seen all the ways software projects can fail) _and_ on
grizzled hires who don't have experience with the latest tech.

The tech industry moves fast enough that it's not always worth staying at the
bleeding edge. Jump to the bleeding edge when you retrain, and use the time in
the middle to work on soft skills and things that don't change as rapidly,
like back-end development, domain knowledge, and fundamental CS. You can save
a lot of time by skipping technology generations entirely.

~~~
jensv
What are hot skills that are currently in high demand? Would you look to
programming bootcamps to get a pulse on market?

~~~
nostrademons
I actually think that coding bootcamps lag the market a little; many of them
are still teaching Rails, which at this point is old (yet dependable)
technology.

I'd look to what new startups are hiring for, as well as certain companies
(eg. Netflix) that are known to adopt technologies rapidly. Right now, that
tends to be native mobile (both Android and iOS), React, Go, AWS, Node.js,
Babel/ES6. MBaaS providers like Parse and Firebase seem to be taking over from
traditional databases. Docker is hot on the devops side. Hardware is getting
hot, which is an entirely different skillset from software.

