Ask Trish

O'Reilly School of Technology Guidance Counselor Trish Gray answers your questions about your I.T. Career goals and how to reach them.

About the Author
In addition to helping students and I.T. professionals for 13 years, Tricia Mills Gray has been the Senior Development Manager of OST since it's inception as UserActive in 1997. She was the 2002 SBA Midwest Young Entrepreneur of the Year, and is currently writing the OST PHP/SQL Series. She holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Illinois College of Engineering.

A Dedicated Mom Returns to the I.T. Workforce

Dear Trish:
I am unemployed at the moment, and have been looking for work for 2 years. I took 7 years off to care for my children, and now I am trying to get back into the workforce. Seems as though this time off is really hurting me.

Here's my real dilemma ......I need to work from home, because my 8yo son has special needs (high-functioning autism). Although he needs no care at home, he cannot learn in a school environment, so I have to be here with him. That is why I am looking at programming, since it seems to be more tolerable of working at home. Even though I have worked alone most of my career, the engineering industry still wants employees in the office. I am having a hard time finding contract programming work, since I have outdated programming skills, and no professional contacts in this town.

I am actually a professional electrical engineer. I learned Fortran in college, and have been programming ever since. I had to create applications for my work to be productive (calculations, import/export data, and databases/reports for managers). Mostly, I used C, SQL, C shell scripts. and many database scripting languages. I also used C in creating firmware for SCADA projects, so I'm pretty well versed in procedural C.

Although I have dabbled with C++ and can follow a written program, I have not written one. I can pick up procedural programs quickly (worked a short contract with ColdFusion last summer), but the logic setup for OOP is completely different.

I don't have salary requirements, other than a fair market value, but I do need to work to support my family. I just need to learn how to land those first few contracts, so I can be productive in my career once again. I've attached my resume to give you the details in case it would help.

I am wanting to learn C# and then use it within ASP.net. I see that in the .NET series, you teach Java before C#. Do I need to learn Java first, or is OOP taught within C# as well? And How well does this course prepare me for a real job?

Thanks for your time,
"C" in McKinney, Texas

Dear "C":
An electrical engineering background is an amazing asset to have, especially during these times. Right now the most lucrative IT field is in system administration, and you have all the "right stuff" for this sort of thing, and get paid a mint for it. Plus, a lot of system administration jobs do not have to be on-site, as you can monitor and fix things remotely very easily.

I actually think that our System Administration Certificate will give you the fastest track to solidifying this sort of direction. It seems to me that you have enough programming skills to be "icing" on this cake already; however, if you added the .NET Certificate on there, you would have the 1-2 punch of Linux AND Windows skills to offer on your resume, along with the web skills (from ASP.NET in the C# course) to get people's web sites up and running. If you wanted to, you could be a full-service ISP/Consulting firm on your own, as you already have most of the skills you need already.

Because experience is so important in returning to the workplace, this course will prepare you better than most courses for getting a job. This is because you will have a real account -- with both Linux and Windows -- in which you will be creating real projects, and you can keep this account beyond coursework to show prospective employers. It's especially important in your case (and I know this well because my sister was in your exact position) to be able to demonstrate your ability to stay current in technology, not simply to claim that you took a course -- although the University CEUs will help.

If you do decide to take this course, I would highly suggest building your projects with a portfolio in mind. Since the assignments are quite open-ended, you will be able to build a project-based site that you can show to others through the web, and if you incorporate projects that employers are looking for (such as intuitive user interfaces for ASP.NET), I think that the employer will be more likely to take your previous experience seriously and see that 7 years away has not diminished your "edge". We've also had many students use their instructors as references for jobs, to attest to their problem-solving skills and learning agility.

Other than that, really all you need is more self-marketing. From your resume, I see what is a quite common problem with us women in technology -- a somewhat self-deprecating resume which almost apologizes for your extensive skills. Because I come from a computer science background, I know to bow to the EE majors! You're like the Navy SEALS to our Army. However, this does not come across in your resume so much, simply due to your wording, and the lack of emphasis on the impact you most definitely made on these companies.

I'll make a few examples:

Start with education: were you in any clubs or honor societies in which you stood out? This sounds fluffy, but it will give an employer more of an idea of *who* you are. Brag! For instance:

EDUCATION:
University of Houston, Houston, Texas (date - date)
Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering
Graduated with Honors; Dean's List; James Scholar;
President of _______________?

As for technical skills, no need to say "learned" or "self-taught", as it tends to imply that you dabbled for a few hours and no more. Instead, highlight HOW MUCH experience you have in each(this is from mine, and I don't have as much experience as you):

MAJOR TECHNOLOGY EXPERIENCE: