[Jazhara7]

Dear Aggie,

My middle sister better be extra happy for her Christmas present she is going to get from our mother this year. She wished for it, so I she will of course be happy. But the little extra happiness is appropriate since I got to hunt it down all over the globe. What's this special present? Bop it! Extreme 2. Not even the "Download" version where you can upload your own voice. No, regular Bop it! Extreme 2. The thing goes for 200 $ and up at Amazon.com these days - used, even. It's an electronic action (as in "doing things") game. But it's still a toy, and it's no longer made. I must have checked over 20 shops all over the globe, before going back to Amazon.co.uk to get the slightly overpriced one from a seller there - still a better price than the one from the US.

So yeah, I hope she is extra happy. Even if she'll only have it on paper for now, for I am pretty sure it won't be here by Thursday.

-

[RLacey]

I hope she doesn't read this page... otherwise it might end up as a little less of a surprise...

[Jazhara7]

Originally Posted by RLacey

I hope she doesn't read this page... otherwise it might end up as a little less of a surprise...

Since she doesn't even have Internet in her rooms right now, and only goes downstairs to check ebay and some German forums, it is highly unlikely she's going to read this.


-

[UPtimist]

Now Robsert (new nickname!) will go to every German forum he can find to post the information, just to prove you wrong...

[RLacey]

Emphasis on the word "can" there. Since I don't speak German, the list isn't so much short as non-existent.

Thankfully, I suspect, from the perspective of Jazzy.

[tsa]

Jazzy is a sweet girl.

[SoccerDude28]

Dear Aggie:

One thing I have learned in the last 10 years of work is that I really do not enjoy my current career path. I am currently a software engineer, and although the pay is good, the stress level is unbearable. In the US, from what I've seen in the several jobs I've tried, people do not give software engineers as much credit as they give the business folk. To make it all worse, job interviews for software engineers are a nightmarish affair, and there is a very scary prospect that all the software jobs will be outsourced to India and China in the next 5-10 years. We already have 25% of the computer jobs outsourced abroad.

So because of all this, I am really considering going back to school to change careers to business finance or accounting. I am pretty good at math, and business seems to provide a good balance of analytical and social skills. I have to be very honest though: I am scared shitless to take the plunge and go back to school. I am not young anymore by any means, and I am scared to get out of college, and find no jobs for me in the new career. Just wondering, has anyone here switched careers before? And how was it like?

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

SD28, welcome to my nightmare. I'm 53, how old are you?

I think that part of the biggest problem of being an SDE is working for Program Managers. They are a major source of stress for those of us in the trenches.

So here's a thought: move into Program Management in the same field! No going back to school if you work for a large enough org that it has internal training. (Many do, 'cause they want to train you in their image.)

As for your last question, I have not (changed careers, going back to school, late in life). But my GF did. And she did so in her late 40s (got her masters just past 50). She has no hopes of having a full career (25-30 years), but she is at least happy to be working in a field that she enjoys (she was a software test engineer, a position already mostly a thing of the past if you are not also coding at an SDE level).

However, these are tough times. She was laid off and months later is still searching. That's reality for you. Competition is tough!

So if you're much younger than us (in your 30s or earlier), go for it! I think it's safe to say that retirement age minus 30 years is safe. Caveat: I am not an employment professional.

[Fantasysci5]

Hey all. Half way into my break away from Louie, and handling it quite well, considering. We're debating on getting an apartment together. We are getting to that age where we're restless under our parents' gaze, and we want to forge our own path. I've never "moved" all of the way out of my house (besides dorms at college), so I'm pretty nervous. Not about moving in with Louie-because I love him and I really do think we're going to be together forever, but just with the idea of it. I'm stressed and nervous, but I want this to happen.

There are quite a few obsticles in our way, but hopefully they won't stop us for long. His family's house is getting forclosed on (), so I know he feels like he has nowhere else to go once school lets out. Neither of us have a car, which we feel we'll need if we get an apartment, so he's working on that. He's got a car, just needs an engine for it, and he's talking with my brother about an extra engine he has-although they're not sure if it'll work.

