Ask HN: Has anyone switched from support to development?
8 comments
Yes, not much interesting there. I became a developer on the side while doing support and then switched teams. I think pretty much every dev should do ongoing stints as support to understand the clients needs
It gave me a great foundation of understanding the clients mindset. There basically is no "they are doing it wrong" it means it was designed wrong
It gave me a great foundation of understanding the clients mindset. There basically is no "they are doing it wrong" it means it was designed wrong
Yes. It was a long time ago, but I started in support when I graduated college (mid 90s). I started working on building small internal tools for our support teams. Eventually I had enough experience that I convinced my manager to make those tools my full-time job. I did that for a couple years, then made the switch to a new job as a software developer.
To be honest, I don't know if that path would be as simple today. There just wasn't as much software in the 90s as there is today, so finding tools to write was easy. And jumping into the startup world in the original dotcom boom was easy, as it was all so simple. Vanilla JS and HTML with some CRUD to a database, and you were as capable as anyone else. Today, the world is more complex.
Still, that is probably your best path - find a project to do, learn to code, have something to show for it, and then apply to jobs.
To be honest, I don't know if that path would be as simple today. There just wasn't as much software in the 90s as there is today, so finding tools to write was easy. And jumping into the startup world in the original dotcom boom was easy, as it was all so simple. Vanilla JS and HTML with some CRUD to a database, and you were as capable as anyone else. Today, the world is more complex.
Still, that is probably your best path - find a project to do, learn to code, have something to show for it, and then apply to jobs.
Look for smaller companies or startups where you can grow into the role. Be clear in your vision/message to the team and you will have to find a place which encourages you stepping up in the role. In our company for example, would love someone who can do technical support but wants to graduate to a web dev role. But it comes down to how bad you want it and how much effort are you willing to put in to get there.
If you wrote code for a job, you were a developer.
Change your resume from "tech support" to "internal tools developer".
Read up on typical development processes and reflect how you did and did not follow those and why (likely boils down to you being the only coder and user)
Change your resume from "tech support" to "internal tools developer".
Read up on typical development processes and reflect how you did and did not follow those and why (likely boils down to you being the only coder and user)
It's super common to switch from support to development! Maybe half of the developer/ops/pro services folks at Linode came from the support team (promoted over time).
I think it can be easiest to switch positions within the same company from support to dev or ops if you start building relationships with developers/ops and their managers and ask to start taking on small tasks with them.
However even if you don't have a supportive company you can still switch to development. Just start interviewing! Interviewing is always a numbers game anyway so don't get discouraged if they don't turn out all well. You'll probably have an easier time too if you don't target FAANG/whatever up front.
Email me if you'd like to chat more! You're in a pretty common situation!
I think it can be easiest to switch positions within the same company from support to dev or ops if you start building relationships with developers/ops and their managers and ask to start taking on small tasks with them.
However even if you don't have a supportive company you can still switch to development. Just start interviewing! Interviewing is always a numbers game anyway so don't get discouraged if they don't turn out all well. You'll probably have an easier time too if you don't target FAANG/whatever up front.
Email me if you'd like to chat more! You're in a pretty common situation!
I have a very similar origin story!
I worked for tech support for a large we host company... And all I can say is that I think tech support at web hosting companies is a bit... different from normal tech support. I've had a few friends work at telecom and in-store tech support, but the variety of issues you deal with (human and technical) at a web hosting company is unmatched IMO. You become a jack of all trades (but better), and this also makes you be a better developer IMO.
I also mean bad kind of "different" when it comes to people/communication related issues, but it probably has a good effect on your soft skills as a person. You probably need a "baseline empathy" to get hired and continue working the job, though.
Also, what's generally helped me in interviews is to treat the interviewer (yes) as a customer. You can apply most "people skills wisdom" you learn in support to an interview (and life in general!).
> You'll probably have an easier time too if you don't target FAANG/whatever up front.
I second this. The initial screening is done by third parties in most cases, not devs. And those third parties have such volumes to deal with, that they probably just discard you based on some computer-generated summary of your CV, if you don't have a few years of experience already (or you've got a way in through an internship or similar programmes).
