BrickWall Syndrome

[Why Me?]

Since I was in high school, I wanted to be in programming. I earned a degree
in programming and took a job as a computer tech to "pay the bills" after
college. Now, after several years I have worked my way up to Network Admin
for a large company , with no skills in this area to start out with, and
still no programming job. I program in my free time - have done some freeware
and a couple of tools for my cuurent job, know the latest languages and still
can not get into programming!! What am I doing wrong ?? Any thoughts or advice
would be very helpfull....

[contessa]

If you want to be a programmer & do it in your spare time, why not look for
a programming job? Or is it possible to talk w/ your boss & take on some
programming responsibilities @ your current company? If you don't ask, you
don't get.

If nothing happens @ your current location, why not look for another job?
You said you are current, so what is holding you back? It may mean a pay
cut to begin w/ but then you can look for advancement.

"Why Me?" <kennj@programmer.net> wrote in message
news:39e3bc7a$1@news.devx.com...
>
> Since I was in high school, I wanted to be in programming. I earned a
degree
> in programming and took a job as a computer tech to "pay the bills" after
> college. Now, after several years I have worked my way up to Network
Admin
> for a large company , with no skills in this area to start out with, and
> still no programming job. I program in my free time - have done some
freeware
> and a couple of tools for my cuurent job, know the latest languages and
still
> can not get into programming!! What am I doing wrong ?? Any thoughts or
advice
> would be very helpfull....

[simon]

IMHO, I think you got into the dilemma of many tech people have gone
into.... trying to do everything and could end up no expert in anything.

A few years ago, I faced the same problem. I was a programmer analyst but
networking interested me very much. The problem is that technology is
changing so fast and is so diverse, it is very hard to keep up with. It
will be much much harder if you are interested in both programming and
networking. It is almost impossible to keep up with both area, especially I
like to have a life outside of work. =)

I decided to concentrate in software development and got a job for just
doing that. I am a much happier person. I just do networking at home as a
hobby, ha. My advice to you is to search within yourself. Find out what
you really like to do. Then take a job in either programming or networking,
not to do both.

Just my 2 cents.

simon.


"Why Me?" <kennj@programmer.net> wrote in message
news:39e3bc7a$1@news.devx.com...
>
> Since I was in high school, I wanted to be in programming. I earned a
degree
> in programming and took a job as a computer tech to "pay the bills" after
> college. Now, after several years I have worked my way up to Network
Admin
> for a large company , with no skills in this area to start out with, and
> still no programming job. I program in my free time - have done some
freeware
> and a couple of tools for my cuurent job, know the latest languages and
still
> can not get into programming!! What am I doing wrong ?? Any thoughts or
advice
> would be very helpfull....