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What should I do now?

 
 
w1rebaby
01:31 / 02.01.05
Okay, here's the situation. I've been working in a fairly specialised area for the past five years (pharmaceutical programming, if you're interested, using a language called SAS). I realised gradually that the job that I was doing was irreparably tedious, and so I tried to look around for opportunities to move sideways and do something else while maintaining a certain salary - there were none within the company.

I went to the US two years ago rather than quit altogether, to chase a dream which didn't work out, and came back just recently rather than face complete insanity. I just flew back without any real idea of what I was going to do.

So what shall I do now? I'm staying on a friend's sofabed at the moment which is fine, except that I feel guilty about doing it and want to move out rather than hang about indefinitely and eat their food. I've been looking for jobs that will take me up and also train me in something else, since I am very adaptable in terms of languages and technology, but apparently they don't exist at all.

I really do not want to do any more pharmaceutical programming. I can't cope with it. Maybe for a short period, say a six month contract, but not indefinitely. I don't know whether it was the lack of intellectual stimulation that got to me or the general corporate tedium, but at this stage the former appears to be more important. All I'm looking for is a job that lets me eat and which isn't exactly the same as what I was doing before. Is that too much to ask? Should I just abandon all the benefits of my previous experience, forget about the "senior programmer" thing and go for something entirely unconnected?

N.B. I do not want to go anywhere near academia again. *shudder*
 
 
grant
03:20 / 02.01.05
What does a pharmaceutical programmer do? I have a friend who's a pharmaceutical engineer in Minnesota and another who's a pharmacist in Florida. How does what you did compare with what they do?
 
 
w1rebaby
11:27 / 02.01.05
Oh, they do real jobs. A pharms programmer (in my case anyway) is someone who writes analysis programs for the results of drug trials for submission to regulatory bodies, as well as processing the data, dealing with errors and so on. You don't actually need to know anything about pharmaceuticals though you tend to pick bits up.
 
 
Logos
11:53 / 02.01.05
So, take your pharma programming job and break it in two. Then, either go for a pharma industry job--like clinical trials director or sales/marketing--or go for something stats related. Either path allows you to keep much of your experience, and to have a plausible story for the HR folks.
 
 
w1rebaby
12:46 / 02.01.05
The unfortunate thing, which I should have said originally (I was rather drunk at the time hence the unfortunate use of "chasing a dream", barf) is that unlike the majority of people doing SAS, I don't know any stats. This is a bit of a problem. There are lots of non-pharma SAS jobs out there but they all seem to want stats skills.

Not sure I could hack marketing, and I'm getting a bit sick of pharms to be honest. I thought I could move around between related areas for a bit and learn different skills, use some SAS skills for backend web work say while learning other related stuff, eventually find something that fits, but that doesn't seem to be happening. Argh.
 
 
w1rebaby
13:59 / 02.01.05
Ah, that all sounds rather negative. I'm trying to avoid the "can't do that won't do that god it's all shit" frame of mind.

How about entry-level programming positions? I've got the business skills, all I need is to actually learn new languages, so I'm thinking a bit of time on not that much money wouldn't kill me and I'd advance quite quickly.

And does anyone know a good way to get some web design work that I could use to build up a portfolio? Anyone got any clubs, tours, nights they want a site for? No charge, and I'm good, honest....

OU courses? Learndirect?
 
 
Ariadne
14:08 / 02.01.05
I don't know much about programming so I can't help in that respect - BUT, I'd just say don't get too despondent about the lack of jobs about. The end of the year is not a good time to be job hunting. Give it two or three weeks and I think (I hope for myself too!) that the recruitment pages will be looking much healthier, and with luck you'll find something more suitable.
 
 
netbanshee
14:59 / 02.01.05
I didn't know you got out of the philly area, fridge. Oh well, maybe a pint some other time. Things ARE a bit tedious here. But to be honest, the job market has gotten better over the last two years, considering how bad it was before that. I'm on my third professional job in the last five years.

Since I'm coming from a web design background, I'll try to say and ask some things about it. I know of your blog, so I get a sense that you know how to build maintain and approach websites. If you're comfy with standards-compliance, that will certainly be a way to approach potential clients as I think they are starting to get a feel for it as the web matures a bit.

How compatible is your programming experience with web back-end work? I'm on the front-end design and build part of web work and I think there are avenues from either side of fence. I think it would be a good idea to "help" out with someone's needs, but make sure to get something in return for the favor. Doing work for free is usually only a good idea when you're just starting out and have an income stream already there. It's hard to ask for reasonable prices for work when you start at the very bottom and want to get to a decent hourly wage that makes the endeavor worthwhile.

