做Android Developer可行嗎？

我現在也有個職業選擇方向的問題，請朋友們提供一點建議. 希望這次不會再犯政治正確的錯誤了！

以前我干的老本行目前在加拿大不景氣，工作機會很少。但美國有，如果自己願意，幾乎不會有問題。因為我以前工作的加拿大公司收購了一家美國公司，後來加拿大公司把大部分業務都轉到了美國公司去了。當年我就是因為家中有老，不想去美國公司工作才被裁掉的。目前公司的高層我大多都認識。我也曾在美國公司做過一段時間，對那裡的情況也算是熟悉的。我在兩地工作加起來的時間超過了10年。前段時間我跟公司試探聯繫過，有個高管打電話告訴我，說有事找他就好了。因為我過去的經驗在北美算是偏冷的，我不容易找其它機會，同樣他們也不容易找到象我這樣的人。因此，雙方碰到一起時，反而合作的可能性更大。但是，過去我自己是有點不喜歡幹這一行。曾經想轉行。我喜歡電腦編程。早在2000年，我就利用業餘時間參加了Computer  Programming 培訓。但因為工作忙，最後沒做project，結果沒拿到證書。但後來自己去考Java Programmer Certificate。還做過兩個contract project。至少把學費賺回來了！後來遇到911，IT機會少了很多，我只好回頭干我老本行了。

但在我干老本行期間，我一直沒有完全放棄對編程的興趣。期間前後15年時間裡，我前後做過十幾個形形色色的projects(見下面），當然都是自己搞自己用的，並沒有真正地在商業上應用。因此我的編程經驗肯定比初學者好多了，但是比senior肯定也差一節。我的主要經驗在Java，兩年前開始用Android。因為Android 和Java 是幾乎一樣的，只是開發平台不同，所以上手對我來說很容易。幾個月前，我做了兩個Android projects，都放到Google Play Store 上面去了。IT專家們說移動應用將是未來十年發展的重點，現在Android 工作機會也非常多。我想往這方面努力。但考慮到自己的年紀，不知道這種想法是否可行？大多數人的意見是我應該干我的老本行去，理由似乎也是非常充分的。老本行可靠穩定。Android編程是年輕人幹的活。但做我老本行有一個問題，需要搬家去美國，我家裡有老人，跟我去美國沒身份，沒醫保，這是個巨大的障礙！所以，做Android對我似乎又是一個不二的選擇。在我業餘時間裡，我做起編程來會入迷，可以說是我的真正興趣所在。但不利和限制因素顯然也有，主要就是年齡。我50出頭了。這個年齡真不應該幹這行了，但我對此的確感興趣啊！另外，我也沒有在IT公司幹過。我的resume看上去似乎非常吸引人，因為我做過的projects不少，只是都是自己用。說難聽一點，質量可疑！幾個中介也找過我。去年也得到一次Java的interview機會。但當他們知道我沒有在IT公司幹過，我編過的軟件也沒有在商業上應用時，他們就猶豫了。後來又得到一次Interview機會，但他們找的是Android developer，當時我雖然有Android 知識，但沒做過任何Android project。正因為如此，我感到現在Android developer 需求很大。所以從那以後，自己趕做了兩個Android app放到網上去了。有一個中介看到了，三個月前找過我，但當時我似乎已經放棄了做IT的念頭了，所有沒有回覆。我都已經準備好適當時候去找以前的老闆，做我的老本行去了。但兩天前這個中介又找我了，所以現在我似乎又然起了做IT的希望。如果這個行，我就不需要搬家，這是比較好的結果。但象我這樣的情況，做編程，雖然我喜歡，但合適嗎？有前途嗎？我越來越感到困惑。

我知道萬維藏龍臥虎，有很多人都在干IT這一行，我相信他們可以幫我提供很多有價值的建議。先謝謝了！

另外，我剛剛完成再就業培訓。拿到的是 Computer Networking Diploma. 當時很想學progrmming之類的，但這些培訓是不受政府支持的，所以只好找個相關的 Networking。但我對找computer networking工作不感興趣，雖然我培訓的所有成績都是A，除非有現成的networking 機會等着我。

以下是我曾經做過的projects：

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE(因為個人身份顧慮，隱去了相關的內容)：

1.        Android application1, XXX, Canada                                                            July, 2016

This Android application is very unique in its capacity of displaying multiple sites in smart phone screen side by side, just as what you do in a desktop computer. It is the first of its kind in the mobile application market. This application is very useful when a user needs to compare information in the same screen from different sources, such as online shopping. Besides multisite displaying capacity, it also has almost all functionalities of bookmarking in mobile app. 

2.        Android application2, XXX, Canada                                                                      April, 2016

This is an android application for mobile user who wants to search information online,but doesn’t like to type in the small phone screen. This application has been published online

The development environment: Android Studio, Photoshop, Linux, Mac

3.        Prime Number Search Project, XXX, Canada,                                                   Sept.  2015

This is a C program which was designed to search largest prime number. Originally written in Java, but Java code would take 25 minutes to complete just one calculation. When it was rewritten in C, it takes only 3 seconds to complete one calculation. This is a personal project. I did it in my spare time.

Environment: Originally it was written in Java, working in Eclipse, Linux OS. Later, it was rewritten in C, Linux OS

4.        JavaScript Project,   XXX, Canada                                                           June.  2015

Website:  http://

This project is just a demo. I used my JavaScript skills to create an animation website. I did it myself.

Environment: Windows, Notepad++.

6. Currency Trading (Java)                                                                            2006-current

This project started 10 years ago and was modified freqently and is still in evolution due to ever-changing need of currency trading business. I personally use this application to do currency trading in my spare time. For more detailed information and code reference see

here:

Environment: Windows, JDeveloper, Eclipse, Linux

7.        Visual Basic Project (VB)                                                                                  2012

This Visual Basic program was written just for fun. It is working all right, but not for commercial purpose. For more detailed information and code reference, please see here: h

Environment: Windows, Visual Basic Studio, Visual Basic 6.0

8.        Restaurant Order Management System(Java),                2008

This Java application was written for a friend’s  restaurant. For more detailed information and code reference, please see here:  

Environment: Windows, JDeveloper.

9.        Video Rental Management(Java) ,Canada,                                                 2007

This Java application was written for a friend‘s video store. For more detailed information and code reference, please see here: 

Environment: Windows, JDeveloper.

10.        Stocks Trading(Java) , xxx,Canada                         2006

This Java application was written for my personal usage in stock trading. For more detailed information

and code reference, please see here:

Environment: Windows, JDeveloper.

11.        Java application for my old job,XXX                                          2003

This Java application was written for my old job usage. For more detailed information and code reference, please see here: 

Environment: Windows, JDeveloper

12.        Suppliers & Customers(Java), XXX,                                            2003

This Java application was written for my old job usage. For more detailed information and code reference, please see here: 

Environment: Windows, JDeveloper.

13.        XXX(Java), xxx,Canada                                                   2001

This Java application was written for a part time contract project from an online storage company which is called “XXX",xxx, Canada. For more detailed information and code reference, please see here: 

Environment: Windows, JDeveloper.

14.        Java Applet & Swing(Java), XXX,Canada                                               2001

This was a part time contract project for a company which is called “xxx” in xxx,Canada. My duty was to code Swing components for the Applet used for trader online customer login. Codes is lost now and not available for reference.

Environment: Windows, JDeveloper.