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BossRighteous posted:A co-worker and I (Web Designer and Web Developer) are considering starting freelance work together and eventually starting a partnership and operating under a business title. I've wandered down this path, on and off, for over six years. I've hired freelancers (both for my employer and myself) and I've also taken Ramit Sethi's Earn1K course, so I feel qualified to speak on this. I think it's perfectly fine to include the work you've done for your current employer in your personal portfolio, especially if you reference that you did the work there and point out which parts you did specifically. Also, don't worry about the subcontracting stuff, because almost no one cares who does the work as long as they feel like they received good value for their money. You can run a successful business doing nothing but subcontracting (which as you noted, is basically what your employer is doing). That being said, my personal experience is that all of that stuff is essentially irrelevant, until you have multiple clients. As long as you can provide a few relevant examples of your work, that's all the portfolio you need. So forget about portfolios and business licenses and start trying to find your first client. Going "door to door" is really tough. Those small businesses that you think need new websites, have lovely websites for a reason. Either they don't have the budget, or don't understand the value, or both. Your shiny portfolio isn't going to convince them. You're selling a new BMW to someone who's driving a 20 year old Civic. Objectively, the BMW is a better car, but they're sure as hell not going to pay for it. You need to find clients who understand the value you're providing and are willing and able to pay for it. Instead, I suggest you reach out to everyone you know and tell them you're a web design/development expert looking for projects. Feel free to reach out to other freelancers as well and let them know you will pay a commission (if you're serious about that). Apply for some projects on oDesk, Elance, Craigslist, etc. Do this today. Don't spend weeks building up your portfolio, marketing, and looking into business licenses. Here's some other freelance sites that are less lovely than oDesk, but also less populated:
Here's some more advice on finding clients, from Mr. Sethi: http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/finding-clients/.
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Mar 12, 2013 16:15
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It definitely sounds like you should do some actual freelance work together before getting legally tied together. You know, date before you marry. If your coworker is frustrating you now, imagine how bad it will be when you're actually dependent on him to get paid. I highly recommend Earn1k. It gives you the all the tools for finding the right clients and crafting a message that convinces them of your worth. It's expensive, but if you actually use it you will easily earn that back in a month or two.
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Mar 13, 2013 15:36
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I dropped out of college and had no problem finding an entry level front-end development job, because I had the skills and a small portfolio. Now with 5 years of experience, I doubt I'll ever get a degree. If you're interested in the field, take an introductory class or two (probably online), just to see if you like it. There are infinite amounts of free tutorials for HTML, CSS, JavaScript, or your server side language of choice: PHP, ASP.NET, Ruby, etc.
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Apr 4, 2013 13:27
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I'm a UI Engineer, so I don't do much designing, but I am involved in that process. You're right that for most companies, UX testing is only "if we have budget/time and the CEO actually questions his own decisions". But, there are companies that do nothing but UX testing on contract for other businesses. So if you end up working at one of these, you'll do it constantly. Early on in the design process, there's a lot more research into the types of users, the goals of the project, etc. But towards the end, yes it is lots of discussion about just where exactly and what color that OK button should be.
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May 6, 2013 14:11
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My skillset: front end web development, is in very high demand right now (I'm contacted by a recruiter almost daily). I'm being paid top market value in Austin, Texas, one of the hottest markets for software development outside of Silicon Valley. But I don't want to be in Texas anymore; within a year I plan to be in San Diego, near family and better weather. I'd like to continue making my current salary, but because of the "sunshine tax", I'm finding the top of the market in San Diego pays the same with about a 30% increase in cost of living. My current employer has an office in Los Angeles and they do allow working from home when necessary. But, they have been trying to consolidate team members to the same city and considering I only started in May, I don't know how well they'd receive my request to work remotely full time. Other than making a convincing argument, is there anything I can do to increase my chances? For the San Diego market; is that just the way things are or is there something I can do to receive offers near my current salary? I'm assuming bigger companies like Intuit, Sony, etc. will pay more than those local to SD.
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Oct 6, 2013 15:37
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Goky posted:I need some advice on leaving a job after only 6 months. The job is a unique position at a small company--as such, there's no real upward mobility... I'm going through this right now -- leaving a job after 6 months. Before that I only stayed a year, and before that was about 4 years. First of all, don't worry about it. Certainly looking like a "job hopper" can hurt you, but there are ways to turn it around and make it a positive. This is especially true if you've only done it once. When someone asks, tell them you were looking for something more challenging, with more growth potential. No one can knock you for that. Here's a great video with more info: http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/career-advice-for-job-hoppers-video/ As far as your pros/cons: Goky posted:Cons for leaving: 1) Like I said, turn it into a positive. Also, this should be the last thing an employer looks at. Present yourself well and the exact timelines of your previous work is a footnote. 2) There will always be sour grapes when you quit no matter how long you stay. Goky posted:Cons for staying: 1) There are millions of jobs, so don't worry if you decide not to jump on this particular opportunity. That being said, if it's obviously better than your current situation, don't hesitate. 2) Again, don't worry about how your employer is going to handle it. There will always be sour grapes and they/you can always find a reason why it sucks if you leave. But, you have to look out for yourself, because no one else is going to.
