mom looking to go back to work - need advice

Parent Cafe
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<p>Let me start by giving you my background. I have a BS and an MA degree in computer science. I did mainframe programming for about 10 years before I gave it up to stay home with my children. I have been away from it for 18 years. I tried applying for jobs last year but no one will even talk to me because I’ve been gone so long.</p>

<p>I’ve been working part-time in a local school as a lunch aide and the coordinator of the before school care program. Just found out this week, a week before school is starting, that my before school care position has been given to a teacher. I want to go back to work in a real job either part-time or possibly full-time. I am willing to go to the community college to take relevant classes but don’t know what direction I should go in. My biggest fear is to spend money and time going to school and then not be able to get a relevant job.</p>

<p>Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Should I think about medical billing/coding, take some bookkeeping/accounting classes or is there something else out there I should consider? I have been sending my resume out for some receptionist jobs but I don’t have any experience and with the economy the way it is, no one is even calling me for an interview.</p>

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<p>Where do your interests lie? Do you want to go back to the computer industry? Are you interested in the medical billing field?</p>

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<p>abmnj1: I know that CS people are limited because the kids coming out of school now have EECS degrees (Elec Eng and CS combined). </p>

<p>So, unless you plan on picking up some ee courses, I think as a former school employee, you may want to check out your local district for Adult School jobs. Our local school district is always looking for CS teachers with computer experience to teach classes to older adults learning how to use the MS word, setting up simple web sites, etc. You may want to check out the local districts that have adult school settings. Since you’ve already worked as an employee of your district, your application is already in their system. Try it first with your district and if not, branch out to other districts. </p>

<p>If you’re not sure of your direction, take an extension class at the local university that maybe has a certification program? These classes are made for people in the field that need some updating. UCSD and SDSU have these kinds of programs in our community.</p>

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<p>So I’m guessing you are around 50. It’s pretty brutal out there for 50somethings looking for work who have recent experience. For those out of the market for almost 20 years, it must seem impossible.<br>
You are looking to make a mid-life career change. It sounds like you can afford to go back to school (aren’t self-supporting) and learn something new that is marketable, but you’re wondering what kind of jobs there are for older workers in this economy.
It seems that there is work in the healthcare field and in the industries that support healthcare–insurance, accounting, doctor’s assitants and schedulers, administrators, etc. Hospitals are moving all of their records to digital format and need people to administer that, which seems like something that might suit your background.
If there are classes at your local cc, or even extension classes at a university that you could take to upgrade your skills to fit into today’s office environment, I don’t see how it could hurt, and it seems like it wouldn’t be that challenging for you with your background. If you could afford it, volunteering in an health office, or even a school office, while you’re taking classes would give you more recent experience, as well.
Good luck.</p>

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<p>Keep your eye out for programming jobs at banks since they’re sometimes running older code in languages you may be familiar with and that not many of the newer crop of software developers know or are that interested in.</p>

<p>But to move forward, take some courses in some newer languages such as Java, C# .net, C++. Pick a couple of those and take actual real courses to get your head into the new languages, some experience in the projects, and importantly, specific currently relevant educational items you can put on your resume’. Taking these courses shouldn’t be expensive and you may be able to take them at a local state U or a state U extension location. Get familiar with and use some current IDEs such as Microsoft Visual Studio and Eclipse. You’ll want to show familiarity with these on your resume’ and in interviews. </p>

<p>Try to have some familiarity with a modern SQL database such as MySQL or SQL Server. Get familiar with HTML. You can do this on your own easily enough but it might be covered in one of the the other courses as well while learning one of the languages.</p>

<p>You can teach yourself some of these languages via online courses and online resources which are plentiful but being able to indicate formal courses on the resume’ will give it more cred.</p>

<p>You’ll still be faced with some difficulty getting a job probably but it should help a lot to have knowledge and evidence of current relevant skills. OTOH you might find you’re no longer that interested in learning all of this new material which would then steer you in a different direction.</p>

