Have you ever done a programming language/stack switch in your career? And how do you defend that if you don't have experience in it? Let's say you worked 4 years in Java and now you want to move to C# .NET. I know this has been answered before. lol

Employers are always whining that I don't have experience in it, so it's not a match. This is what happens when you have an HR dumbo as your first interviewer.

- they are both OOP
- they are both compiled + interpreted (JVM and Bytecode vs .NET runtime vs MSIL)
- very similar syntax, data type ecosystem, etc

Clients refusing you because recruiter says "oh it's not a match 'cause he doesn't have the 4 years .NET you asked for".

Sigh.

I switched stacks a lot. It was always because of the demand in the company. Nobody cared if I was familiar with the new stack, I just had to learn it.

could make friends at your job and have them take you with them I guess

I had one former co worker try to take me to a c# job. another time I went to a dungeons and dragons game for my first time and the dungeon master offer I work at their web shop without even knowing what I did (which was pretty light on front end lol)

granted I didn't accept either of those for various reasons but still. when I rejected the c# position the guy thought it was me thinking I couldn't do it because it was a new language, and he was like "bah you'll learn it" (I actually did c# in school and it's not much different from java, I just didn't like it and didn't really understand "careers" at the time)

I switched also many times. Python is my favourite but actually kinda my last also. For a long time, companies couldn't find the right type dev and gave devs the opportunity within their organisation. But also something that helped, I was in outsource for a long time and learning all kinds of stuff there making me always match something of the job opportunity.

@jestdotty The friends thing doesn't really work out. lol

I had both C# and Java in-depth in college but that doesn't count for the darn recruiters and employers.

@retoor I was in outsource for a while too until I got sick of their shit and left, but now I am fucked because I didn't get enough experience there. lmao

@CaptainRant yh, it was not always fun. I got hired for stuff that I couldn't do and just got smashed a book on the table and had to learn under pressure. Also technologies I didn't favor. I am the first and last Delphi for dotNET developer you'll ever speak to.

Ten years ago I didn't know pearl script. So I got an easy assignment for a script that was called from Jenkins. So I thought why not. I did it pearl. And that's the last thing I did in pearl.
Do I now have 10 years experience in pearl?