Several times over the past few weeks I’ve had friends and blog readers question my decision to go back to a traditional ASP.NET or PHP Web programming job. “You ought to be in marketing,” they’ve told me. “I have no doubt you’re a good programmer, but your creativity, your communication, and your intuition are your strongest suits.”
Know what? I kind of agree. I’d love to get into marketing, where I could really apply my creativity. It would be fun and I think it would be a great use of my talents, far more so than another programming job. Not that there isn’t any creativity in programming, but “Find a way to import 10,000,000 records from a third party data provider while optimizing for speed and maintaining 99.99% accuracy” just isn’t a problem that excites me a lot. However, I think my knowledge of what works on the Internet, from the lessons I’ve learned over the past 4 years as a successful blogger and the past year doing affiliate marketing websites, would be a huge plus in a marketing position.
The thing is, would anyone hire me? I don’t have a business degree (I have an Master of Science in Computer Science), and in fact have never taken a business course in my life. Honestly, I’m kind of proud of that fact, as I don’t believe a business degree is necessary for success in the business world. However, those doing the hiring – those who have spent 4-6 years of their lives earning a business degree – may feel differently.
The other problem is, if I took a marketing position, I’d likely have to take a pay cut from the money I earned in my last two full-time positions as a senior developer. I don’t mind a 20-30% pay cut if it’s more interesting work, and I’d still earn enough to maintain my lifestyle Downtown. However, an entry-level position would likely be close to a 50% pay cut, and I couldn’t maintain the life I enjoy on that amount. For that matter, I don’t think an entry-level position in marketing would be appropriate, anyway. The lessons I’ve learned and the intuition I’ve gained over the past 15 years should vault me past entry-level, I believe.
Anyone out there got advice for me? Hit me up at paul@paulryburn.com if you do. I’ve announced that I’m on a hiatus from job hunting until December 1, but this is a field in which I’d be willing to come back prematurely.