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<p>

I wouldn’t worry about the EE part. CS grads do fine as do EECS grads. </p>

<p>But in this case no one will take the OP for a new college grad and she won’t be able to compete head to head with them. However, with current skills she might be able to find positions somewhere, especially if she’s willing to work for less than a new college grad (new grad would be in the range of $60K-$90K sometimes somewhat higher and somewhat lower). Some companies don’t want to pay that kind of money.</p>

<p>The idea about teaching AP Computer Science and other computer skills seems like a good one as well.</p>

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<p>This is not an area that I know, but it seems mandatory to be current with what is in use today. A course or two might help.</p>

<p>And is there any possibility if securing some relevant work through a “temp” type agency? If there is, it would help give you exposure, and also polish up your skills with direct contact with current work. When you get older, it is a struggle, but there’s no reason you can’t get back on track somewhere.</p>

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<p>Don’t do medical billing/coding classes thinking you’ll get a job. I own a medical billing business, coding is a more advanced skill and no one hires coders without experience. It’s the kind of thing you do once you get your foot in the door doing billing at a company, then take the class and become certified to get promoted or make more money. I way prefer to train someone from scratch on our software and our way of doing things.</p>

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<p>I know it sounds kind of funny, but there are actually places that look for people who can program the older machines/languages. Check government jobs and government contractors. The government is notorious for having old technology around longer than its useful life and they or their contractors will sometimes look for the older skills. Then you might just need a little brush up instead of all new languages.</p>

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<p>I am in a similar situation but with an MBA in marketing and 12 yrs out. My IT contractor dh keeps trying to steer me into getting PMP (project mgt) certification - but I don’t have the IT background that you have which would make it relevant. My local cc runs a 6-course certificate program on project mgt and from there, you take the CAPM exam to get certified - lots of other online options that basically teach to the PMBOK (proj mgt book of knowledge) and are the required classrm component for sitting for the test. Really, doesn’t require as much a specific technical background but more organizational/planning skills and communication skills. I am not sure of the market where you live as it relates to IT but you can ck on Dice what is around you.</p>

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<p>Thanks for all the suggestions. With all the kids coming out of college with computer degrees, I think I am going to steer clear of that market but I may continue to look for programming positions with the skills I used to use. You never know, maybe someone out there will take a chance on a 48 year old woman who hasn’t programmed in 18 years.</p>

<p>I am also going to look into my local community college and look to see if they have a certificate program that interests me and has job placement help.</p>

<p>Thanks for the info on medical billing. That’s exactly what I was fearing. Ideally, I would like to get a job in a local office and then see what skills are needed.</p>

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<p>[SAN</a> MARCOS: CSUSM launches health information technology certificate : San Marcos](<a href=“North County”>North County)</p>

<p>I thought this looked interesting when I read about it in our local paper. It’s a certificate program in health information technology–more providers are moving towards digital electronic medical record keeping. Seems like a person with a background in computers, even if it was a while ago, might be sought after.</p>

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<p>Fwiw - proj mgt certification is not something CS grads have, it’s not part of undergrad curriculum - it’s not the programming but the mgt of timelines and keeping those programmers to schedules (isn’t that what every mom does every day??) In the one proj mgt class I took (at my local cc) - around me were all sorts of people, IT and non-IT, young, old and some unemployed liberal arts grads. All people looking to show they had a skill through a certificate to get or keep a job.</p>

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<p>what part of the country are you in? are you near a large metro area? What is the local job market like? These answers might alter some suggestions.</p>

<p>If you are organized, you could work as a personal assistant for a high net worth individual where every day will be different. </p>

<p>You might want to target what company in your area you want to work for and then start in an administrative position and work your way up.</p>

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<p>Do you have any interest in teaching or mentoring? Look into programs that are promoting STEM skills in girls. Your “old” computer experience won’t be an issue — just being a woman in a STEM field will be looked at positively. Private foundations, the Girl Scouts, and other orgs are putting money into this area…</p>

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<p>Definitely check with temp agencies.</p>

<p>This summer an agency (Aquent) offered a free online one-month class in HTML5. There was a section for newcomers and separate materials for those people who just wanted to upgrade existing knowledge. Thousands signed up when the email went out. More classes are promised.</p>

<p>Other large agencies have free online tutorials available to anyone who’s registered. I know Robert Half has them. You can check websites.</p>

