Ask HN: career advice for mom? Has spent years using Fortran

1 points by Sabrosa 14 years ago | 1 comment

Hi HN,

My mom has doing freelance computer consulting for 10-20+ years, mainly with something called GL4, which she says is similar to Fortran. It's really specific and for very niche clients.

Long story short, her client list is starting to dry up. I recommended that she learn something more modern, as there seems to be a huge demand for experienced programmers.

Any suggestions on what language(s) to learn? Keep in mind that she isn't going to run off to SF and join a startup, and that remote or semi-remote work is much preferred.

Not really looking for a huge career change here, more like... spend 6 months learning X (which is easy for a person familiar with Fortran) and get a decent position with reasonable hours / freelance work.

Thanks a ton, it is much appreciated.

cd34 14 years ago |

How's her COBOL? I probably get 2-3 recruiter requests a month for long-term consulting gigs. Most aren't remote positions but often do pay enough to make it worthwhile if you can uproot your life for 3-6 months.

Alternatively, have her ask her current clients what their requirements are. Much easier to continue consulting with them than to find new business with a fresh language.

If she's doing 'Fortran', I would think Python may be close enough to pick up easily. She could branch into C which I believe is the typical replacement language for most Fortran installations.