cprncus

I'm going to be visiting within about an hour or two of NYC and Philadelphia (and with friends in Boston, so easy to get/stay there) for three weeks from mid December through the first week of January, and would like to use some of that time to either get a job or make contacts for possible future job opportunities. I have an academic science background but am transitioning out of academics, and have some programming experience (self-taught, my own projects + some remote contracting work, Python).

Due to the way my travel plans shook out, I have too much free time during this period and want to make the most of it. So, given this region, any specific suggestions for what I might do to take advantage of this time effectively in terms of job hunting or making contacts?

I have sort of an odd career path, and have a college teaching job for this year, but after that, I'll be jobless. I am considering changing careers completely, and have some interest in technology, so I thought I'd ask here.

This is where I am today, career-wise:

- Early 40s - Ph.D. in a bioscience. Minimal publication record. - ~10 yrs college teaching (assistant prof). - Authored many (>50) PowerPoint presentations. - Comfortable speaking in public and teaching; have been told I'm good at it. - Enjoy writing, discussion, ideas, creativity.

Here's my programming experience (self-taught):

- Python (~7 yrs). I've written some desktop applications, one of which, w/ ~20k LOC, I've put a serious amount of work into. - SQLite (basic), as well as a number of Python 3rd party libraries for plotting, Excel, etc. - Created a website for an artist in HTML/CSS (using Notepad). - No web app or mobile app ability (yet). - Authored multi-part video tutorial online for a development tool, which got positive feedback (~300 good comments). - Done some contracting work for custom data analysis and file doctoring scripts for a small biotech company.

I have no clear sense what sort of (good) options I might have in the IT world, given my background.

Suggestions welcome (obviously anything would be a rough estimate, but I don't mind). Thanks!