Update technical skills

Technical interview preparation differs from general interview preparation. Re-entry candidates generally are a little rusty about technical details when they start to prepare for technical interviews, due to time away from using particular skills and knowledge. Interviewers may reasonably have more concerns about technical skills of the re-entry candidate. A hiring manager will want to know that you can do the technical job now, and the goal of your preparation is to be able to convince them you can. 

Often the technical interview happens after a separate HR phone interview. A first technical interview may be over the phone, and if you are selected for an in-person interview the next tech interviews happen on site as you talk with various technical members of a team. You should review your resume and be able to talk about projects and skills listed there. Practice succinct summaries of your responsibilities for each of your jobs listed. Study material you are likely to be asked about - for instance if the job involves Java programming, review coding problems in Java. Review the job description, and compare your skills and experience to the requirements. If you have a weak area, spend some time brushing up your skills and come up with a response to how you will come up to speed on that technology. Research likely technical questions to be asked, using Google (search terms for your field Field_x: "technical interview" questions Field_X ), colleagues in the field, and your online network. Books listed below may be helpful - if not, find one for your field. Practice solving sample interview questions while timed, and speaking while you write and solve the problems. Before going into detail about a problem solution, give the interviewer the high-level summary first. Keep in mind that your communication skills as well as your technical skills are being tested. Good links for more extensive technical interview advice:

Some companies may consider individuals making a career change for an adult internship. One example is a company who hired a software engineer who was transitioning out of Cobol to newer skills. Re-entry internships for tech career re-entry are discussed on our website's Wishlist page.

• GNOME - Outreach Program for Women Internships

  • Daphne Jackson is a program that returns professionals in STEM fields to their careers after at least a 2-year break, through paid fellowships that include research and retraining. Unfortunately for those of us in the U.S., it is limited to residents of the United Kingdom. 

  • You could return to school, to qualify for an internship. See school section above.

Write a Blog

Write a blog. Blogs are a modern social technology.  It can be a great way to demonstrate an interest and expertise in a subject area. Writing one keeps you up to date in that area. 

Prepare for Technical Interview

Volunteer on a technical project, to get current technical experience 

• • onlinevolunteering.org - UN Volunteers Inspiration in Action - Change the world by volunteering over the internet 

• SourceForge projects

  • Local organizations may offer opportunities to do hands-on technical volunteering. Even non-technical organizations have technical needs, for instance most nonprofit organizations could use computer network and website assistance. 

  • Do strategic volunteering with a professional organization. Aggregated links to many technical professional societies here. "If your professional organization does not offer programming for people coming off of career break, then offer to create it for them. Or offer to organize other professional updating and networking events. This role will enable you to come in contact with employers interested in hiring from the pool of talent on career break and with universities interested in updating this pool." (irelaunch.org)

On-the-job Training 

• • Apply for junior-level jobs, in order to get on-the-job training that will modernize your tech skills. The next job can be a more senior one, utilizing the full force of your modern skillset and your total years and breadth of experience.

  • Volunteering services on a technical project is a good way to get on-the-job training

Adult Internships

Classes (short-term)

Strategically chosen classes will update your tech knowledge. Some short-term classes result in certifications that make it easier to find a job. For instance, Cisco certifications such as CCNA or CCSP are requirements mentioned in many network engineering job descriptions. SANS has classes leading the GIAC security certification. 

Return to school 

Consider returning to school for a semester, summer, or a whole degree. Many community colleges offer technical courses at low rates, particularly 2-year state community colleges. Universities, state colleges, and online are additional options. (It is worth it to comparison shop for lower tuitions - prices vary considerably.) Although returning to school would mean low/no income for that time, and possibly student loans, there are multiple potential benefits:

• • Modernize your skillset

  • Access to internships, which require proof of being a fulltime college student

  • Access to career centers at the college, which list jobs in the community

  • Work-study jobs through the college provide a technical job. Low pay, but valuable recent experience to put on a resume.

  • Access to low-interest federal student loans, to fund living expenses while you update your skills. Start applying for federal student aid at FAFSA. 

  • There may be grants for unemployed workers - check with your local economic development council or career development organization, often part of county government.

  • There may be grants for students like you in STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). Women and minorities are targeted by some STEM grants, and others are open to all.

Independent/Collaborative Projects

• • Do project on your own, to refresh and update skills. For example, write a program in a modern IDE and a modern language using cloud-based storage, implementing security protocols, or for embedded devices.  

