[ggv1]

Hi, I am 37 Yrs old Network Engineer living in the New York Area. Even though I work with hardware, mostly Cisco, my passion has always been with coding. I am considering taking some programming courses and switching to a developers position, Nonetheless, I am very afraid of following up with this. I am aware of the outsourcing, the layoffs, and the fact that I would have to take a substantial pay cut once I find an entry level programming position. I am unsure of what my next step should be. Any thoughts how can I make this transition as painless as possible. Does anyone know about a way I can combine my Cisco skills with a developers position. Any advice or thoughts on this will be highly appreciated. Thank you.

[Sulla]

my more than humble opinion is that networking can easily go with programming applications. In your case I'd say networking and web development won't be that hard since you're into cisco. So why not try getting into developing security solutions? I'm sure you'd find it interesting.

That's all I have to say.
Hope others would help out.

[TheHeadFL]

If you're looking for nothing more than a coding position, job security is nil.

The fact of the matter is, low level coding and grunt work is always easy to outsource because so many people can do it. It doesn't require any real special skill.

You need to brush up on software engineering and some more advanced theoretical concepts in systems design and computer science if you really want to have valuable skills in the development field.

If you're considering taking courses on the subject, I'd suggest taking some computer science courses at a university, rather than taking programming specific courses.

[Chankama]

If you are familiar with h/w, why don't you try a embedded programming position? I am presuming you know the inner workings of many h/w devices. So if you can learn some C/C++, then you might be able to get a job in that area.

Due to your knowledge of Cisco h/w, and your age, I am presuming you've been around the industry for a while and you know the Cisco h/w capabilities inside out. So you probably have a good understanding of load balancing, security, and other web related issues. That being said, what about web application development? Like J2EE and .NET stuff.

[furtivefelon]

huh? i mean, if you like programming, why did you ever give up on it? I know all the normal arguments, can't find a job, whatever. HOWEVER, if you have a computer, why don't you devote part of your spare time to programming, if something is your passion, you don't have to get paid to do it, it should be fun

just pick up a language and start having fun..