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Jan 30, 2014 20:42
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Definitely do not jump into a $30K degree before you've spent at least a few months coding, to see if you actually like it or not. Also yes, spend money on real courses. I think a good middle ground between free and 6-month bootcamp is a site like https://egghead.io/. They have a lot of free content, but their paid content is super high quality, with transcripts and videos broken into digestible chunks. Also, I highly recommend Ramit Sethi's courses, specifically https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/products/dream-job/opt-in/, which I have paid for. It helps give you a lot of ideas that help avoid the "submit 200 resumes and hope you don't get 200 rejections". While I have gone down the path of shotgun resume submission in the past, it's never landed me a good job. And I've hopped jobs on average of once every couple years for the past 10 years. In short, start talking to people at companies you want to work for. Ask them what would be the best route to get a job there. Not only will that give you good advice, it will establish a connection with someone at the company. As others have mentioned, it's nearly impossible to know what the "right" set of tools you should learn, because there are so many. So instead focus on finding the right company and figure out what they would want. Considering your experience level, Google probably isn't the right company, but there are probably 100s of possible options within the Portland area. EDIT: Also also, I didn't see anyone else say this, but apologies if they did: you should focus on building projects that can be part of your portfolio. I've been a hiring manager, or at least an interviewer at all of my jobs and for people with minimal work experience, and even those with some, their "portfolio" is usually the number one thing I look at. What is the most recent project they have worked on, how does the code look, and how confidently can they talk about the programming principles involved with building, maintaining, and scaling it. So go build a chatbot or a machine learning algorithm or a BitCoin price tracker, or whatever it is. Just building something interesting with whatever languages you decide to learn and make that your resume. sim fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Jan 18, 2021 |
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Jan 18, 2021 18:48
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I would argue that it's not so much that coding or any particular language stops being fun; it's more the work environment around it that ruins the fun. Deadlines, bad managers, etc. Certain aspects of coding can become boring if you do it long enough. I've been doing it for 10 years and I find certain things (like CSS) really uninviting, but working out some logic puzzle with code is still fun.punk rebel ecks posted:I really think I'm going to get a bachelor's degree in computer science. I see it as a preferred, if not a requirement, in most job listings and I don't want to be hamstrung in the application process. As a college dropout, I'm living proof that it's definitely not a requirement. But I think going to college for a specific reason, with a specific goal in mind, is totally worth it and I doubt you'll regret it, as long as you stay in programming long enough to pay back your loans.
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Jan 19, 2021 18:20
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punk rebel ecks posted:Yeah, I think getting a degree would be a nice way to flesh things out and build myself a foundation. Don't even bother with certifications unless you're specifically targeting DevOps for AWS/MS stuff. Nobody cares about certifications otherwise. But yes, I absolutely think spending money on camps and actually building something is a much more efficient way to get a programing job. You can always get the degree later if you decide it will help. But from my experience, it's not necessary at all, especially since you already have a bachelors degree so you can clear the bar in every job requirement. Interviews will focus on your actual knowledge of how to build, maintain, and scale applications. What you learned in college, even in Computer Science, is going to be quickly outdated. Like others have mentioned, it's great for foundational knowledge, but unless you're targeting FAANG size companies, you're probably better off showing that you can build something real than trying to tout your knowledge of theoretical algorithms.
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Jan 19, 2021 20:06
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Guinness posted:That it is an accessible industry without a CS degree I think speaks more to the fact that a CS degree is pretty disconnected from actual development work, not that the industry is easy or openminded. Totally agree with everything in your post and this sentence in particular is a great summary. Spending 4 years and $15K+ on something that essentially gives you a small boost in the resume screen, doesn't seem worth it. If someone is dead-set on getting the degree, I would advise them to also join a bunch of school clubs, make a ton of connections, and really squeeze the juice out of whatever institutional advantage going to a university gives you, because that one-line on your resume won't be worth that much on its own.
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Jan 19, 2021 20:37
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punk rebel ecks posted:Would taking on jobs posted on Craiglist or what not be good to brush up my resume with concrete paid projects I've done? I think it's probably worthwhile to take on a freelance project once or twice, just to get the experience of working under a deadline for a client. It will probably help to have one or two of those on your resume if you've got nothing else to show. I would choose the projects wisely though. Speaking as a hiring manager and interviewer, I'd rather talk to a candidate about their Python-based passion project than a Church website they built with Wordpress.
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Jan 19, 2021 21:48
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punk rebel ecks posted:Would a Boot Camp with "job guarantee" be a good idea? I don't know anything about it, but if it's truly a "job guarantee", it might be worth it. It's always easier to find a job when you have a job, so even if it's short term, just having that first real programming job on your resume will give you a boost over every other boot camp graduate. In either case, I highly recommend studying up on how to network, use the briefcase technique, do cold emails, whatever else you can think of to skip the job application process. It's lovely, you'll always be competing against people with better resumes, and it's way more work than it's worth. Some alternative strategies (that have worked for me):
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Jan 20, 2021 18:43
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punk rebel ecks posted:Edit - Like the official newbie get a job thread on the coding subforum has different advice from the thread. So that's why some of this was difficult for me to swallow at first. Note that the OP in that thread was first written in 2010 and hasn't been updated since 2015. Plus the OP has this disclaimer at the top: quote:Personally, I'm of the CS degree/BigTechCo variety of coding goon, so some of what I write here may be biased towards that experience.
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Jan 20, 2021 22:31
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