Please help me out of this situation!!!!

[James Branson]

Hi,

I work for a very reputed MNC in a South-indian Metro. I joined the company as a fresher, and am still in the same Prod Support proj for the past 20 months. I am from a Non-IT background. So, I was not very good at Java. Later, after I got into this project, I never got any chance to look into the code. All I do is call the US clients, ask what their issue is, look into a document, follow what it says and close the issue (ticket). Since it has been 20 long months now, I have totally lost touch of Java. I am no better than a 12th Std guy.

What is bothering me here is, 'IS MY CAREER RUINED NOW'? When I look for opportunities outside my company, they look for coding/programming/development experience. Since I have become a senior member of my team, I am not being released either from my current project.

Unlike other prod support projects, the one I work in is very hectic. We have very stringent SLAs to meet, and not a very co-operative on-site team. We work round the clock. There is no much time to concentrate on other stuffs. I have completed SCJP and will soon complete SCWCD. But, I don't feel these certifications carry any value. Hands-on experience is being given more importance!!

So, my situation is : "A guy with 2 yrs experience in Java, but who hasn't coded even a hello world once in his life"

Please advise me what to do now? How to proceed.. Is my career totally Ruined???
[ June 04, 2008: Message edited by: James Branson ]

[Deepak Bala]

A career is what you make of it. What did you do when you found out that you were not learning much ? Did you take certifications ? Did you do your own projects ?

Try to shift from your project or change your company if this is not possible. Keep learning always and try to find out what you can do that makes you happy. Is it network administration ? Management ? Architecture design ? Coding ?

Please change your name from "Cool Toad" to something like "John Teller". You need a valid first name and last name to participate in our forums

[Deepak Bala]

Please do not double post

https://coderanch.com/t/33072/Jobs/careers/Production-Support-Vs-Development

[Prasad Tamirisa]

I do agree with John. Being in production support from last 2 years, you should have got lots of free time.

You should have used that free time to study something new and practice JAVA.

Any way, Past is past. I would suggest you to do the following.

1) Start learning/revising JAVA right now.
2) Try to come out of that project.
3) Find some project where you code some thing.
4) If not, do your own projects.

[Niki Nono]

1. Revise the technologies that you want to work in
2. Appear for certifications to prove to the world that inspite of not working on the technology, you know what it is and have a proof from the creators themselves.
3. Think of taking up some freelancing stuff, to get a hang of how the industry codes, this can be a part of your CV maybe 6 months down the line to help you secure interviews at least.

Best of luck.

[Mark Herschberg]

"Cool Toad",

Welcome to JavaRanch. Please look carefully at the official naming policy at JavaRanch & reregister yourself with a proper first & last name, with a space between them. Initials may be used for a first name, but not a last name. Please adhere to official naming policy & help maintain the decorum of the forum. The naming policy can be found at http://www.javaranch.com/name.jsp. You can change your name here.

--Mark