Ask Slashdot: Advice For Getting Tech Career Back On Track 232
First time accepted submitter msamp writes "After the dotcom bubble burst so long ago,when tech jobs were so scarce, I went back to school and finished my PhD in Physics. They lied — there really is no shortage of scientists. Before the downturn I was a product manager for home networking equipment. Since getting the degree I have been program/project manager for small DoD and NASA instrumentation programs. I desperately want back into network equipment product management, but my networking tech skills aren't up to date. I find networking technology absolutely trivial and have been retraining on my own, but hiring managers see the gap and the PhD and run screaming. I'm more than willing to start over in network admin but can't even get considered for that. Suggestions?"
1. Get PhD in Physics (Score:4, Funny)
3. Profit!
Some suggestions for 2: Invent cold fusion. Transmute lead into gold. Create "death ray" and get some nation to pay a ransom. What? All those are practical physics and you're a theoretical physicist? Um... Ok... Get an entry level job as a junior web programmer and be sure to let everyone on your team know how much better than them you are because you have a PhD in physics. And insist that they call you "Doctor".
Look. Most HR types are Vogon-like idiots. (Score:5, Funny)
Not actually evil, but bad-tempered, bureaucratic, officious and callous. In the USA, they're frequently female and quietly but intensely crazy. Forget anything rational when dealing with them. Go around them. Get your resume' to a thinking person with actual skills, common sense and the ability to do arithmetic. That person may be able to slide you around blockage of HR. Get in as a consultant or a temp and make them dependent on you. Threaten to walk if you don't get hired.
As in most of the rest of America now, working through the system doesn't work. Adjust your thinking accordingly.
Re:Start your own business (Score:5, Funny)
I helped one candidate win by using a combination of twilio/openvbx for robocalls
Go fuck yourself.
science degrees are overrated (Score:0, Funny)
i work with a kid with a physics degree and he makes the same shitty wage i do working the same job with my liberal arts degree but at least my knowledge of history and philosophy will always be relevant to me no matter where life takes me...all his human calculator stuff, not so much.
Re:Look. Most HR types are Vogon-like idiots. (Score:5, Funny)
That's the tell him to way, coward!
Re:You need to work on communications skills (Score:3, Funny)
but only for spherical chickens in a vacuum
Re:Start your own business (Score:5, Funny)