Quit my Job? Is this a Dumb Idea?

[nicksaiz65]

Surprisingly learning COBOL or FORTRAN is one of the highest paying sectors since all of the old people who learned this are retired or dying and lots of mainframes still rely on this technology.

Almost getting to the point of being able to write yourself a blank check.

That’s very surprising. I was under the impression that COBOL and FORTRAN were dead lol

 

[Murk]

That’s very surprising. I was under the impression that COBOL and FORTRAN were dead lol

Probably why they pay so well, niche/lack of candidates plus old legacy systems of big companies that need optimisation/bau etc

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Probably why they pay so well, niche/lack of candidates plus old legacy systems of big companies that need optimisation/bau etc

Yup, there is no real way to replace these systems without significant disruption and cost. And even if they paid the tens or hundreds of millions in upgrades to do it, there would still be huge risk due to new code introduced that has bugs and things that don't work as intended...that codebase has been around in some cases over 50+ years and is very stable with all the kinks worked out.

And these are places like banks and insurance companies that rely on these systems so disruption is not acceptable in any way shape of form for them...

 

[Borknagar]

I wouldn't but only you can make that choice.

In our profession, you shouldn't be sitting around waiting for promotions to get raises, you should be actively in with local recruiters and/or actively looking at new opportunities to move up to a mid-level position every year or two until you reach senior developer, ideally within 5-7 years. So what your senior devs make really is irrelevant, because you shouldn't be looking to stay there long enough to ever see that.

Local IT recruiters will literally do all the grunt work for you and if you tell them what you are looking for, what your skills are, etc, they will present you with jobs that fit your criteria when they get them. They are invaluable to IT professionals.

When you switch jobs, you should be able to increase your salary by 15-20K each time until you reach senior at over 110+K and then you will need to be more selective with moves and they will slow down as it becomes harder to increase your salary that much anymore, so when you find a place you enjoy being at you tend to stay longer.

To put it in perspective, I have used this method to more than triple my salary in 7 years. Starting at 65K, that may be hard to do but you should be able to at least double it.

The reason why waiting to get promoted is a waste of time is because you are not going to get an equivalent raise to what you will get when you switch jobs. As a developer, the way we get big raises is to switch jobs, just how our industry is set up. Nobody bats an eye if they see you have a new job every year. Hell, I switched jobs after 8 months once and nobody even questioned it, it's just accepted. Take advantage of it.

What I do has nothing to do with programming other than the occasional excel vba, but I'd second this for most people. Waiting around for a position/promotion is never the way to go about things. You are dedicated to you, never your employer no matter how much you like your boss or the company. Higher positions or more money is likely more than likely to happen by going elsewhere than staying put.

I had a job that paid for my college, twice even. They wouldn't promote, so I left and got an instant 15k raise.

 

[nicksaiz65]

What I do has nothing to do with programming other than the occasional excel vba, but I'd second this for most people. Waiting around for a position/promotion is never the way to go about things. You are dedicated to you, never your employer no matter how much you like your boss or the company. Higher positions or more money is likely more than likely to happen by going elsewhere than staying put.

I had a job that paid for my college, twice even. They wouldn't promote, so I left and got an instant 15k raise.

That’s great that you didn’t have to go into student debt.

I’m assuming that these days the stigma of “job hopper” means nothing anymore. It definitely doesn’t for programming.

 

[Borknagar]

That’s great that you didn’t have to go into student debt.

I’m assuming that these days the stigma of “job hopper” means nothing anymore. It definitely doesn’t for programming.

Certainly. I'm seeing it with a lot of the youngish old coworkers of mine. Mainly mechanical engineers though. But it's possible these have been contracts. I never asked we are simply LinkedIn connections. I work in factories as a supervisor. Openings for promotions are rare, and they rarely prep you for better positions. Honestly, the key to moving up in factories is unfortunately usually moving to areas that aren't good for single men, especially if everyone is mostly older or younger and families.