Career options in offices
COBOL programming
I have extensive experience of programming on mainframes using COBOL and other languages. There are still COBOL jobs available, but not nearly as many as there once were and the vast majority of those advertised require other skills that I don't have, or only have limited exposure to, as you'll see if you compare my CV IT technical details with the requirements of the COBOL jobs advertised. I used to apply for some of these COBOL jobs, especially when I came across any that provided a good fit with my other skills, but it is a few years now since I did so.
I subscribe to one online website that sends me vacancies and thereby keeps me informed, just in case. I was amused to see one vacancy asking for a junior developer who had worked for three years in a similar role. Surely if somebody has spent three years at that level, they would want to drop the prefix junior? I didn't fit the other requirements anyway, but I wonder if that employer found what he or she wanted.
Occasionally, the relevant employers and agencies show some interest in me. While it is still possible that I could end up working on COBOL programs again in the future, I realised long ago that I could not rely on COBOL to save me. Despite having 25 years' experience, getting back into a COBOL environment will not be easy, as both The nineties job quest, which ended primarily because of the demand created by Y2K software changes, and my current spell out of work prove. With every year that passes, the COBOL base diminishes further, along with the pool of COBOL programmers. It now seems extremely unlikely that I'll ever use COBOL again, though I would do so if the opportunity arises.
Other computer programming
During The nineties job quest, I attended a C programming course and I later practised Visual Basic extensively for around eight months, at which point I started a job in Narborough. I learned what I needed to of these two languages quickly and, given the chance to learn either of them for a commercial environment, I'm sure that I could make a valuable contribution, notwithstanding that what I learned then is itself out of date to some extent. Nevertheless, in attempting to secure employment that would allow me to learn either of these languages for a commercial environment, I'd be competing against people with far more substantial knowledge and experience of using them. Not only that, but such people are likely to be substantially younger than me. Age shouldn't be a consideration but it is to the vast majority of employers.
Web design
During my current period of unemployment, I enrolled for a Java programming course but only one other person did likewise so the course was cancelled. I switched to a web design course in which I learned basic HTML and CSS. As it turned out, this may have been a blessing in disguise because it enabled me to build on the knowledge and set up a website that I later converted into the series of blogs that I now have, as I explain in detail in Blog setup.
Of course, HTML and CSS are only part of what commercial web design is about in the same way that COBOL was only one element in commercial computer programming in the old days. If you look up any job vacancy for web designers, you'll see that they ask for any number of other technical requirements. Sometimes they mention Java, but MySQL, PHP and any number of other requirements are likely to be listed even for junior and trainee vacancies. These are used to provide server-side programming. It's difficult for me to get involved in this, even if I learn the relevant languages, but it's not impossible.
At some point in the future after I'm pensioned off, I'll look at what programming facilities are available via Amazon, Blogger and Facebook. While all three websites can be very simple to use in their most basic form, they all have highly advanced features for those with the talent and enthusiasm to really get involved. If any of them provide facilities that I can use in a sensible and practical manner, I'll learn the relevant languages and apply the knowledge. If not, maybe I can find somewhere else to do so. I'll always be a programmer at heart, but it seems destined to become my hobby rather than a way to pay the bills.
Web usage
There are some jobs that simply involve surfing the net and collating information from it into a spreadsheet, database or whatever. These jobs seem like rather tedious clerical jobs, but I would do such a job if offered one. Some of these jobs offer the chance to work from home. In one such case, the employer was clearly suspicious of home-based workers, based on the job specification asking for applicants to justify wotrking from home. Applicants were also told that they would initially have to be self-employed with a view to becoming employees later, reinforcing the suspicions.
