Back in my late 20s, I got stuck on maintaining a legacy software system written in Ada95 (I was unemployed in 2008 and it was the only work I could find).
When that job went away, I thought I could get a job using something more modern. However, the only job I was able to land was a new development project in Ada2005 (actually it was a port from SPARC to x64 and a partial rewrite of the same legacy application I had been maintaining for 3 years).
It took me forever to find a company that would "take a chance" on me - which is when I started working with Java.
That whole experience taught me that I always need to have side projects going so I have actual work samples to show potential employers.
Ha, I was somewhat in the same position, my first job out of college was working for a NASA contractor using Ada. I programmed on the side using C for fun and was able to find a startup to take a chance on me after a few years.
When that job went away, I thought I could get a job using something more modern. However, the only job I was able to land was a new development project in Ada2005 (actually it was a port from SPARC to x64 and a partial rewrite of the same legacy application I had been maintaining for 3 years).
It took me forever to find a company that would "take a chance" on me - which is when I started working with Java.
That whole experience taught me that I always need to have side projects going so I have actual work samples to show potential employers.