It seems that your business and programming experience are assets that you can put to work for yourself. Maybe consider making the blog a stepping stone to a bigger web presence that has design and work samples. Spend time branding yourself with a look and approach and use it to net a freelance client or two. Trade work or instead of "free" work, try to undercut a bit but get it under the table (more $ for you, less for them). Also, look into keeping records (invoicing and gradual payment) and what it takes to put yourself in a taxable position when it presents itself.

I've been freelancing almost as long as I've been out of school and it can be a pain in the ass until you get it under control. Now I seem to have one thing going on all of the time and work seems to show up for me when I'd like to take some extra on. Eventually, I plan on making a transition from full-time to freelance to own business in the next few years. So if you're curious, let me know. If you want to talk, drop me a pm and we can discuss further.
 
 
captain piss
15:18 / 03.01.05
And just to throw my little suggestion into the mix as well, Fridge: I don’t know how commercial writing sounds but if you have a little knowledge of computing and IT (it sounds like you have quite a bit) and can write competently (and, again, you seem to be well past entry-level status on this one), there does appear to be plenty of work available in areas like IT journalism and copywriting (about techy stuff).

If nothing else, it might be a way to get into other areas of freelance writing, if that’s an interest.

Send me a PM if you want more info, as I’d rather not start farting on about it here if it’s not really your bag.
 
 
Ariadne
16:04 / 03.01.05
Oi, never mind him, tell me! I'm super-keen to be back in tech writing. Not an easy trick from Scotland, as you well know.
 
 
Persephone
16:46 / 03.01.05
There was a thing that I thought was useful in that parachute book. Naturally it was a matrix, but anyway the attributes were skills and field. The idea was if you wanted to change careers, you could try new skills in the same field or try the same skills in a new field. And it could be a multi-step thing, like, say you're an accountant in a box factory: step one, you become an accountant at a TV station; step two, you become a TV reporter. I mean, you know. It helped me to focus.
 
 
w1rebaby
19:36 / 03.01.05
Well, I have a bit of minor experience in back-end web things - my PHP and Perl are okayish, certainly okay for the web, and I've played around with getting my own server running on my Mac, fiddling with the config files and so on. I maintained an intranet site at work pretty much on my own; apart from that, no real professional experience.

I'm not sure that my current site is terrrribly good to show to potential employers, considering, er, some of the content. However, I am working on a portfolio site at the moment under a different name, which I was considering turning into a sort of general gadget/website/software review/opinion type blog, with a few show-off web toys and pretend sites. I think getting interest that way would be a good idea. (I've had one job offer in the past from my actual blog.)

Which takes me on to the technical writing thing. I'm very interested in that, because I can write about technical issues and, importantly, have some history of having done so professionally. I'm known as one of the few programmers who actually doesn't mind writing documentation, I've collaborated on writing training, I've worked explaining techie issues to non-techies and vice versa... I reckon I could do that, and the options for getting into other writing areas sound good too. PM on its way then.
 
 
netbanshee
01:39 / 04.01.05
Glad to hear that things are churning. It sounds like you can always use all of those skills to level support for a technical position with creative potential. It seems that being a jack-of-all-trades is beneficial if you can sell yourself appropriately. Who knows, maybe you're on your way to being a Zeldman of sorts.

If there's anything I can do to help with a design emphasis, let me know. Just don't use my almost four year old website (i.e. full username) as a guide for my current abilities.
 
 
w1rebaby
17:11 / 12.01.05
Just to add to this in case anyone was eagerly awaiting fridge-job-related updates.

Had an interview today with a consulting company that I heard about through a friend of a friend - yes, contacts do work. My CV went through, I went in and talked bollocks for a while today, and I'm feeling quite positive about the whole deal. It should be an opportunity to learn a lot of new skills in a short space of time, with varied types of contracts and being surrounded by a lot of smart techy people who can teach me things. It's a bit of a change to encounter a company who not only accept the idea that you might want to or have to learn new skills, but actively encourage it, as opposed to considering it a threat (he might leave the job! he might take my job!)

Might not get it of course but if not, I'm sure there are a number of similar firms from whom I can seek employment on a similar basis. I think this may be the best way to go at this stage - find something that lets me sample all sorts of different work and technologies, and if I ever find something that suits, step out and go with that.
 
  
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