John;

We all give advice and have our own unique experiences. In my case I was an unemployed electronics engineer along with 60,000 other electronics engineers in Silicon Valley (1992). I had been programming with dBase II – IV as well as Pascal, Basic, Fortran, and Fox products for a number of years. Most of this was for work as an engineer and some was for my small part time business. Rather than remain in the engineering world (hopeless in my area due to costs related to manufacturing, etc.) I elected to return to college to study C, and put all my effort into FoxPro 2.0.

Trying to change careers and learn a new trade while attempting to raise two children and remain married is no easy task while you are unemployed! Had I not decided to go into programming on a full time basis I do not know what would have happened. I felt like a Neanderthal man and I had to survive despite what everyone told me. “Things will improve in engineering” – they did not. “Do not look for a job – there are none” “Do not go into programming – you will not be successful”!

It pays to be desperate and desperate events in your life are certainly motivating factors. For anyone going through a crisis such as unemployment something to keep in mind is “Stay away from negative people or comments. Embrace those who are positive and provide encouragement to your life”! Those who express negativity drain your energy and those who are positive help to “charge up your batteries”!

By the way I got into programming on a full time basis by doing the following: I went to the Catholic Dioceses of San Jose, California, and offered to write a program for them for free if I could use them as a reference. I then went to the Catholic Grammar School my son and attended and explained I was out of work and could not afford to pay for my children’s tuition. In exchange I wrote a program for them. I went to the State of California and wrote a program for them (EDD). I went to an Adult Education Center and did the same thing. I applied for my first “real” programming job and used the above experience as my references. That was ten years ago and so far so good. :)

Trying to learn anything, think, enjoy yourself or exist can be very hard when you are unemployed. I know – I have been there! Add to the equation ones age (young or old) and the problem of employment takes on additional meaning.

Tom



>I was responding to the fact that another VFP developer was laid off and that the comment was made that NOW is a great time to expand ones skill set. My comment was that when one is gainfully employed, that is the time to expand ones skill set. I also took the time to comment that I think this trend will both continue and pick-up steam. Like any opinion, folks are entitled to disagree. I cannot control how others choose to respond. If there are those that decide to make a fight out of something, that is their choice.I cannot stop them.