Newbie Programming Interviews/Get a Job Megathread: Fake it 'til you make it

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The Cavern of COBOL > Newbie Programming Interviews/Get a Job Megathread: Fake it 'til you make it

Kruzen: Sep 3, 2003; I need to engage in homicidal behaviour on a massive scale. It can not be corrected but I have no other way to fulfill my needs.

I didn't want to make a new thread about this and thought this might be the most appropriate location for it.

The situation is, I've been in IT since I was 16. I started as a desktop support intern.

I have worked as a web template designer, graphic designer, Desktop support tech (5 years experience), Software Tester/Systems Administrator (2), Network Administrator(2), and managed projects, purchases, etc.

Basically I'm a superstar IT guy with a bunch of experience at the age of 25 without a lot of dedication to a specific role, but a lot of experience in IT.

I'm having one lovely rear end hell of a time securing interviews lately and the pay seems to be going down everywhere I look. Having an associates degree probably doesn't help with that, but that's what I get for thinking "Oh man, $42,000 a year when I'm 20? Why go to college!" and starting my job as a systems admin.

When I WAS in college, I was initially on path to do Embedded systems Java programming. I have a few basic Java courses (I have designed noah's ark and breeded his animals with the magic of Java), I have done some Visual Studio (VB.net), and know enough about PHP to hack apart wordpress themes and make them do what I want, but not enough to build anything in PHP from scratch.

Basically, I can read and/or mostly code, but can't write it myself.

Lately in an effort to make myself more valuable and foreseeing the future of computers, I feel that learning to program for web purposes would be very smart. I'm looking at python and php, maybe rails as a focus.

My questions are:

1) Am I crazy? Should I stick with IT or drop it like a bad habit?
2) How long will it take for this to pay off? Can I expect to hop right in and get a job as an entry level guy making 50k+ in 6 months?
3) If my goal is to be web oriented, not application oriented, what kind of languages and practices should I stick to? Should I just go grab a Head First book and go to town, or just start from scratch and build my own blogging platform or something.

Any other questions people feel like filling in that I should have asked would be beneficial.

Going to school is not an option because of time/money constraints (married, 1 child, barely making it)

# ¿ Apr 20, 2011 19:13

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# ¿ May 4, 2024 12:10

Kruzen: Sep 3, 2003; I need to engage in homicidal behaviour on a massive scale. It can not be corrected but I have no other way to fulfill my needs.

John Matrix posted:

I was in a similar situation at 16, but had the fortune of getting into programming projects while I was bottom-rung in the helpdesk. I quickly found that it was what I really enjoyed, and went to school to get a CS degree. The salary range depends a lot on your location and whether you're looking at an industry job or consulting position (consulting pays a bit more, but you may run the risk of traveling).

I think the web technology really just depends on your preference. There are a ton of companies on the Microsoft platform, so .NET (C#) is always hot, but at the same time, the market is flooded with .NET developers who are average at best. As for a web development platform, what kind of system administration do you do? If you're typically working in a Linux scenario, you may prefer to use PHP. If you're doing Windows/IIS, your best bet is go for .NET MVC (C#).

I don't think you're crazy for wanting to get away from IT (but this is coming from a software guy). I think the main thing should be... do you think you would enjoy software development as much, if not, more than your current line of work?

Your safest way to make the transition may be to start trying to pick up some projects at your current company, and try to shoehorn your way into a title change. Then use it as a launching pad into another company. The title change at your existing company won't earn you a huge salary increase, but the lateral move to another company is where you can see the jump in pay.

Another option would be to just start learning the crap out of this stuff on your off-time, then try to make the jump (may be quicker). Anyway, that's just some food for thought.

I spent some time going through some PHP tutorials @ PHPBuddy (Up through working with SQL) and it seems to make quick and easy sense to me (so far).

My current company is underwater and I am most likely getting let go in the next two months if something doesn't change, which is what prompted me to start looking and start trying to figure out some other options for careers, otherwise It would be a great way to shoehorn my way into a developer position here because that's what this company does (makes web software).

A buddy of mine has a HEad First PHP book I'm going to pick up from him, should be a good way to get started.

# ¿ Apr 21, 2011 17:12

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The Cavern of COBOL > Newbie Programming Interviews/Get a Job Megathread: Fake it 'til you make it