Impressing people when you're in your thirties (or older) [closed]

Question

Say you have little work experience in a programming position. What sort of projects and achievements would impress potential employers coming from someone that's in their thirties? Do you think it is necessary to impress people at all? Also, what would be an appropriate reaction if existing achievements are depreciated as part of negotiation?

Answer 1

By the time you are thirty something you should have worked out that coding is a very small part of the software development problem. If you really want to impress someone with you skills, talk about process improvement, team leadership and people skills, how good a communicator you are, product life-cycle cost.

Throw in a few exaples of pragmatic, business focused engineering decisions "I did this rather than that because it got the product to market months ahead of the compeditors, not really ideal, but $10 million in the bank as a result eased the pain of not doing it properly"....

A really good one, Discuss the impossible perfectionist who over-engineered every tiny change and how you tamed him....

If the want or need to see your code, walk away laughing, I have..... If they want a typist, let them have the 20year old grad (Who will most likely run rings around you anyway) and look for a company which appreciates experience.

Answer 2

Showing them a code example that solves a complex problem in an elegant and clear way with good comments and unit tests. The best way for a programmer to impress is with code.

Answer 3

Show them a project that you have completed and delivered, with good quality.

If you have a project that you are so proud of that you would consider to use the application yourself, then I'd definitely put that in your portfolio and show it to potential employers.

There are a lot of people who has ideas and are able to start new projects, but finishing one... Now that takes some serious effort.

Answer 4

By no means can age undermine your achievements.

If you started, managed, or contributed to successful projects that are current -- no one will care what age you are (at least in my experience).

If you achieved all that at a young age -- that'd surprise people (positively). But if you're in your thirties -- people would still appreciate what you did.

So to answer your question... "impressing potential employers" requires quality work -- not just code, but everything, and most importantly people skills.

Answer 5

I switched careers from transportation in my mid thirties, and took a few community college courses just to have something to put on my resume, though I had been learning at home for some time. My first job, part of the interview process was to write - on paper - C code to merge two linked lists. They said the main thing that impressed them was that I was the only one who addressed the edge cases. In my second job, one of the big things was one of those Myers-Briggs tests, and I was the right type (It was a hippie retail chain hiring their first in-house programmer, and I was an INTP, practically an alien in that environment). My third job, one of the guys that worked there saw me back in the community college lab helping out other people, and mentioned it to the boss. Those are the only three interviews I've ever been on in this career.

Point is, you never know what will impress. All of them also liked the questions I asked them in the interview as well, but it's really about professionalism, enthusiasm, solid even if basic skills, and in this business in particular, willingness and ability to learn and adapt. Bring those to the interview - and as the third example points out, bring them even when you are not being interviewed - and you'll make your own luck, you'll impress without having to try.

Answer 6

It depends on what sort of position you are applying for. I'm assuming its not a programming position since you say you don't have much experience there.

If it IS a programming position its important that they know you are still energetic enough to keep up with the latest developments. Being able to demonstrate at least a high level understanding of what's going on as far as tools, languages, etc indicates a desire to keep learning, which is probably their biggest concern if age is an issue.

Answer 7

From what I've seen software companies are generally quite willing to employ people who have changed career path. They know that they are probably getting someone who is mature, responsible and knows what is expected of them in a work environment and those can be qualities that some managers will rate very highly. At the same time they can pay you (and this is the painful bit) something close to a recent graduate because you lack the commercial experience that salaries are generally based on (and for good reason). So for the company there are a lot of wins.

Personally, that is what I would impress up on them (above and beyond that technically I was more than capable of doing the job).

Answer 8

First, your question depresses me because I'm 30. On the bright side, I tend to work with people who appreciate my professional skill.

Also, what would be an appropriate reaction if existing achievements are depreciated as part of negotiation?

To be honest I would do as Mike Monteiro and say "F*ck you, pay me" in the most eloquent way possible (this is admittedly easier to do if you've ever been in the situation before and felt miserable because of it). If you're good at your work you should be paid accordingly to what the job market would offer. If that doesn't work I'd be actively looking for another job where they do appreciate your skills and achievements. I wouldn't be surprised if your company has high staff turnover rate if the company culture is unappreciative.

Answer 9

Speaking as a Thirty-Something software developer that until recently only programmed on the side(check my profile for a more complete explanation of my history/experience), I don't know that your age will or should play any part in the job search on either side.

Are you trying to land a full time programming position for the first time?(as I had around age 29). If this is the case, they are going to compare you to other candidates seeking that same position, not other thirty year olds, and any completed projects will be a boon for you. If you are comming into the market (as I had) completely self taught, then completed projects and an ability to demonstrate on demand your competance and communication skills are a must. (You do not have that degree to help support your claim) Personally, I was not able to land a full time position until after I went back to school. My failing was in communication. I just did not have the experience communicating on a technical level to effectively express my competance.

If you do not have professional experience, and are seeking something other than an entry level position, it may be better to refrase your question specific to the type/level position you are seeking and the level experience you have.

On the other hand I would not expect them to ignore that space of time after high school, or college in which you were not programming professionally. They are likely to ask about it. For myself, if I am remembering correctly, (It has been a few years and memory goes with age :) ) The people I interviewed with were curious what I had been up to: What were you doing before? Why? Why change? Why didn't you go to school for this in the first place?..

Answer 10

Something visual is always best. If you have website with some interesting client-side functionality (say if you're looking for a job doing MSFT web stack development) or a cool mobile app that they can download from the app store (for ios jobs) that's going to go way farther in most cases than being able to point to, say, an open source console app that no-one has ever used.

Answer 11

Age doesn't need to play a factor in this; employers want programmers who can deliver work on time and on budget.

If someone is seeking their first programming job they should expect a position relevant to their professional experience regardless of how old they are. Other people your age may be getting senior-level developer positions, but you will not have the decade of experience you will need to compete at that level.

As far as impressing people, there's no point trying to worry about what might or might not impress a potential employer; better to focus on how to provide value for the work that you do.

What projects should you complete, what technologies should you learn? If your goal is to seek employment, check out the job boards and see what the trends are. Even if you're currently employed this is a great technique for keeping your skills relevant and up to date.

Hope this helps!

Answer 12

Your programming skills are unlikely to impress! If you are not Google or Microsoft then you are probably not looking to hire superstar programmers and if they were they would be looking for someone with an astounding track record.

What will impress them is what CS people refer to as "Domain Knowledge". Your real life experience in whatever the company makes/sells/services.

Some who knows the used car market and can program a bit is more useful to a used car company than a s**t hot programmer who cycles to work.

So look for programming opportunities which are directly related to your non programming work experience and build on what you know.

Answer 13

I inadvertently impressed my manage today with a Sequence Diagram. Apparently documentation/artifacts is the best way to show you know what you're talking about.