Who wants to give me a job?

#1

Post by Noel_V » Sun, Aug 18, 2013, 9:22 AM UTC

Hello Hackernews,

I'm rather good with HTML and CSS, I can implement Javascript and Jquery elements wherever I've tried. I'm getting better and better with PHP and am about to start the second year of Higher certificate of web technologies. Really however, I'm pretty much self taught without any commercial web design experience.

I've been working at my personal business site for about six months which you can find at www.wildhives.co.uk

Its taught me a great deal about SEO, google analytics, PHP and basic things such as HTML and CSS. I've recently gotten interested in bootstrap.

Its pretty much running itself now however and I'ld like to take a step into a different river, that of web design and development.

You can find a few further details about me here www.noelvock.com

You can question me further here.

Currently I'ld be interested in small roles, large projects, big roles and small projects.

Is there anyone who would be happy to have an apprentice under wing?

Re: Who wants to give me a job?

#2

Post by Morphling » Sun, Aug 18, 2013, 10:27 AM UTC

A quick question what kind of IDE do you use when developing?

Couple things about the sites, you might be - as you said - good with HTML and CSS, but you don't have very good design sense. The pages you've linked don't look visually appealing, at least to me.

Also you say on your page that your websites are "coded to W3C XHTML strict guidelines.", but noelvock.com uses HTML5 doctype (as everything should imo) and wildhives nets almost 30 validation errors.

It's a good start and at least you are putting yourself out there, but these would be the things you'd get burned for from my experience.

Re: Who wants to give me a job?

#3

Post by Noel_V » Sun, Aug 18, 2013, 10:35 AM UTC

Morphling wrote: post #2

A quick question what kind of IDE do you use when developing? Couple things about the sites, you might be - as you said - good with HTML and CSS, but you don't have very good design sense. The pages you've linked don't look visually appealing, at least to me. Also you say on your page that your websites are "coded to W3C XHTML strict guidelines.", but noelvock.com uses HTML5 doctype (as everything should imo) and wil…

I've had some good feedback about the Wild Hives site with regards design, but hey, preferences like that are largely subjective.

My portfolio site definitely needs some updating and with regards the validation errors, I could fix them, but its low in my list of things to do.

The ide I use is Dreamweaver. I'm also familiar with Photoshop and Fireworks.

Thanks for the feedback, its very welcome and hoping for further suggestions..

Re: Who wants to give me a job?

#4

Post by Noel_V » Sun, Aug 18, 2013, 11:21 AM UTC

Noel_V wrote: post #3

Morphling wrote: post #2

A quick question what kind of IDE do you use when developing? Couple things about the sites, you might be - as you said - good with HTML and CSS, but you don't have very good design sense. The pages you've linked don't look visually appealing, at least to me. Also you say on your page that your websites are "coded to W3C XHTML strict guidelines.", but noelvock.com uses HTML5 doctype (as everything should imo) and wil…

I've had some good feedback about the Wild Hives site with regards design, but hey, preferences like that are largely subjective. My portfolio site definitely needs some updating and with regards the validation errors, I could fix them, but its low in my list of things to do. The ide I use is Dreamweaver. I'm also familiar with Photoshop and Fireworks. Thanks for the feedback, its very welcome and hoping for further…

Here's something I whipped together in 45 minutes

http://www.noelvock.com/sgto

Re: Who wants to give me a job?

#5

Post by gus_massa » Sun, Aug 18, 2013, 2:05 PM UTC

There is an official "Who is hiring?"/"Freelance?" monthly post the first day of each month. They usually get to the first page. You should post there. Wait until September 1st.

To get an idea of how it works, see the August editions: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6139927 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6139937

Re: Who wants to give me a job?

#6

Post by EnderMB » Mon, Aug 19, 2013, 2:44 PM UTC

Higher Certificate? Perhaps my knowledge of this is dated, but after you finish your second year can you not go onto the final-year of a university course? That was the case for HND's a while back.

If you can move on, and get a degree within the next two years then I'd probably stick with the course you're on, and to continue freelancing.

From what I've read, you seem capable, but your tool set seems rather dated, something I've noticed a lot from students that study for web-related certifications. Sadly, the mere mention of Dreamweaver is usually enough to scare people away from you, despite the actual knowledge you need to use any IDE.

Re: Who wants to give me a job?

#7

Post by pknerd » Wed, Aug 21, 2013, 6:08 PM UTC

Morphling wrote: post #2

A quick question what kind of IDE do you use when developing? Couple things about the sites, you might be - as you said - good with HTML and CSS, but you don't have very good design sense. The pages you've linked don't look visually appealing, at least to me. Also you say on your page that your websites are "coded to W3C XHTML strict guidelines.", but noelvock.com uses HTML5 doctype (as everything should imo) and wil…

Dreamweaver will exploit your skills. Don't go for so called _WYSIWYG_ editors. Try Netbeans, textmare or even notepad++

Re: Who wants to give me a job?

#8

Post by Noel_V » Thu, Aug 22, 2013, 7:24 AM UTC

EnderMB wrote: post #6

Higher Certificate? Perhaps my knowledge of this is dated, but after you finish your second year can you not go onto the final-year of a university course? That was the case for HND's a while back. If you can move on, and get a degree within the next two years then I'd probably stick with the course you're on, and to continue freelancing. From what I've read, you seem capable, but your tool set seems rather dated, so…

The degree course I could continue to do has some modules of questionable value and I could learn at a faster more specific rate alone. I used to be somewhat anti dreamweaver, and I still never use it in design view for instance, I use it as a text editor, but as was suggested in another reply to this post I've downloaded netbeans and I'm starting to use that. First impressions, netbeans seems very nice.

Re: Who wants to give me a job?

#9

Post by Noel_V » Thu, Aug 22, 2013, 7:25 AM UTC

gus_massa wrote: post #5

There is an official "Who is hiring?"/"Freelance?" monthly post the first day of each month. They usually get to the first page. You should post there. Wait until September 1st. To get an idea of how it works, see the August editions: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6139927 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6139937

Wasn't aware of that, thanks.

Re: Who wants to give me a job?

#10

Post by Noel_V » Thu, Aug 22, 2013, 7:26 AM UTC

pknerd wrote: post #7

Morphling wrote: post #2

A quick question what kind of IDE do you use when developing? Couple things about the sites, you might be - as you said - good with HTML and CSS, but you don't have very good design sense. The pages you've linked don't look visually appealing, at least to me. Also you say on your page that your websites are "coded to W3C XHTML strict guidelines.", but noelvock.com uses HTML5 doctype (as everything should imo) and wil…

Dreamweaver will exploit your skills. Don't go for so called _WYSIWYG_ editors. Try Netbeans, textmare or even notepad++

Have started using netbeans, as of today, can see why you would suggest it, it seems, at first impression much better