I worked for tech support for a large we host company... And all I can say is that I think tech support at web hosting companies is a bit... different from normal tech support. I've had a few friends work at telecom and in-store tech support, but the variety of issues you deal with (human and technical) at a web hosting company is unmatched IMO. You become a jack of all trades (but better), and this also makes you be a better developer IMO.
I also mean bad kind of "different" when it comes to people/communication related issues, but it probably has a good effect on your soft skills as a person. You probably need a "baseline empathy" to get hired and continue working the job, though.
Also, what's generally helped me in interviews is to treat the interviewer (yes) as a customer. You can apply most "people skills wisdom" you learn in support to an interview (and life in general!).
> You'll probably have an easier time too if you don't target FAANG/whatever up front.
I second this. The initial screening is done by third parties in most cases, not devs. And those third parties have such volumes to deal with, that they probably just discard you based on some computer-generated summary of your CV, if you don't have a few years of experience already (or you've got a way in through an internship or similar programmes).
Closed source is OK, just descript it on you resume, there will be a company interest in.
I've managed to do it, but my path was a little different from yours. I didn't have any luck finding a job after finishing my CompSci degree, and ended up taking an application support role a few months after college out of desperation. I did that for about 2 years, and then ended up picking up an entry level development job at a different company in the same area.
The easiest way is probably to switch roles internally, but that wasn't much of an option for me, and doesn't sound like an option for you either.
What worked for me was looking for roles at growing, non-tech companies. I looked for companies with a large IT department, where their core business isn't to sell the technology you will be producing (so internal tools and such). These might not be the "best" roles long term but this should help you get your foot in the door, which is what you need more than anything at this point. These sorts of companies seem to be less picky about qualifications, and in my experience seem to be more likely to pick up inexperienced candidates to "grow with the team" especially if they already have established a decent amount of senior-level talent internally.
As far as how to sell yourself, my advice here is to sell yourself as former support analyst who is passionate about development and wants a career change, plain and simple. Six years of technical support will make recruiters want to push you into a support role, so get used to that. Be sure to make them aware of the development experience you got on the job as well as your side projects, and definitely lay it all out on your resume, but there's nothing wrong with being in support and wanting to switch to development. Own it, and let them know what advantages your support experience gives you that other developers won't have.
The easiest way is probably to switch roles internally, but that wasn't much of an option for me, and doesn't sound like an option for you either.
What worked for me was looking for roles at growing, non-tech companies. I looked for companies with a large IT department, where their core business isn't to sell the technology you will be producing (so internal tools and such). These might not be the "best" roles long term but this should help you get your foot in the door, which is what you need more than anything at this point. These sorts of companies seem to be less picky about qualifications, and in my experience seem to be more likely to pick up inexperienced candidates to "grow with the team" especially if they already have established a decent amount of senior-level talent internally.
As far as how to sell yourself, my advice here is to sell yourself as former support analyst who is passionate about development and wants a career change, plain and simple. Six years of technical support will make recruiters want to push you into a support role, so get used to that. Be sure to make them aware of the development experience you got on the job as well as your side projects, and definitely lay it all out on your resume, but there's nothing wrong with being in support and wanting to switch to development. Own it, and let them know what advantages your support experience gives you that other developers won't have.
I have about 6 years of technical support experience - in person, remote, covering hardware and software - and have created many tools/web apps in Go and PHP (less so lately, it has mostly been Go) to make my like and work easier along the way but, even though some of these were used for my work, I have no official professional development experience I can put on my resume. Making matters worse, almost all of these projects are closed source due to how integrated they became with the work environment I made them for. I do not have any degrees but I am about 1.5 years away from completing one.
Things have become unbearable with my current employer in the last few months and every similar job in my area is a significant pay cut - meaning 30-40% - that I’m not in a position to absorb right now due to health issues. I would love to switch into a development role because that is the future I have been trying to work towards for a long time now. I just don’t have any professional experience I can provide evidence for and am feeling a bit lost there; not to mention almost all of the entry level positions I come close to qualifying for are using things like C#/.NET & Java.
Have any of you transitioned from a technical support type of role into a development role recently? If so, how did you do it?