On Becoming Professional...

nwcpro

Open Question:
I have written a few web apps in PHP and MySQL, but I now want to develop my skills to the point of becoming a free lance programmer. I recently became partially disabled (bad back, how stereotypical), so working as a network engineer isn't an option any longer.
My questions are as follows:

I have devoured several books, but how do I move past that? How can I get involved in coding projects that aside from pay will increase my skills? I learn by reading and then doing.
Is there a way to get more experienced programmers to look at my code to evaluate where I'm at on the skill ladder?
Where can one find work? I have bid on several projects on itmoonlighter.com, but haven't gotten any jobs.

Any Suggestions? As this is my first post, be kind if I did it wrong.

JohnJ@nwcpro.com

Elizabeth

Sorry to hear about your situation!
Have you tried:
www.monster.com
www.elance.com
Jobs listed at zend - http://www.zend.com/jobs/jobs.php?CID=433

You could also try contacting some local small businesses and offering to do websites for them for free/very little money- learning experience for you and very helpful for them.

Good luck to you!
-Elizabeth

nwcpro

Originally posted by Elizabeth
Sorry to hear about your situation!
-Elizabeth

Elizabeth,
Thanks for the reply,
I've looked at a few of the freelance sites, and elance seems like a total scam. I am registered at guru.com and itmoonlighter.com.
I have already done a few sites for local clients, one of which made fairly extensive use of PHP and MySQL. Unfortunately, the new owners wanted to go with a big design firm.:mad:
I'm mostly worried about how to get better. When you are self-employed, you tend to work in a vacuum - you don't really know how good you are.

Thanks again,
John

jstarkey

If you can afford it, volunteering is always a good way to network and gain more experience. I picked up 13 months of work - 20 hours per week at freelance rates, after volunteering for a site. They're still throwing work my way.

Bunkermaster

if u need someone to look at your code you can pick some of us. We are mean, you'll wish u were somewhere else but we'll point out what you need to work on.

Or we'll look like total n00bs by arguying about the position of the block brakets... Already happened... Prolly will again 😃

What I did to learn PHP in depth was develop a CRM couple years ago, before that my use of PHP was for slight page generation with nothing fancy in it.

I am not sure about volunteering. I am selling my services to small businesses with lotsa cash and no website (or shitty ones). But I sell packaged solutions... Might work better when people know the cost BEFORE they have you running around in their backyard.

ok now I totally lost the topic. Bah...

jstarkey

I should probably clarify, I was referring to volunteering for a non-profit.

For me it mean 3 months of volunteering which later turned into 13+ months of work. A fairly solid investment if you have nothing else going on and can afford it. Especially if you do good enough work that you can charge 25% more than your normal rate, to recoop those 3 months.

Volunteering for anything other than non-profits and family/friends is dangerous for the industry. Sounds like you're already planted in IT, so I'm sure you know.

Bunkermaster

non profit is always good 🙂 don't we all work for a non proffit org here? 😉

nwcpro

Thanks for the responses, everyone.
The first thing I need to do is get my own site back on the air. I made some hosting changes and have never bothered with putting a site back up. I am going to incorporate an online PIM application that I built for us to use in house and use it as a kind of portfolio. My biggest problem is comming up with an interesting DB/PHP application to showcase.
I have one question: Do most of you make a living doing only PHP coding, or do you make most of your money doing "sites" which include layout, graphics, and such? I am also wondering if PHP is the best language to concentrate on, or if I would do better with Java or :eek: .NET? ( Or just chuck programming and hope I can find someone who will let me remotely manage their LAN)

Thanks so much for the advice, I need it!

Bunkermaster

/me sticks burning incense and starts to reciste mantras for the soul of nwcpro who mentioned 2 dooming words.

Well, as someone pointed out to me yesterday, many people are moving from ASP.NOT (typo intended) to PHP.

What I do is not only PHP application development but also graphics, animation and an attitude. And when it comes to showcasing, I have my host in hong kong that hosts my demo apps 🙂

statrat

i started with my own stuff, then stuff for friends and family, then they told people. and some organizations i'm a part of needed help and i did stuff for them.

also, i just picked up a freelance php job while cruising on a forum for an open source product i'm using for a site i'm developing. that guy then told his brother who just contacted me with another freelance request. so i would find an app that people use, learn it, and then cruise the net, forums, ask around if people need help with it.

i wouldn't waste my time with asp. java is tough to break into, i've tried.

it's a cliche, but it's all about networking. which is nice since i'm a Network Engineer by day. i've never even gotten one bite from monster.com in 2 years.

it just grows organically. it's been impossible for me to get freelance jobs through freelance bid sites or job/career sites. and actual salaried php jobs with actual companies seem non-existent.

i love php but i don't think it's mature enough to be embraced by mainstream companies. it still has the (erroneous and unfortunate) stigma of something for 14 yr old kids.

jstarkey

Originally posted by statrat

i love php but i don't think it's mature enough to be embraced by mainstream companies. it still has the (erroneous and unfortunate) stigma of something for 14 yr old kids.

It's been embraced. At least one US gov defense agency is testing it in a few DMZs and Lockheed Martin just hired one dev and had an ad posted for another here in CO.

A few other quick biggins:

http://www.nfl.com/
http://www.hoopitup.com/
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/star_search2/index.php
http://www.virgin.co.uk/

The list goes on and on.

statrat

one developer in a company of 30k and one ad in a state of 5 million? hmmm.

i don't dispute that there are companies/sites that use it, but i still think it's down the overall list, compared to asp, perl, java, cf, et al. it's not even taught in the colleges here. maybe it's just a local observation, maybe it's an economy thing (no jobs for anyone in anything), maybe there is actual data out there that will answer my anecdotal observation. whatever, my comment was actually a positive one, implying that it still had enormous potential to grow and offer opportunities in.

jstarkey

Ok, ok. It's been embraced, but hasn't quite gotten to third base. 😃

You said you felt it wasn't mature enough to be embraced. Not how often it's being embraced. Either way, I think we're on the same boat now... 🙂

nwcpro

I'm just wondering if there is enough work out there for a person to make a living without already having a job.

If I have X amount of time, should I spend it on only PHP and MySQL, or should I work on becoming a well rounded web developer?

largo

Originally posted by Bunkermaster
non profit is always good 🙂 don't we all work for a non proffit org here? 😉

true, true 🙂

Welcome back bunkermaster! Haven't seen you post in some time.

Bunkermaster

hence the BACK post in Echo lounge 😃

Thanks for your concern 😉