Short version of my story (Long version follows)
I am a mainframe programmer/contractor using COBOL/DB2/CICS. I want to move into the world of OO using
JAVA mainly in
applets. I have a 4 year degree with 15 years of experience. I have been taking classes at a technical college here in Memphis, TN. to learn OO programming. I have decided that JAVA is what I want to focus on. I am currently learning all I can and plan to get certified later this year.
Part of my problem is I am a contractor and it is hard to get new experience in something you have not already done. Also whenever a perspective employer looks at my resume, they want to hire me as a Mainframe programmer. I have decided the best strategy would be to find a full-time job with a company that has both mainframe COBOL and JAVA, prove myself, and look to move into the JAVA department. I am also open to taking an entry-level job as a JAVA developer even though this would be a pay-cut.
I would appreciate any advise or stories that anyone can share to help me on my way.
Long Version
I started out in Programming in 1986 working with PC's. This was mostly assisting users and I wanted to get into Mainframe programming. I finally did in 1988 and have been doing it ever since. I have found that to learn a new skill, I had to teach myself. The only skills I picked up in college were COBOL and JCL. I learned DB/2 and CICS on my own and finally got on the job experience.
I entered the contracting world in 1991 after being laid off from my job. It was rough going at first but I eventually got enough experience to keep myself busy all the time. Aroung 1998 I decided that after Y2K, it would be wise to finally start making the move to PC programming.
I will confess, I have always liked MS Windows. This is from a guy who cut his PC programming teeth on DOS. If you want to try something fun, try building a complex directory structure using only the DOS line prompt and you will see why I liked Windows so much whem it came out. I know there is a lot of anamosity towards MS but over the years I have learned there is no perfect system, nor is there one system that everyone will love. So forgive me for mentioning the dreaded MS in a JAVA forum.
My decision to move to PC's from Mainframe was influenced by my familiarity with Windows, and the fact that the majority of changes happening in the data processing world were in PC's. At the technical college here in Mamphis, I have taken C, Visual Basic, Access, C++ and JAVA. When I got into OO and the light bulb finally went off, I decided this is what I wanted to do at this stage in my career. I also came to the realization that I needed to focus on one or two things. You see, when I started in programming, there were only a handful of languages. There was no INTERNET, no LANS, only 3-4 languages, so you could try to learn a littla about it all. Now I have decided that JAVA is my favorite and alas, even though I like MS Windows, I will need to go into a UNIX operating system, which is fine. I want to do web programming as I also dearly love the INTERNET.
In my present contract, we are converting a legacy database to ORACLE and I should be getting my feet wet with ORACLE. I have also found that all my years of experience make learning the new things easier. For instance, I have used IF/ELSE, for loops, arrays, etc. for years so the real learning is going from structured, top down, linear programming to OO with classes. Also I know a lot about the business world and how a lot of data processing shops work.
As for my job hunt, I plan to finish this current project, and then my wife and I want to relocate to Florida, preferably the Orlando area. I am from Florida and my wife loves warm weather. I hope this post isn't too long but I wanted to give more info to anyone who wanted the long verson of my story. Any advise and stories would be helpful.
