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Ask HN: Average coder at dead-end. What now?

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Ask HN: Average coder at dead-end. What now?

#1

Post by forcetenhen »

Greetings all! I was hoping the fine minds here might be able to help me out a little with the quandary I'm in.

Some woeful backstory:

I'm a (ahem) PHP developer & been doing it for 8 or so years now. I'll be honest, I'm no 'rockstar', 'ninja' or 'action-monk' but I think I'm reasonably good and have always managed to build whatever is required within a decent timescale. Nothing has even blown the heck up on my watch. I've done everything from proper low-end nonsense to working on/building on a few largeish e-commerce sites (nothing enormous but in the $millions taken through site in a year).

Right now I'm earning £18,000/yr (approx $26,708.40 - off the top of my head ;) with ZERO chance of pay rise (it's been 2 years since my last one) and while this pays the rent, that's about it. I can't pay every bill that comes through each month as it stands.

The problems I have are twofold:

1. My current job description looks good on paper (built/manage 8 sites of low-to-high complexity, mailing lists, graphic design, print, server admin, iphone app development..) but if a prospective employer saw half of these sites, I'd be binned instantly. It's the old 'make everything bold and pink' edicts and keyword spam that the bosses love to add.

2. As I said, I'm no rockstar. I can't in good conscience apply for one of these jobs knowing I'm not the genius they are looking for. Plus, I'd be out on my arse after a week once they rumbled me. Unfortunately, the next step down seems to be junior dev, for around the same wageas I'm on now!

So... am I having delusions of grandeur here? Should I be happy that someone with my skillset is getting paid this amount and I have no right to expect more for being average?

Or - am I right to think that I could do a lot better? And it what ruddy way do I go about it? The job market around here is pretty dire unless I make the 200 mile journey to London (not really feasible for several reasons).

Sorry for the waffle, just at my wits end right now and unable to see anything clearly. Please don't read this a pity-seeking tale of woe - I'm more interested in getting out and making something decent out of my life. Thanks for reading and any kick-to-the-head advice is much appreciated!

Re: Ask HN: Average coder at dead-end. What now?

#2

Post by patio11 »

The typical engineer is not a genius. Don't compare yourself to geniuses. The typical engineer also makes more than you do, and you should find a job and close that gap. If you are feeling like you are unworthy, go talk to any chaps in London about the guys making 50k sterling while being unable to do FizzBuzz. (I assume you have them in London, too.)

If you're worried about your portfolio being insufficiently graphically impressive, well, pick an off-the-rack template which looks pretty, then build an example site off of that. You can reference the case studies of what you've done without actually showing the sites. Just tell people that your previous bosses are uptight corporate types.

The Internets is full of people looking for competent PHP developers, if you can't find them locally. Network network network, develop a speciality, blog, all the usual advice here.

Re: Ask HN: Average coder at dead-end. What now?

#4

Post by briandoll »

With your attitude, I wouldn't hire you either. Buck up, little camper! Welcome to the internet!

You made no mention of open source apps you've written or contribute to. You also made no mention of any side projects you've done that don't have that 'bold and pink' your work projects do.

With no drive to improve your skills, you're destined to stay in this dead-end job, if you're not replaced soon by someone who will do it faster and cheaper. GET ON IT, MAN!

A much better job awaits, but you're certainly not going to get it by sulking and not doing any quality work.

Re: Ask HN: Average coder at dead-end. What now?

#5

Post by MrFoof »

Been there. Got out. It took 95% burning determination and hard work, and maybe 5% luck.

1) You've identified that what's in your project portfolio isn't impressive. This is fine, as there's lot of people working for Cardboard BoxCo. My recommendation is to create a side-project that you think might be impressive to potential employers. It doesn't have to be a real website. Think of those "Contoso, Inc." examples that Microsoft likes to use. Just create something that you feel demonstrates what you're capable of and could show either on an inexpensive VPS solution ($20 USD/mo) and also could bring in via a laptop for a bit of show-and-tell (I've had plenty of candidates do this).

2) Even if #1 doesn't lead to an immediate job, keep playing. Keep learning. At the very least you can make your life easier in your current situation. Possibly you might be able to raise an eyebrow for at least something of a pay raise. If not, you're learning skills that could prove useful elsewhere. Don't give up, just dig in. Keep aiming your sights higher, never be complacent with what you're capable of. Keep learning. Keep outdoing your best.

3) Network with everyone you know to look for opportunity. I got out of a similar situation to yours via our hardware vendor. His son used to run a fairly impressive IT firm, and one of his old high school buddies had went to work for a startup that they were providing hardware to. Over the years they knew what I was capable of and could be doing better (they had an idea of what I was getting paid), and that startup needed someone who could get things done. That ended up being my ticket out and eventually on to better things.

Re: Ask HN: Average coder at dead-end. What now?

#6

Post by SingAlong »

I'm still in college, but I've found myself in similar situation.

I was/am a jack of a lot of trades but master of none. I manage to code in whichever language that comes by or feels good to do the job at hand in the easiest and best way. I've to blame my nature for that. I like variety.

At the end of the day, I had nothing to show off on my portfolio that's fashionably cool. Only a bunch of apps that most average coders would have. I realized that most awesome ideas I thought off still rested in my head or I discarded them with the reason that the idea's implementation required tech skills way above mine.

So I just charted a schedule for my normal day. I spent half the day learning and half the day working. I code when I'm fresh from sleep (early morning or after the afternoon nap). I spend the other boring time learning. I'm able to learn things very quickly. I hope this trick will help you learn more.

And I totally agree with patio11 says. I can't help myself from stumbling atleast 10 "php developer wanted" job posting every day. Since you said you've been doing it for 8yrs now I assume you are really good at what you do and you are way better than half the php crowd if you've done it right for most of those 8yrs. So maybe continue your niche (small sites on cheap hosting) while the rest is busy learning/doing rails.

P.S: read this http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1438983 for another bunch of tricks

Re: Ask HN: Average coder at dead-end. What now?

#7

Post by amanuel »

By your statement....you are no rockstar. I would argue that...you are no rockstar YET. You need at least two things to become a Genius/Rockstar/whatever:

1. Challenging work that forces you to improve your c0ding ski11z.

2. Time.

There is no shortcut and your eight years so far count quite well. It is time to take it up a notch and start challenging yourself in your current job or trying some side projects.

If you don't believe that you could become a rockstar coder, I'd suggest reading Bounce by Matthew Syed.

Re: Ask HN: Average coder at dead-end. What now?

#8

Post by Kaizyn »

If you can write code that has been put into production, then you are way ahead of many so-called developers on the job market. This is the sad state of our industry.

Since you say you know design and programming but the actual sites you've had to put together for your employer(s) are atrocious, why haven't you built a portfolio for yourself? For very cheap, you can get yourself a virtual server or even some shared hosting site along with a domain name or two and put up whatever you want. One site at least should include your resume and contact info along with anything else you feel is good to post with that info. After that, it's up to you how you want to present yourself. If your portfolio of sites under your control are attractive, have good usability and present well, then it will be obvious to any prospective employer that your work sites are bad because you were doing what your employers told you to.

Re: Ask HN: Average coder at dead-end. What now?

#9

Post by GavinB »

You sound conscientious, competent, and reasonably experienced. That's worth a lot more than what you make. Apply for PHP development jobs in the geographic area to which you can reasonably commute. Network locally, but forget the blog stuff unless that's something you think you'd enjoy.

And make sure to give your current employer a chance to bid against the firm that makes you an offer. You'll be surprised how much your bosses are willing to pay to keep you from leaving.

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