InformationWeek

August 4, 1998

I'm 43, and two years ago, I left a career in sales which I had been in for 17 years and went to school to learn Cobol programming. I was also exposed to C. I now have a job with a major telecommunications company, where I've been for 22 months--the first eight as a contractor, then as an employee. My quandary is that I am doing Cobol programming and I obviously took a major step back financially to do this. How do I accelerate my career? I have taken some Unix courses, but like anything else, if you don't use it you lose it. I do have management experience and my sales career was in telecom sales. Can I leverage these to advance? I am at the bottom of the food chain right now and want to break out. I can't afford to wait 5-10 years.

First, let me commend you on having made the jump and followed through on it. So many of the executives who reach out to me talk about the move but rarely do it. Do you remember what made you a good sales professional? You need the same tenacity as a programmer. You should be eating, sleeping, and drinking technology to compete with those around you. In spite of the fact that I agree with your "use it or lose it" belief, you're doing exactly what you should be doing. The other option is to not educate yourself anymore or take any further risks, and that just doesn't fit your style. The only advice I can give you with 24 months' experience is that year 2000 is still a pressing issue and you may still be able to cash in on it. The need for good programmers is feverish, but at the risk of telling you only what you want to hear, time is something you're going to need to develop stronger skills as well as afford you more opportunities. Keep pushing your on the winning track--the difference between you and others is that others will tell you what they're going to do while you've been doing what you told people you would.

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