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<p>50something here who has been through job searching recently. I was employed steadily even when kids were growing up but my last full time employment for someone else was 12 years ago. I have worked as the chief financial person and admin for my husband’s business for 12 years. Major slow down and a year ago I started looking for work again. I found the temp agencies to be a joke. Young girls in ill fitting suits interviewing me. Then you have to take word, excel, accounting and a battery of online tests. I scored above average/proficient in those but I have kept up my computer schools and knowledge of the basic programs. Was interviewed for lots of jobs that I was qualified for and it seemed to me that the younger people interviewing me felt I was overqualified. Interviewed for some exec or personal assistant stuff too but they seemed to always want a younger woman. Eventually I took a temporary position with a school. Superintendent interviewed me for a full time job, didn’t hire me and then called a month later to offer the temp. Older woman Superintendent. She ended up loving me but didn’t have a position. I was able to trade that position in for a part time at another school and am hoping for full time eventually.<br>
Given that you had some school experience have you tried the other schools in your area? The idea of the CC classes/certificate programs is a good one. Particularly if they have some placement help. I found it very difficult to get hired and honestly I dress well, look closer to 40 then 50, etc.</p>

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<p>I think the PMP idea that another poster suggested is a good one. Project management is, of course, not just about IT. It spans business and technology functions, but to be able to break apart and manage the myriad and complex IT portions that are required to support the objective of the project is a great skill. My company brings in college grad temps (frequently not young either) to clerically support large projects(which is 10 million plus, we have many of these at one time…just to clerically manage the plan, check off tasks, follow up with the do-ers, support the PM) and then some move on to begin to manage small projects if they have the skills. Then, having PMP and some experience gives you a skill that is ‘searchable’ on your resume…those three little initials make your resume appear in searches once your resume is published and you might start getting recruited.</p>

<p>I’ve been in IT since ‘90, and I am always surprised at people’s focus on programming being what IT is all about. It’s not. I’ve worked in two Fortune 500s, and only a small portion of IT is true programming. I also have never met an EE…and we would not have a need to hire someone like that - I can see in some places that might be true where you have programmable electronics, but not for web or standard business applications that require you to write a new module for say something like the accounts payable process. Any newbies we have are college grads with traditional CS degrees, who are versed in HTML, Java, C++. But so many software products are simply purchased these days, not built from scratch. You buy something, like SAP, and you customize it to your business’ needs. You buy a mobile sales product, and you configure it to match how your sales force’s products goes to market. Custom programming is a giant risk, better to buy what your business leaders want and tweak it. Project managers put this all together. So do business analysts who bridge functional and technical.</p>

<p>Anyway, a great field (I am biased) is information security and IT audit. It has a high need in the next 10 years. A route in would be access provisioning (which can be quite complex in some companies), but then you try to get into architecture/design, risk assessment, controls creation/monitoring. Applicable certs are Security +, then move up to SSCP, CISSP, CISA, CISM, Certified Ethical Hacker etc, although as you get into the higher level certs, they are extremely serious about verified, relavant experience. And these certs are no joke to sit for. I am sure in the mainframe world, RACF and Top Secret (the packages that secure mainframe resources) are still in use. These are highly skilled jobs, but they can start with access provisioning, and move into higher level functions within a few years.</p>

<p>If you want to learn a modern programming language that also is quite marketable, learn ABAP, which is the language behind SAP, which is the worlds largest ERP system that hundreds and hundreds of the largest companies run. That’s another acronym that will get your resume ‘found’.</p>

<p>Keep plugging away.</p>

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<p>+1 for ABAP and SAP in general. It’s sufficiently stone age :slight_smile: to be close enough to mainframe style programming. Figure at least a year’s worth of courses tho, and take some database type courses while you’re at it (current stuff like Oracle). If you know DB2 or any other dinosaur era databases (Ingres, Informix) they’re still around in one form or another.</p>

<p>If the OP could provide a list of technologies last used we could think of a few more things to suggest. The field is significantly cut-throat these days and everyone is looking for the proverbial purple squirrel…</p>

<p>Also helpdesk (tier 2) type positions may be a good place to start especially if your domain expertise was in something related.</p>