I have over 7 years experience in mainframe technologies and about 2 years experience supporting client/server applications. I have taught myself C well enough to be able to understand the code, however I have not had any opportunities to do any actual coding. My company recently sent me to a few java training classes, but then decided not to pursue java because of time/expense issues (don’t ask). Although we use currently use VB/C++ for some development, this area is not an option because my company only wants to use experienced people on these development projects.
My question is.. how do you make the get the experience everyone is searching for? My own company, after spending money on training, would rather hire experienced consultants to do the job than work with existing employees to make the transition.
Any suggestions for how to proceed. I live in the Chicago area and realize a pay cut may be necessary given my lack of development skills w/ OO related programming. However, I believe my general programming skills, along with problem-solving and troubleshooting ability are valuable no matter what the language/technology.