
Ask HN: How do I come back to software development? - anonloser
Hi HN. I&#x27;m in my 40s and father of two. 4 years ago I made a career switch, from software development to internal audit, at the same financial insitution at southern Europe.<p>Being a software guy here is a second class job. I was fed of the mediocre pay, of boring projects and...sorry, I don&#x27;t want to sound arrogant...incompetent colleagues. Sure, I&#x27;m guilty too. I&#x27;ve been <i>very</i> relaxed for 10 years doing several roles in various groups, as I&#x27;m a generalist.<p>So when management offered me the opportunity to apply for Internal Auditing I saw an opportunity. Here you&#x27;re rewarded with this kind of offer, not with raises. The task is easier, the pay is a little better and hours are better too.<p>But now...<p>...4 years after the switch I&#x27;m now fed with having to ask people like they were kids even for the most basic things. Here, I&#x27;ve discovered that my skills are above de average. I&#x27;m not a superhuman nor that mythical 10x developer, but I have 20 years of experience and my skills range from writing parsers, CRUD applications, security, OS kernels, raytracers...The issue here is that these are all private side projects, as I&#x27;m very shy of sharing code.<p>I&#x27;m adraid I made the &quot;intelligent&quot; choice by social means but the one which most saddens me everyday. I&#x27;d like to move back to software development (not at this same place)<p>I read a lot about how not having a promiment Github profile should not be an issue if one can demonstrate their skills. But everytime I apply for a remote job (via Stack Overflow, via Who Is Hiring, etc.) I get rejected without even taking the first interview.<p>I know that you can&#x27;t give me good advice without knowing all the details but, what do you think? Should I infer that having switched to a non-development job I&#x27;ll be unable to back to software development again?<p>PS: Sorry for the long question. As you&#x27;ve spotted, English is not my main language and I can&#x27;t synthetize things as well as in my main language.
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probably_wrong
Your post raises a couple questions:

> _Being a software guy here is a second class job._

I don't know where you are, but I find this statement puzzling. I've lived
both in South America and in Germany, and in both cases software development
is a well-paid job due to a general shortage of programmers. So question
number one would be: are you sure that you looked in the right places? And if
so, have you considered moving?

> _I read a lot about how not having a promiment Github profile should not be
> an issue if one can demonstrate their skills. But everytime I apply for a
> remote job (via Stack Overflow, via Who Is Hiring, etc.) I get rejected
> without even taking the first interview._

My experience with SO and HN has been fairly disappointing when applying from
Europe, assuming they even let you apply to begin with ("remote" often means
"from your apartment in or around SF"). You should look at other, more local
job boards. Also, getting your CV checked by someone else could be helpful.

> _Should I infer that having switched to a non-development job I 'll be
> unable to back to software development again?_

No, I wouldn't say never, but you'll need to work a bit to convince future
employers that you are the right person for the job. Networking is your friend
- either see if a former colleague of yours can recommend you to their bosses,
or join the local meetup scene. Presenting something interesting, for
instance, is a great alternative if you have to start from nothing.

~~~
anonloser
Thank you. I think I'll just bite the bullet here :)

> _I don 't know where you are, but I find this statement puzzling. I've lived
> both in South America and in Germany, and in both cases software development
> is a well-paid job due to a general shortage of programmers. So question
> number one would be: are you sure that you looked in the right places? And
> if so, have you considered moving?_

I'm based in southern Spain. In this exact location and intitution, the
average salary for a programmer (experienced or not, you're considered a
resource) is around 22.000€. I have a lot of friends making that amount, or
even less, having one child to raise. Moving is not an option right now,
sadly.

I appreciate your advice regarding visibility when stating from zero. Thank
you again.