Another problem is money. He's most concerned with having a car, I'm most concerned with having a job. As you guys know, Louie and his family have slight money problems, like how to pay for college, so it's worrisome how we're going to pay for it. I have a job right now in the dorms, but if I move off campus, I'll loose it. I'd feel much better about getting an apartment if I knew I had a steady job with money coming in, to pay for everything. But with the economy, I don't know if I can get another job. And we'll have to pay for furniture to put in it...

I'm nervous about moving into an apartment. I don't want my parents to be disappointed in me, because my guilt will eat me up, but I really want this. I love Louie with all of my heart, and we're going to make it.

Any tips for us and the apartment thing?

[Giligan]

Originally Posted by Fantasysci5

Any tips for us and the apartment thing?

Sure. Bring some air fresheners and don't mind the crazy neighbors.

[SoccerDude28]

Originally Posted by Not A Speck Of Cereal

SD28, welcome to my nightmare. I'm 53, how old are you?

I think that part of the biggest problem of being an SDE is working for Program Managers. They are a major source of stress for those of us in the trenches.

So here's a thought: move into Program Management in the same field! No going back to school if you work for a large enough org that it has internal training. (Many do, 'cause they want to train you in their image.)

As for your last question, I have not (changed careers, going back to school, late in life). But my GF did. And she did so in her late 40s (got her masters just past 50). She has no hopes of having a full career (25-30 years), but she is at least happy to be working in a field that she enjoys (she was a software test engineer, a position already mostly a thing of the past if you are not also coding at an SDE level).

However, these are tough times. She was laid off and months later is still searching. That's reality for you. Competition is tough!

So if you're much younger than us (in your 30s or earlier), go for it! I think it's safe to say that retirement age minus 30 years is safe. Caveat: I am not an employment professional.

Tell me about program managers They just add this one little line to their spec, that probably took them 5 minutes to write, and that takes like a month to implement.

I am 33. I just want to get away from the software industry for a while. No more J2EE, JMS, JMX, this works on firefox but not IE, rockstar developers wanted, oh and now the latest buzzword "cloud computing" etc... I'm sure you know what I'm talking about

I don't mind going back to it later, but in a business position rather than the grunt programming position. It is very inspiring to hear the story of your girlfriend, going back to pursue her passion at an age close to 50 years old. That takes a lot of guts, and very few people can take the plunge when they are so close to retirement age.

Anyway I am going to go for it, guns blazing, and hope for the best. Thanks for your great advice

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

Originally Posted by SoccerDude28

Tell me about program managers They just add this one little line to their spec, that probably took them 5 minutes to write, and that takes like a month to implement.

I am 33. I just want to get away from the software industry for a while. No more J2EE, JMS, JMX, this works on firefox but not IE, rockstar developers wanted, oh and now the latest buzzword "cloud computing" etc... I'm sure you know what I'm talking about

I don't mind going back to it later, but in a business position rather than the grunt programming position. It is very inspiring to hear the story of your girlfriend, going back to pursue her passion at an age close to 50 years old. That takes a lot of guts, and very few people can take the plunge when they are so close to retirement age.

Anyway I am going to go for it, guns blazing, and hope for the best. Thanks for your great advice

Yes, I know about cloud computing and it's worth paying attention to, but the most successful developers I know said "okay, I understand that, but I don't want to do it--I want to tell others to do it". That makes a for a good program manager, someone who understands the technology involved, but rather than develops, they design, spec, and delegate.

But there's a cost. Someone in that position also has to be good with office politics. You have to be a team player, go with the HR-centric programs, be a good speaker and a leader. Most SDEs I know can't and just do not want to do that, and are therefore bad candidates for PM positions. And so they end up staying put, or changing careers.

