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Comment by p-funk | Hacker News Reader

I'm sorry if this is off topic, but I'm just looking for some advice I guess. I'm currently an electronics engineer in NY and I've been trying to switch to something in software for about a year now because there are essentially no electronics jobs here in my field. I've had a hard time convincing employers how my electronics experience is relevant or how well it would translate to a software role, because, basically, no one knows what electrical engineers actually do, much less how similar it is to software engineering. How do I convince people that I'd be a good hire, despite not having "production" software experience apart from a few embedded projects? I know for certain I can do the work, I just don't know how to prove that to someone doing the hiring.

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Some companies in NY hire for software engineering without requiring a comp-sci degree. Used to work at Bloomberg and a lot of the people there were hired without a classical programming background but still with some programming experience even if not professional; a lot of physics, biology, and mathematics people for example. Then they put them through a 4 month internal coding course teaching them C++, JS, git, etc. and a lot become surprisingly competent. And then they go to Google once they are all trained up :)

Edit: point being is that there a number of companies that don't look only for traditional hires. Networking (via Meetup for example) helps. Also going through a recruiter or (Recurse if you have the time!) is also helpful.

I guess it might be easier at a bigger company like that, so I could focus more on those types of roles. Thanks for the ideas. Just have to keep at it I guess.

> And then they go to Google once they are all trained up :)

So true. My team has lost two to Google and one to Amazon in just the past 18 months.

For a Bloomberg job you can probably just show up at a nearby bar on a Thursday and be social through the 10pm black hole.

Try to avoid challenges for feats of strength.

Build a website and an iOS (and/or Android) app and get them up and running and give them away for free. It may be a lot harder and take a lot longer than you think to convert hardware -> software skills. If you do it in your spare time as a hobby you will ramp up at your own pace and have something to show future employers.

Thanks for the advice. This is basically what I've been doing for the past year, every spare second I've had devoted to side projects. I don't think my expectations are too out of whack because whenever I've gotten a code challenge from an employer, it was pretty easy and I made it through to the next round. But it probably takes longer to build up a portfolio that is actually meaningful.

If you have the time and interest, consider enrolling in an online CS degree from a reputable institute like the OMSCS from Georgia Tech http://www.omscs.gatech.edu/

Side projects, generic comp sci interviews help, but essentially to get started bootcamps/udacity nano degree might help. Like you can take a mobile app or full stack online course and quickly build a portfolio.

Do any FPGA work? There's demand for that.

In NYC?

I think he might find work in some HFT specialty firms looking at custom hardware. But yeah I’d be looking at SF or even Boston to leverage the EE degree.

My guess is a bootcamp would help out on the resume.

Not really. I'm in audio, so mostly analog with a bit of microcontroller experience.

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