Ask HN: Returning to SW development after a 15-year break?
2 by backtoswdev15 | 2 comments on Hacker News.
Hi HN, First some background: I started my "career" with an IT apprenticeship, worked two years as a web dev (until I got fired during the dotcom crash), and afterwards I studied to get a CS bachelor. Despite a good job market (and good grades) I was unable to find a job. Probably because I'm an Asperger and/or because I looked unhealthy (back then I had a severe skin problem on my face with large pieces of skin falling off plus I've always been underweight). At some point I gave up the job search. For a while I struggled with depression until I discovered investing, and started to actively invest my savings on the stock market. Fast forward to today, and the savings will be gone soon and I'm back looking for a job. As I live far away from any finance center, I'm trying to return to software development. It's probably a mission impossible, given my age and the lack of experience (my only recent dev experience is doing Advent of Code challenges in the last few years). I'm unsure what's the best way to approach this mission, how to catch up, and what a software developer has to know nowadays. I found "Teach Yourself CS" and that looks great, only it probably takes too long to go through all the stuff to refresh things and to fill gaps (I'm currently reading Designing Data-Intensive Applications). I also considered doing a project, but so far I have no idea what I could do, it feels like I'm stuck in a kind of analysis paralysis. Are there any resources for people returning to the field? Any advice or suggestions? Thanks in advance.