Website management
At the end of 2010, I received what appeared to be an offer for me to manage the website leicester.vi, which is one of a worldwide series of 68,000 similar city-themed video hosting websites. Sadly, I would have to bid for the franchise and I'm obviously not in a position to do so. Now, if they'd been intending to pay me either a salary or on a comission basis, I could have pursued the matter further, but I replied explaining that I was not in a position to make an offer. Looking more closely at the limited information, I would have been responsible for publicising the website so I'm not sure that I would have been the right person anyway, being a technician rather than a publicist, but I would have researched more if I thought there was a chance that I could secure the position. It would be an interesting job on a number of levels, as I would learn a lot more about the city in which I have made my home.
It appears that their interest was aroused by my Christmas blog, which at least confirms my theory that anything I post on the net has a chance of getting noticed by an employer, and who knows where it might lead? In this particular case, it led nowhere because of the bidding process, but I might be luckier another time. You may wonder why the Christmas blog impressed them. They didn't say, but looking at their requirements, I think the technical aspects of what I'd done using the revenue-generating Amazon widgets and links was what caught their attention, rather than the subject of the blog. I don't think that blog has ever made any money for me (though I have made a modest amount from a different blog), but I set it up partly to practise setting up web pages and partly to provide a focus for all my Christmas reviews. I realised when I'd set it up that of all the various blogs I've set up, it provided the best showcase among them. Others are slowly catching up.
Some months later, they came back with a new proposal. Obviously not satisfied with whatever bids they had received, they said that they had decided on a fixed price for each franchise. If I wanted to take over the franchise without buying it, I could do so knowing that if a bidder came along later, I would be replaced. As I looked at this and other details more closely, I realized that it isn't for me. As far as the job itself goes, I could do the technical side but that is just one aspect. However, the idea that somebody could just come along and take over is unappealing to say the least. In the absence of an outright franchise bid, I think they should have offered (say) a one-year contract, towards the end of which the franchise would again be offered publicly.
What are the alternatives to computer jobs?
I can't imagine that there is any other job (except a related activity such as web design) in which I could be as effective as I am at computer programming. It's still what I'm best at but I'll continue to look at other career possibilities. Despite the supposed IT skills shortage, I have to accept that getting the kind of job that I'd really like may be an impossible dream. One way or another, I'm not giving up completely on the idea of a return to computer programming or to a new career in web design. Perhaps I have no chance but if I can't do it for a living, I'll do it for a hobby after I'm pensioned off, in which case I need some other kind of paid job.
So what alternative career might I switch to? One former computer programmer has switched to the tourist industry, moving to Lanreath in Cornwall where he rents out holiday apartments, although he also does some part-time work as a computer trouble-shooter. We computer buffs can never let go. I won't be following his example, not least because I don't have the means to invest in property, but there are some other options for me.
Data entry
In the long-since-deleted BBC debate Should benefits be linked to community service?, some people pointed out that plenty of unemployed people could obviously type, so suggested that these people could get a job in data entry. Well, of course, it's not that simple. In a normal working environment, data entry clerks usually have to achieve a minimum typing speed and we have no way of knowing any individual's typing speed just by looking at what they've typed. Indeed, disabled people also use the internet. Depending on their condition, they may need some adaptation to enable them to post their thoughts on the internet or, in extreme cases, maybe somebody else types for them. If their disability doesn't affect their ability to type, it may affect them in other ways that discourage employers from offering them a job. There are also employers who practise ableism, but that's a separate issue. Well, I'm not disabled but I'm not a fast typist either.
Just because I can type doesn't mean that I can do it fast enough to be employed as a data entry clerk. If an employer offered me such a job knowing my likely limit of 30 words per minute, then I'd accept the offer. But would 30 words per minute be enough? I doubt it because most employers looking for data entry clerks ask for at least 40 (and sometimes 50 or 60) words per minute. There are jobs where accuracy is more important than speed, but even for these jobs speed might still be a deciding factor.
My typing speed would be sufficient where typing is only part of the job. When I worked as a computer programmer, I met plenty of other computer programmers who could type faster than I could, but I more than made up for that with my ability to do the actual programming. Nevertheless, it is clear that many of those programmers could get jobs as data entry clerks if there were no programming jobs available to them.
