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career advice for engineer in difficult health situation

 
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Hi guys .

Well though for me to speak about this.but I'm recently in a quit complex situation that i will try to explain below and would be grateful if you experts give me advice.

I started a general engineering career long time ago. however after all this longtime studying i only could get a combination of uncomplete degrees:
1) (1990-1992) :2 years post high school studying in a preparatory school for engineering concentrations (was a though 2 years where i studied very advanced mathematics, physics, chemistry and few concepts of computer algorithms..because of health problems,i difficultly passed the final exam and was accepted in an Engineering school.
i passed 1 year in this engineering school then my health problems became a real handicap (suffering from deep depression and social phobia).
i struggled to pass another 2 years to complete my engineering degree but in vain : my health situation was very bad.

in 2001 i gave up all studies & stayed home.i'm gradually convinced that my illness is incurrable (18 years taking drugs without much improvement).

after 2004 my state of mind became a bit better and started to self-study on my home .i learned most of the java technologies and started to work freelance from home ...so far the results are humble but much better than the though years i spent in the 1990(s).as you note i'm not apt to work on site in a IT company due to health probs i explained before.
Now i gradually started taking self-confidence because i did well in java projects i worked as freelancer from home. but my income is really very low and I'm searching for solutions to increase my income to face my growing financial responsibilities.
my questions now are :
1) do you think a person with this disability like me have a chance to do a descent java developer and architect career ?
2) i'm able to communicate with clients only through chat IM ..but speaking with them face to face or on phone is generally a dreadful experience for me.
3)i wrote an open source project that i put on sourceforge.net and i don't know if this project has any chance to grow into a mature project.and also would like to know how i can make profit from this project (if it happens to be an interesting one) . my sourceforge project is : http://sourceforge.net/projects/openofficesugar/

I would appreciate your ideas and advice how to overcome my current situation .
 
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Originally posted by omar Bakr:

1) do you think a person with this disability like me have a chance to do a descent java developer and architect career ?
2) i'm able to communicate with clients only through chat IM ..but speaking with them face to face or on phone is generally a dreadful experience for me.



Decent is a relative term. I know some developers who work remotely and have careers they enjoy. That said, as I have written repeatedly software development is not about code and algorithms but rather communication. Electronic only communication will hinder your career prospects, but it is doable. (You will probably only be able to get development jobs as architects for a project of more than one person usually need to interact with multiple people.)

Originally posted by omar Bakr:

3)i wrote an open source project that i put on sourceforge.net and i don't know if this project has any chance to grow into a mature project.and also would like to know how i can make profit from this project (if it happens to be an interesting one) . my sourceforge project is : http://sourceforge.net/projects/openofficesugar/



I'd recommend reading The Magic Cauldron


--Mark
 
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It is achievable and you need to manage your career and the medical conditions. Do not hesitate to seek professional help on your medical condition and try to balance both. There are help at hand for social phobia and seek help.

In addition to freelance work you can also explore other aveneus to work from home like writing Java/JEE related articles and/or books via print on demand sites like http://www.lulu.com, devloping useful websites, building products etc.

I also belive that keeping yourself occupied also can assist with your medical condition. You are not alone and there are many other professionals with similar conditions.

Good Luck.
 
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I think a lot of drugs are crap made by companies to make money. Some drugs reliably have the desried effect (asperin, caffiene, etc) but others seem to be crap (prozac). Drugs are just stuff that interacts with your body in some way, and I personally don't believe they are reliable for helping with confidence, depression, and stuff like that.

I think getting a job would be a good way to start talking to people. You meet the same people every day and get to know them and talk a little in the morning and stuff like that.
 
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