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Best approach for self-taught developer looking for job?

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Re: Best approach for self-taught developer looking for job?

#41

Post by jchrisa »

stc wrote: post #3
AlexMcP wrote: post #2

I was in the same boat. I graduated from a liberal arts college with a degree that no one has ever asked about. After lots of non-profit work after school I was tasked with 'updating the website' one day. Cut to 3 years and $100+ in library fines later and I've been the lead developer on Fortune 50 websites and now work for for a 'rent a Rails shop' company. Here's the advice: Learn how to interview well. Knowing wha…

Thanks for the reply, always nice to hear about liberal arts majors that have walked the road ahead of me. I think I need to improve on the confidence as I feel less sure of myself now than I did six months ago, something of a more you learn less you know scenario. I do have a ton of confidence in my abilities to get a job done however so maybe I should tap that part of my psyche during interviews.

I was a Philosophy major (yay Lewis, Kripke and Quine) and didn't really get into programming until I wanted to build websites for my friends. Back then we didn't have jQuery, so I learned PHP.

But I agree with this thread -- keep pushing on JavaScript. CouchApps are a great way to learn front end while having the back end more or less taken care of for you, but most apps are gonna require an extra degree of freedom on the back end. You'll find that your JS skills travel well, especially now that node.js is viable.

If you haven't read this article yet, read it an grok it: http://javascript.crockford.com/remedial.html

If you know this stuff cold, then the only thing standing between you and a well paying developer gig is personal networking and a bigger open-source portfolio. Go to node.js and Couch meetups, they are vibrant welcoming communities that value beginning coders as much as veterans.

Re: Best approach for self-taught developer looking for job?

#42

Post by SeanNieuwoudt »

In a previous experience, I found that companies hired me without even glancing at my CV or portfolio after I started my development company.

There was some level of pre-created trust purely because I had a business operating in the field.

It's not hard to put a nice looking website together, choose a business name and start operating on the side.

It might make it easier for you too.

Goodluck!

Re: Best approach for self-taught developer looking for job?

#43

Post by axefrog »

devs1010 wrote: post #32
andrewljohnson wrote: post #13

Make an iPhone app, make some money, and never get a job. I would recommend you either make a Bible app, or a Menstruation Calendar app. Those would both not require any server-side programming, and they are proven ways to make money.

Not this. Even if you want to do mobile apps, just starting out you need to work with other developers as you learn a lot from them. If your goal from day 1 is to work solo you aren't going to have that feedback loop where you are pushed by your peers and can learn from your (and their) mistakes. This is compounded by the fact that you will probably develop proficiency working solo to where you can do things well eno…

This is absolutely true. I've worked both solo and in small teams many times and whenever I've worked with others (particularly senior developers) who had decent skills I always learned a lot. When you work by yourself you don't have the benefit of other people to bounce your code off of, or of being exposed to various techniques, methodologies and tools you may not have discovered if left to your own devices.

Re: Best approach for self-taught developer looking for job?

#44

Post by [deleted] »

grayrest wrote: post #21

Pulled up your github account. Aside from you accidentally adding your home directory, you're making good progress. If you're looking to get a job quickly, I'd encourage you to focus on one area and I think your shortest path is the front end technologies. Pretty much every firm I know of in NYC is hiring front end developers and the main limitation is finding people who actually know javascript. If you know (not jus…

[deleted]

Re: Best approach for self-taught developer looking for job?

#45

Post by areyouhuman11 »

grayrest wrote: post #21

Pulled up your github account. Aside from you accidentally adding your home directory, you're making good progress. If you're looking to get a job quickly, I'd encourage you to focus on one area and I think your shortest path is the front end technologies. Pretty much every firm I know of in NYC is hiring front end developers and the main limitation is finding people who actually know javascript. If you know (not jus…

I'd be interested in shooting you an email (similar situation).

Re: Best approach for self-taught developer looking for job?

