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Posted by Tony on May 12, 2005, 11:36 pm
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Does anyone have any tips or advice?
I'm specifically interested in back-end coding: PHP, JavaScript, PERL, SQL,
etc. My strengths are PHP/SQL, with JavaScript & PERL close behind. I also
know VB.NET to a reasonable degree and I'm learning C#.
The biggest part of the problem is that I have some freelance experience,
and not much else. And I'm self-taught - no formal training in any of it. I
figured entry-level would be the way to go, but it doesn't seem like anyone
wants entry-level.
On the freelance end, frankly, I'm shitty at generating sales, and at the
moment I have NO money to put into marketing - even into networking like
joining a local Chamber or such. (leads is what I'm bad at - I close
decently once I'm in...)
I'm not sure which way to go, but this is definitely the direction I want to
take. My personal situation rules out 2 years of school as an option, at
present - so I'm hoping maybe a couple of you have some experience that can
help me figure things out.
Thanx!
(BTW, if it matters, I'm in Southern CA)
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Posted by John Bokma on May 13, 2005, 7:01 am
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Tony wrote:
> Does anyone have any tips or advice?
>
> I'm specifically interested in back-end coding: PHP, JavaScript, PERL,
> SQL, etc. My strengths are PHP/SQL, with JavaScript & PERL close
> behind.
It's Perl, not PERL. Moreover, the language is Perl, the "interpreter"
is perl.
> I also know VB.NET to a reasonable degree and I'm learning C#.
I recommend focussing on 2 languages at most. It sounds you know a bit
of every language, which means you can't do serious work in any (my
opinion).
> The biggest part of the problem is that I have some freelance
> experience, and not much else.
freelance means you can handle things on your own. It's a good thing.
But beware, some people might think that your job can be a temporary
one. So if you want a permanent position make sure you got a good story
why you don't want to freelance anymore.
> And I'm self-taught - no formal
> training in any of it.
Big disadvantage. Again, focus on at most two languages and try to get a
certificate in one (or two).
> I figured entry-level would be the way to go,
> but it doesn't seem like anyone wants entry-level.
>
> On the freelance end, frankly, I'm shitty at generating sales, and at
> the moment I have NO money to put into marketing - even into
> networking like joining a local Chamber or such. (leads is what I'm
> bad at - I close decently once I'm in...)
You got a web site?
Also, I see you use no sig. How can we know you are a freelancer?
> I'm not sure which way to go, but this is definitely the direction I
> want to take. My personal situation rules out 2 years of school as an
> option, at present - so I'm hoping maybe a couple of you have some
> experience that can help me figure things out.
My best advice. Pick one, and just one language. Based on your list I
think you have little to no OOP experience, so drop C#
Perl and PHP don't mix, and I guess your Perl skills are bad, so drop
Perl.
I would say: focus on PHP. Try to read a good book on it (New Riders,
O'Reilly), also try to find an advanced book, and a cookbook (I am sure
there is such a thing for PHP).
Get a good, and I mean a good, book on MySQL (O'Reilly maybe). Not a
"MySQL, PHP, JavaScript, Perl, C#, VB, HTML and XML Complete in 3
minutes".
Try to go for books that focus on one language / solution. And make sure
that they are not too thick. Thick books are often 50% print outs of
language references, library references etc. Waste of money.
Moreover, get a general text book on algorithms. "An introduction into
Algorithms" is one I love, but might be a big heavy, especially to begin
with.
And also, get a general text book on how do design a solution.
--
John Perl SEO tools: http://johnbokma.com/perl/
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Get a SEO report of your site for just 100 USD:
http://johnbokma.com/websitedesign/seo-expert-help.html
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Posted by Jerry Stuckle on May 13, 2005, 8:44 am
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Tony wrote:
> Does anyone have any tips or advice?
>
> I'm specifically interested in back-end coding: PHP, JavaScript, PERL, SQL,
> etc. My strengths are PHP/SQL, with JavaScript & PERL close behind. I also
> know VB.NET to a reasonable degree and I'm learning C#.
>
> The biggest part of the problem is that I have some freelance experience,
> and not much else. And I'm self-taught - no formal training in any of it. I
> figured entry-level would be the way to go, but it doesn't seem like anyone
> wants entry-level.
>
> On the freelance end, frankly, I'm shitty at generating sales, and at the
> moment I have NO money to put into marketing - even into networking like
> joining a local Chamber or such. (leads is what I'm bad at - I close
> decently once I'm in...)
>
> I'm not sure which way to go, but this is definitely the direction I want to
> take. My personal situation rules out 2 years of school as an option, at
> present - so I'm hoping maybe a couple of you have some experience that can
> help me figure things out.