    • Microsoft, Apple plus Open Source software platforms all offer free versions of their development tools.

    • Microsoft Visual Studio

      • Xcode and iOS SDK - register for free as Apple Developer and get access  

    • Android Development tools

  • Open Source Projects - Collaborate online with others and learn important new skills, by contributing to Open Source Software projects.       

Open Source Project Opportunities

Check out ways to get involved in open source projects on our website's Open Source Software and Hardware opportunities section. <--Don't miss this!

Volunteer Opportunities

Workshops/Webinars

Workshops can be helpful to modernize skills, learn new lingo, and make useful job networking contacts 

• • Cisco's educational offerings include online videos, web seminars and workshops, much for free.

  • SANS (information security) offers both free and for-pay online webinars, and also offers workshops.

  • Many tech company websites offer webinars and white papers to educate potential customers about their products.  For tech career re-entry, it is a free way to learn about the work they are doing and how their technologies work.

  • Check out free workshops at local tech companies.

  • ACM's calendar of events include many workshops, so does IEEE's calendar of events. Websites for both societies also offer webinars, although membership may be required to view them. 

  • Many professional societies offer free or low-cost workshops

Educational conferences

Educational conferences are often a couple days long and significantly more expensive than workshops. For instance, SANS and BlackHat offer hiqh-quality educational conferences in the information security field. Many professional societies offer educational conferences. 

Start by identifying key skills you need to refresh or learn for the first time. Review job descriptions (on online job sites described in Job search tools) to find key skills and experience required, for the jobs you will apply for. Also go to our website section 'Investigate new tech trends and learn lingo', which helps you to identify new skills and expertise that are currently important in your field.

Online courses and tutorials

Review key skills previously learned and learn new skills using online tutorials, wiki pages, etc. Use keywords from current job descriptions to guide the topics.

• • There are sources of free as well as for-pay aggregated educational material for your field. For instance, links to educational resources to learn or review C++ coding, the heapsort algorithm, Kernel Hacking, and the wiki for the OSI model (see chart on right, to start reviewing). Use Google and wikipedia to find online tutorials. Some sites with aggregated links to online technical training here, here, and here.

  • MIT OpenCourseWare - Free MIT courses, including videos, audio, simulations, lectures and problem sets.

  • M.I.T.x - New iniative by MIT to build on OpenCourseWare foundation, including more interactivity over a videotaped lecture

  • MIT to launch online-only, graded courses for free

  • M.I.T. Game-Changer: Free Online Education For All

  • Academic Earth - Free online education from universities such as Stanford and Princeton (one of the 50 best websites of 2009, according to Time Magazine)

• Udacity

• Coursera

  • P2PU - "Learn anything with your peers.  Its online and totally free. At P2PU, people work together to learn a particular topic by completing tasks, assessing individual and group work, and providing constructive feedback." Classes include Python, Ruby on Rails, How to Teach Webcraft and Programming to Free-Range Students.

  • iTunes U classes including free Stanford University tech classes, Itunes tech podcasts

  • Online  video tutorials and video courses

    • There are many free technical video tutorials on YouTube

    • IEEE Computer Society - Membership ($99/yr) includes access to a wealth of learning resources. From 3,000 online courses to hundreds of books (including O'Reilly Media) and materials, members have ample means to enhance their skills.

    • Cisco (networking) and SANS (information security) offer both free and for-fee online video classes

    • These sites offer thousands of course options on the latest software tools, for $25-$30/month.  The advantage to these tutorials over free YouTube videos is that they are well organized, presented courses.  Both sites offer some content for free to evaluate material.

    • vtc.com

    • lynda.com

    • teamtreehouse.com

      • pluralsight.com - for hardcore developer training at $29/month

  • Web Designer Mag tutorials

  •  ACM and IEEE technical societies have a large amount of educational material online for members, however membership is pricey - in 2011 $99 for ACM annual membership, and $90 for 6 months IEEE membership. So much information is available for free on the internet that joining for educational material alone does not seem like a good deal; however their job listings and networking opportunities may make the fee worth it.

Professional society meetings

Aggregated links to many technical professional societies here. Many professional societies have in-person meetings as well as online discussion groups and educational resources, so they offer many types of learning opportunities. Example technical professional societies include ACM, IEEE, AITP, Society of Women Engineers, National Society of Black Engineers, and Society of Hispanic Engineers.  A comprehensive list of technical societies, here.