
Lateral entry to programming? - kamekame
 -1
down vote
favorite<p>I studied medical engineering and worked three years as an engineer and want to go into programming now. In two days I am unemployed again. Therefore I need a new job.<p>I wrote a lot of applications, but the companies tell me, that I don&#x27;t have enough experience. But they not even test my skills. I did programming in my bachelor and master thesis for 13 month. And I did programming as a hobby for many years. Sometimes more, sometimes less. Also at work I made two good working programms. Maybe I was programming for one month. Alltogether it will be two years of experience. I am also a fast learner.<p>But why do about ten companies tell me about my lack of skills?<p>What could I do about this? Getting a certificate? Make an internship? Start my own buisness? Work for a cheaper loan?<p>Thanks for your opinion!
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jfaucett
It depends on what your expectations are. If you are accustomed to earning the
salary of a medical engineer with 3 years experience and expect to get near
that as an entry programmer with no experience (which is essentially what
everything you listed boils down to from a recruiters perspective), then its
going to be a very difficult road and you will have to work much cheaper than
you want to.

Certifications only help for specific fields like cisco network engineers or
certain types of admin jobs, in my experience little if at all for programming
positions. So i wouldnt go that route.

I would suggest any of the other things you listed to get experience
(internship, freelance, work cheaper). You will have to work your way up, but
thats pretty much always the case whenever you jump ship into a new field. Id
also suggest trying your luck at a startup since they usually dont have strict
HR processes like larger companies, and might be willing to overlook lack of
exp if you can bring good engineering skills, and other qualities (passion,
etc.) to the table.

If you gave more info on where you are or want to work (EU country, US, south
america, etc) and what programming field you want to work in (web, embedded,
etc) we could give you better help.

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kamekame
Hi, I applied a lot for C#.NET Jobs. I presented my skills in a table with the
categories basic, good, very good and professional skills. - I am also willing
to go down with the money. But I want to do what I love, programming! :) I
applied also in a broader range (Web-development, database, C#-applications),
because I am not specialized until now. I want to work in the Area between
Zürich and Basel in Switzerland. Also lower Baden-Würtemberg in Germany.

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jfaucett
Hmm, C# and .NET arent used that widely in the Startup scene, still I think
you would have the best chance with startups, especially if you were willing
to learn go/ruby/python. For the areas you mentioned, I would try Stuttgart,
but if you're willing the most job opportunities are going to be in Berlin
followed by Hamburg and München, I can't speak for the Schweiz though.

If you arent fluent in German yet, you are going to definately want to start
working on it asap, knowing German will open up a lot more jobs and
opportunities. Just a gut feeling, but I'd say maybe 8 of 10 jobs require
German and for every job it is a plus because you can communicate with
customers / anyone external.

best of luck :)

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detaro
What kind of jobs did you apply for? And how did you present your skills in
your application/CV?

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kamekame
Is it okay to ask this question here? I come from stackexchange ;)

