Alternate Programming Careers For a Jr. Dev

In the few weeks since The Iron Yard ended I have been contemplating what it is that I want to do with my new found technical skills. Obviously, I want to be a developer….but in what way? I know that I enjoy freelancing, it give me the chance to learn new skills. I know that I want to go deeper into rails and gain more experience. I already have a slew of projects that I want to take up. But I also know that I want to bridge the gap between my new technical skills and the near 10 years of work experience plus 2 degrees I already have.

How do I do that?

That has been the question on my mind lately. So here is the answer I have come up with.

Find an alternative career.

And it seems that I am not alone. There are ways to be a developer, and still bring in some of your previous skills. Jeff Atwood wrote a post that described a similar concept. He outlined opportunites for people who were developers but no longer wanted to code all day. I think that these same opportunites could be useful for someone with years of different experience that are making the jump to developer. Some of the careers he found are:

Product/Program Manager

Project Manager

QA / Testing

Build Engineering

System Administrator

Technical Sales

Technical Writer

Business Analyst / Programming Analyst

I would also add UX jobs to this list, especially if you have a background in social sciences or human factors. So if you are just coming out of a bootcamp, don’t think that the only thing that will make use of your technical skills is employment as a developer. There are alot of jobs that work on the technology, that are not traditionally held by those with a technical backgroud. As a junior deveoper, this gives you the opportunity to stand out among the crowd (and the other applicants), as well as a means of getting your feet wet in a new career.

There is always more than one way to skin a cat.