[Lucien21]

Originally Posted by SoccerDude28

Dear Aggie:

One thing I have learned in the last 10 years of work is that I really do not enjoy my current career path. I am currently a software engineer, and although the pay is good, the stress level is unbearable. In the US, from what I've seen in the several jobs I've tried, people do not give software engineers as much credit as they give the business folk. To make it all worse, job interviews for software engineers are a nightmarish affair, and there is a very scary prospect that all the software jobs will be outsourced to India and China in the next 5-10 years. We already have 25% of the computer jobs outsourced abroad.

So because of all this, I am really considering going back to school to change careers to business finance or accounting. I am pretty good at math, and business seems to provide a good balance of analytical and social skills. I have to be very honest though: I am scared shitless to take the plunge and go back to school. I am not young anymore by any means, and I am scared to get out of college, and find no jobs for me in the new career. Just wondering, has anyone here switched careers before? And how was it like?

I feel the pain.

I'm an Accountant and quite a lot of days at the moment I wonder why I pick it. I would rather being doing something with computers.

Maybe we could swap

[Luna Sevithiainen]

Dear blog,

I have moved out today. I am now all alone in my new room in Nijmegen and it feels odd as hell. I like being on my own, but just the idea that I have finished a great part of childhood makes me feel a bit melancholical.

A Dutch band, Rowwen Hèze, has a song 'Heilige Antonius' (Saint Anthony), with in it the line 'soms is het beter iets moois te verliezen, beter verliezen dan dat je het nooit hebt gehad' (sometimes it's better to lose something beautiful, better to lose it than to never have had it). And I think it fits quite well. I have had 21 great years with living with my parents and my brother, sure, we had some arguments, tough times and the like, but all in all I liked it. And now that time is gone. And I really like taking a new step into my life, but I also feel like I have lost something beautiful. Something that is never coming back, I'll never live there again. And so I am trying to live up to that line in the song. It is better to 'lose' it now than to never have experienced the loving home my family provided. But I am still melancholical about it...

[tsa]

Cheer up, Luna! You will have a great time. And you can still visit your parents!

[Luna Sevithiainen]

True
It is just...changes! EEK! And I am a very melancholical girl, so I feel every teeny tiny change as if someting life-changing has happened, so something quite large as this just feels....huge.

And added to it comes that now, after one week being together all the time, I am seperated from my girlfriend again And that seems to hurt even more than moving out...

[Denaron]

Originally Posted by Luna Sevithiainen

True
It is just...changes! EEK! And I am a very melancholical girl, so I feel every teeny tiny change as if someting life-changing has happened, so something quite large as this just feels....huge.

Well, I think it's a big step in your life indeed. In our lives, I believe. But that "change feeling" is completely natural. Try to think only in the positives of living alone.

[Fantasysci5]

Aww, Luna. I feel the same way. I'm scared to move into an apartment for the first time. And I really need to stop writing essays in the AG Community Blog, since most people's eyes start glazing over and no one comments.

[Luna Sevithiainen]

You guys are so sweet
Well, my first night in my new room has passed and I feel somewhat more at ease now. Sigh, why are women always so melancholical and emotional, and for that matter, why do I fit that stereotype? I hate stereotypes

But I digress. It is nice to have the morning all to yourself, no need to hurry with breakfast or something. I even re-discovered radio! I am at the moment listening the Top 2000, some countdown list of the 2000 best songs (according to the listeners of the Dutch Radio 2 ). Sentimental really, because my parents listen that every year and so I know they are listening the same now. Sigh, why are there so many estrogens running through my veins?

Fantasy, usually I even read essays (yes, I am such a curious girl ), but this time I was just too full of myself to read anything more than the last post before me

[MoriartyL]

Originally Posted by Luna Sevithiainen

Sigh, why are women always so melancholical and emotional, and for that matter, why do I fit that stereotype? I hate stereotypes

As well you should. I'm melancholic and emotional. Not much estrogen here.