#46

Post by chubs »

dzderic wrote: post #31

I'm in the same boat as the OP except I'm just about to finish high school with 2 years of part-time experience in a web dev shop. The main problem I'm having is not even being able to land an interview. Where should I look for a dev job in Australia?

Meetups: eg roro, cocoaheads, sydjs, etc...

Re: Best approach for self-taught developer looking for job?

#47

Post by einhverfr »

billpatrianakos wrote: post #36

I was in the same boat as you for a while. The short answer is, don't look for a job, make one. In my case I'm in a CIS college program with a concentration in web development but I'm not too far in and so far have taught myself more than the classes aside from the C++ I was taught there. While you build your skills there's a huge market for local businesses that need some cheap web dev stuff done and you can make a…

Absolutely agree. Find customers, not a job. It may lead to a job, or you may fall in love with the freedom if being able to fire your boss (namely your customer) and make it a permanent lifestyle.

It's what I did and I never looked back.

Oh, and don't worry. If you go this route you will find a niche which will challenge you, stretch your skills, and so forth. I never knew when I started that I'd become the primary developer for an open source accounting package (LedgerSMB).

Happy hunting, and may fortune smile upon you!

Re: Best approach for self-taught developer looking for job?

#48

Post by FuzzyDunlop »

Another self taught developer here who found work just after I started to take it really seriously and let my ambition take hold.

You say you have been getting freelance work. Put all that on your CV if you haven't already. And work on building a proper online portfolio using your current skillset. The benefits of doing this are thus:

1. Professionalism. You're a bona-fide freelancer ostensibly running a business under your own name. Taking advantage of this shows you mean business.

2. Publicity. Potential employers can find your website (after pimping it out everywhere and making it known wherever you can) and have all the information they need to consider you as a candidate right there. It also helps for contracts until you find full-time employment.

Speaking of your site/portfolio, it's dreadful. Setting a proper site up for yourself and identifying what makes a good portfolio would be a good thing to do.

Finally, and being totally honest, the last thing I would do when looking to hire a developer is trawl through a potential candidate's github account, finding out what sort of contributions were made to the JS flavours of the month. I'm not interested in seeing code samples right off the bat, I'm more interested in seeing how you sell yourself - how your website and portfolio and demonstrable skills* paint a picture of the sort of person you are - and how enthusiastic you are about getting a job.

I'm interested in you, the person, and the specifics of your work (eg. the code samples) and other contributions would come up later in interview.

I don't mean to be overly harsh but your online presence and how you present yourself/your work are, in my opinion, key to better finding the work you want.

*demonstrable skills not as in bug fixes on github but as in the work put into your website.

Re: Best approach for self-taught developer looking for job?

#49

Post by stc »

FuzzyDunlop wrote: post #48

Another self taught developer here who found work just after I started to take it really seriously and let my ambition take hold. You say you have been getting freelance work. Put all that on your CV if you haven't already. And work on building a proper online portfolio using your current skillset. The benefits of doing this are thus: 1. Professionalism. You're a bona-fide freelancer ostensibly running a business und…

Thanks for the feedback but perhaps you can give me more insight into what is dreadful about my site/portfolio. When you say site/portfolio, which are you referring to? Is it the design, usability you find dreadful or did it crash on you? Developing a web application requires many different skills and this is where I am trying to get some feedback on. I appreciate your feedback that it is dreadful but perhaps a bit more insight into what would make it less dreadful beyond improve it.

Re: Best approach for self-taught developer looking for job?

#50

Post by synnik »

Get a helpdesk job at a company with an internal helpdesk. (NOT a call center). Those jobs truly are entry level, and will hire people without experience. Once you are there, start building tools on the side to help your department. If you do well, they'll see the value and give you more programming work. If not, at least you now can put real IT experience, including programming on your resume.

Admittedly, this is not an exciting path, nor a fast one. But it is an effective one.

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