>
> Thanx!
>
> (BTW, if it matters, I'm in Southern CA)
>
>
>
Hi, Tony,
In addition to the other comments:
But you're biggest problem to going out on your own will be you're a
relative novice. People looking for a consultant are looking for
experience.
Probably the best place to look is larger companies. They have a better
ability to bring on a relative novice and train him. Smaller companies
don't have that ability as much.
Keep looking - and remember the best jobs don't show up in the
newspaper. I'd suggest getting your resume together and hit the
pavement. Take it around to various companies; most will say no, but
you only need one "yes". And watch for job fairs in your area.
If you do want to stay on your own, check out
alt.computer.consultants.moderated (forget about the non-moderated group
- it's worthless). You'll get a lot of good advice there.
BTW, it's marketing, not sales. A huge difference (marketing is about
finding customers; sales is about getting their money). It's not easy,
and you can learn.
--
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attglobal.net
==================
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Posted by Charles Sweeney on May 13, 2005, 9:38 am
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Tony wrote
> Does anyone have any tips or advice?
>
> I'm specifically interested in back-end coding: PHP, JavaScript, PERL,
> SQL, etc. My strengths are PHP/SQL, with JavaScript & PERL close
> behind. I also know VB.NET to a reasonable degree and I'm learning C#.
>
> The biggest part of the problem is that I have some freelance
> experience, and not much else. And I'm self-taught - no formal
> training in any of it. I figured entry-level would be the way to go,
> but it doesn't seem like anyone wants entry-level.
>
> On the freelance end, frankly, I'm shitty at generating sales, and at
> the moment I have NO money to put into marketing - even into
> networking like joining a local Chamber or such. (leads is what I'm
> bad at - I close decently once I'm in...)
>
> I'm not sure which way to go, but this is definitely the direction I
> want to take. My personal situation rules out 2 years of school as an
> option, at present - so I'm hoping maybe a couple of you have some
> experience that can help me figure things out.
>
> Thanx!
>
> (BTW, if it matters, I'm in Southern CA)
For me, you have the most important things, desire and enthusiasm. I
wouldn't worry about not having a certificate, as any employer worth his
salt wouldn't worry about it either.
As a Government Minister here in the UK once said, "get on your bike",
or in this case, get on your word processor, and bombard companies with
your CV. Most importantly, show them an example of your work.
Placing an ad in your local newspaper might do the trick. I know over
here, they sometimes have good rates for job seekers.
Good luck.
--
Charles Sweeney
http://CharlesSweeney.com
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Posted by Karim on May 13, 2005, 11:16 am
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On Thu, 12 May 2005 22:36:19 -0700, Tony wrote:
> Does anyone have any tips or advice?
>
> I'm specifically interested in back-end coding: PHP, JavaScript, PERL, SQL,
> etc. My strengths are PHP/SQL, with JavaScript & PERL close behind. I also
> know VB.NET to a reasonable degree and I'm learning C#.
>
> The biggest part of the problem is that I have some freelance experience,
> and not much else. And I'm self-taught - no formal training in any of it. I
> figured entry-level would be the way to go, but it doesn't seem like anyone
> wants entry-level.
>
> On the freelance end, frankly, I'm shitty at generating sales, and at the
> moment I have NO money to put into marketing - even into networking like
> joining a local Chamber or such. (leads is what I'm bad at - I close
> decently once I'm in...)
>
> I'm not sure which way to go, but this is definitely the direction I want to
> take. My personal situation rules out 2 years of school as an option, at
> present - so I'm hoping maybe a couple of you have some experience that can
> help me figure things out.
>
> Thanx!
>
> (BTW, if it matters, I'm in Southern CA)
Drop PHP, Perl and the other "hobby" web development langauges. If you are
serious about your future and career, learn a serious language/framework
like C#/.NET or Java/J2EE. These pay much better than php developers and
the positions are a lot more. Just do a search on Dice.com and you'll find
out that there are many more Java and asp.net jobs than PHP. The most you
can get out of PHP is web development and most enterprise companies do not
use PHP. It doesn't scale well. Most PHP is used in open source, smaller
type of sites.
You say you're learning C#. Once you master C#, you can build Windows apps,
web apps, web services, console apps, DLL's, mobile apps for PDA's, cell
phones that run on Windows CE, SQL Server 2005 stored procs.. etc. The
future is open and bright. With PHP, there's only one street. Web
development and even with that, you will not get paid very well. You can
make six figures with .NET. No way with PHP.
Good luck.
Karim
--
http://www.cheapesthosting.com - Innovative Web Hosting since 1998
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