Data entry doesn't appear to be a likely option for me unless accuracy and maybe some other factors are taken into consideration, but I apply for some data entry jobs on the basis that I can at least perform the required task. So far, I have had no response that offers encouragement, but I'll continue to apply for data entry jobs.
Administration
Administration is an obvious alternative. Much of it involves some use of computers so that side of the work should come easily to me. One problem here is that I'm not familiar with the various packages such as spreadsheets and databases. Of course, I'm familiar with what they do in general terms and wrote or modified plenty of COBOL programs that carried out these functions in the old days. So I could pick up the details very quickly as I proved on the business administration course that I attended in 1997, when I had an introduction to contemporary word processing, spreadsheets and databases, themselves now somewhat out-dated. Towards the end of that course, I extensively revised the WORDPERFECT course training guide.
More recently, I almost got a part-time job using EXCEL spreadsheets after some hasty practice. Actually, it looked at first glance like a standard data entry job, but the employee would have to do some calculations that couldn't be done in EXCEL the way it was set up. Accuracy would be more important than speed, so my typing speed would have been good enough because of my mathematical ability and my past experience with computers. But I still didn't get the job and I still wouldn't expect to be offered a pure data entry job that doesn't involve other skills.
Unfortunately for me, we live in an age where employers normally insist on qualifications and would rather take somebody who already has the Certificates than somebody without them, regardless of experience in related matters. See Employer attitudes and Training options. Nevertheless, administration jobs of one kind or another make up the majority of my job applications these days.
Reception
Another problem in looking at alternative careers is that some office jobs require people with outgoing personalities. I did better than I expected when assigned to reception duties as part of that Business administration course but I don't think that reception duties would really suit me. Nevertheless, I know that there are plenty of office jobs that I could do. I really need qualifications but, as I explain in The politics of unemployment, my efforts to get them are hampered by government policies. Despite my reservations, I sometimes apply for jobs as a receptionist.
Amazon
Given the amount of time and energy that I've devoted to Amazon's websites, some people draw the logical conclusion that I should be able to find employment within Amazon. With my software skills being somewhat out of date, I would need re-training to actually get involved with the software itself. I would be happy to learn those new skills and may in any case do so once I'm pensioned off, but I'm not sure that Amazon would want to re-train me. Still, there may be some role that I could fulfil, drawing on my general software experience and my knowledge of Amazon's software from the perspective of both a customer and a reviewer. If Amazon were to approach me with an idea, I would certainly consider it seriously.
I sometimes look at Amazon's UK jobs page. I once found an Amazon vacancy (online content editor - music) that I considered worth applying for, to see what would happen. Some of my cyber-friends thought I'd be the ideal candidate. I wasn't so sure. As it transpired, Amazon sent me a standard rejection reply by e-mail a few days later. At least I can say that I applied for a job with Amazon.
Amazon's main base in Britain is Slough (near Windsor, also near Heathrow Airport). Their nearest (but much smaller) bases to Leicester are at Milton Keynes and Peterborough, which are not commutable by public transport. I would have to relocate if offered a job by Amazon, whatever the location, although that of itself is not a problem as Slough, Peterborough and Milton Keynes are all well catered for by public transport, as are Amazon's other British locations.
Job applications
Actually, most of the jobs that I apply for these days are clerical (administration, data entry, etc.) but I haven't generated much interest among employers of such people, though some recruitment agencies have shown a greater interest and one of them sat me down to a typing test, when I actually achieved 27 words per minute net of errors. If I'd known how it worked, I'd have done a little better than that, hence I feel comfortable quoting 30 words per minute as my typing speed. Nevertheless, most of the encouraging responses, and the only interview (with Agathos Systems in Nottingham) for a full-time job in my current period of unemployment that I've had so far, have resulted from applications for computer programming jobs rather than clerical or other types of jobs.
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