[speeder]

I am unemployed and have a newborn and the situation is getting really bad. Problem is the language I am specialist is C, but C shops don't want to hire me because I don't have any past industrial embedded jobs.

What language you recommend that has lots of jobs and low competition?

[t43562]

I learned go and that was unusual enough in London to make me more attractive to a company that needed it.

I took a few steps back in salary from where I had been to get a job in a new technology area. Now I earn more.

I don't have an excellent answer for you - C is a bit too limiting as you mention but I wouldn't stop looking because a company that needs you at a reasonable price might be out there and might overlook your lack of embedded experience if they like you as a fit for their team - eager to learn, person they could have a beer with kind of thing.

I would definitely learn some other thing - at least to show you can. Something too popular won't give you that "we can ignore experience" thing and something too odd won't get any hits. You could say "I'm learning Rust" or "Go (basic level" on your CV and see if it gets you more hits.

[prewett]

I'd guess most of the places that use C would tend to be embedded; those that aren't probably moved to C++. Could you credibly claim to know C++?

Have you used Java or Python for anything in the past? If you need something now those are options with a lot of jobs.

If you only know C, I'd recommend at least learning Python. You'll use it for a lot of quick stuff, and it opens you to more jobs. If you want employment and are okay with "boring" companies, Java is useful: there are a lot of Java jobs that aren't going to go anywhere, and Java is superset of C so at least you'll get going quickly.

You can also go the contractor route, via Toptal, for instance. Breadth is also valuable in contracting. I got a contract once because I'd worked with the PostScript language a bit as a kid, so I could claim to have worked with PostScript.

If you can credibly claim to have learned multiple languages, you could try applying for an job with a fairly obscure language. If I were a hiring manager, I would assume anyone comfortable with C would be able to pick up the language my team is working on, and if you have other skills the obscure language shop might accept that nobody knows the language so they will have to train anybody they hire.

[radicalbyte]

Learn web development. Coming from C backend web development isn't hard. Feel free to mail me and I can give you more direct tips.

Just checked the Linked-In in your profile - is that you? As it isn't a C/embedded developer :-)

[speeder]

Yes, it is me. I am a gamedev that loves C and been trying to get embedded jobs since I was a teenager but never landed any.

I done a lot of C work, but for example using iPod (I made a check fraud scanner in C for iPod, for a client), or for games. Never figured out how to get my hands even on some hardware so I could tinker with C at home, the few times I found how to buy some, I didn't had the money to do so.

Gamedev pays poorly and is hard to get jobs in first place, thus why I was hoping to get embedded jobs too. Or any C high performance work, for that matter.

[YuriNiyazov]

You have to decouple “programming in a language I love” from “earning money to support my newborn.” It sounds like you have a strong desire (requirement, even?) that your job has to provide both. It’s a common desire, but in my experience it is very rare that the world configures itself to satisfy that desire.

[vertis]

Seconded. This is a perk not a given. You might get to program in a language you love and you might even get to work on projects you love doing parts of the project you love, but not always.

Every part of software development at big companies is compromise. Working with toolchains and packages that aren't my favourite. Styling code in ways that aren't my preferred way (it better be automatic though). Working on features I'm pretty sure are a waste of time.

You pick your battles. You can improve some of the things most of the time, but very rarely all of the things. Even if you're building a startup/product solo you have to compromise and you have to build the boring features.

Most importantly though, employed and earning $€£, followed up by working on moving more towards working on things I love.

[emerongi]

Companies that use newer or niche languages are more forgiving and understand that there's fewer specialists, therefore they are more accepting of people who don't have much experience in the language.

Competition is still high in companies with high hiring standards. I wouldn't say that it's easy to get hired. You just have many more chances to prove that you're good, even if your resume seems lackluster, as companies are more eager to talk to you.

I don't know enough about the market to suggest any specific languages.

[gaws]

> C shops don't want to hire me because I don't have any past industrial embedded jobs.

What were you doing with C professionally that wasn't embedded work?

[brianwawok]

> lots of jobs and low competition?

You can't have both!

[sowbug]

I interpreted the phrase as high demand with low supply. Such conditions can exist, but not indefinitely.

[brianwawok]

Or there is a high barrier to entry. GP doctors in the US are both High Demand, and Low supply. But they have a very big barrier to entry, namely:

a) It's incredible hard to get into and graduate Medical School in the US

b) Medical schools have a very strict limit on the number of students, thus gating supply.

c) For only a little more work than being a GP, you can be a specialist doctor and make much more money.

Would not see this changing without a law change or something major.