I have been browsing the questions here for advice on how to prepare and approac

Question

I have been browsing the questions here for advice on how to prepare and approach for going back to the job market. The Q&As have been a lot helpful but I would like to share some of the questions I and some others might still have in this market, and hope for responses.

Five years ago right after getting my BSCS, I got an internship as a system admin with a large sized company and got hired as a software support Engineer ( fixing defects) and then java/J2EE developer in the same company. Overall I had 4 years of experience but was not confident with my skills and could not have a good grasp of the product we were developing, so I left the company over a year ago in search of my dream job :). But now after analyzing many things I still want to go back, but this time try web development. Now the catch is I forgot many concepts and coding after a year. Here are some questions I am dealing with right now. Can you please help me find a way?

1- How can I start learning about the web development? what do you suggest to learn to be able to compete with the rest of the candidates? to what level of understanding I should get in this field to know I am ready to look for jobs and how long should my estimate be to reach that level?

2- My resume shows I have been out of the market for over a year and my skills are mostly in Java programming and debugging. I assume most roles won't consider me as a candidate due to this gap in my career. How can I compensate for that and get more interviews?

3- Now that I am planning to move to a new area of software engineering that I don't have any experience in, should I consider my 4 years of industry experience? or considering the break I had should I look for junior development jobs?

Thank you!

Explanation / Answer

I really think the only way to learn correctly is practicing. So I would suggest you to buy a couple of books on the technologies you want to dive in and experiment by solving a problem you have today.

You have to put "Junior Developer" on your CV again. I used to practice martial arts for years. When I stopped for too long (more than 6 months), and I came back with my white belt. Titles are nothing but titles. If you put "Senior Developer", you will fail the interviews.

Of course you should consider your 4 years experience. But not like it was the last 4 years. Yes, take Junior Development Jobs first, delight your boss, then things will come naturaly.

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