How to get web programming skills up to speed asap
January 5, 2011 11:25 AM Subscribe
I need to get a new job, as soon as possible. I’m planning to get back into IT, specifically Web Programming and need advice on how to get my skills back up to speed.
I’m looking to get a new job within the next couple of months if possible. I’ve worked in IT in the past, first as a commercial programmer then also in network support, the latter mainly contracting. That had faded away partially due to some health issues that are now resolved and partially due to living in a relatively remote part of the country where there’s not much work of any kind and being reliant of public transport. I’m currently living with relatives but I can’t live on their good will for much longer, and the situation is getting increasingly stressful partially due to the financial problems they have. I had sort of kept things together in recent years by various bits of self-employment but that’s never going to provide enough money to strike out on my own. So I’m looking at getting a job and moving away.
I would apply for network support roles but things have moved on a bit from when I was last doing it and I’ve always had a problem of answering technical questions in interviews regarding things that I’m not current in.
However I’ve already got some web skills (HMTL, CSS, Javascript) and before Christmas I had started updating my old programming skills by learning C#, .net and looking at adding some of the newer web technologies like AJAX and JQuery.
What I want is advice on where to find some example projects that I can do on my own and/or as part of some open source project that will rapidly get me up to a ‘real world’ programming standard.
Also any ideas what can I do about a lack of references? Once I’m up to speed is Jobserve the best place to start job hunting? What else could I be doing? And while I’m doing it, how can I stay sane in a household where everyone is stressed out?
I’m in the UK.
Throwaway email: itjobhelp2011@gmail.com
I’m looking to get a new job within the next couple of months if possible. I’ve worked in IT in the past, first as a commercial programmer then also in network support, the latter mainly contracting. That had faded away partially due to some health issues that are now resolved and partially due to living in a relatively remote part of the country where there’s not much work of any kind and being reliant of public transport. I’m currently living with relatives but I can’t live on their good will for much longer, and the situation is getting increasingly stressful partially due to the financial problems they have. I had sort of kept things together in recent years by various bits of self-employment but that’s never going to provide enough money to strike out on my own. So I’m looking at getting a job and moving away.
I would apply for network support roles but things have moved on a bit from when I was last doing it and I’ve always had a problem of answering technical questions in interviews regarding things that I’m not current in.
However I’ve already got some web skills (HMTL, CSS, Javascript) and before Christmas I had started updating my old programming skills by learning C#, .net and looking at adding some of the newer web technologies like AJAX and JQuery.
What I want is advice on where to find some example projects that I can do on my own and/or as part of some open source project that will rapidly get me up to a ‘real world’ programming standard.
Also any ideas what can I do about a lack of references? Once I’m up to speed is Jobserve the best place to start job hunting? What else could I be doing? And while I’m doing it, how can I stay sane in a household where everyone is stressed out?
I’m in the UK.
Throwaway email: itjobhelp2011@gmail.com
Are you comfortable working at a big, Dilbert-esque, Initech-like cube farm, with mission statements, bad coffee, fluorescent lighting, and many layers of management? Because those are the kinds of jobs that C# and .NET will get you.
Perhaps you are comfortable with that, and that's fine. But be aware of it. There are very different cultures around different technologies. PHP tends to be a little more punk rock. Python, from what I've seen, tends to be more beard-stroking/comp-sci. Perl is...well, it's Perl.
At any rate, knowing a thing or two about the LAMP stack can never hurt—it's used everywhere. It could be the "nice-to-have" that puts you ahead of another interviewee.
posted by ixohoxi at 12:20 PM on January 5, 2011
Perhaps you are comfortable with that, and that's fine. But be aware of it. There are very different cultures around different technologies. PHP tends to be a little more punk rock. Python, from what I've seen, tends to be more beard-stroking/comp-sci. Perl is...well, it's Perl.
At any rate, knowing a thing or two about the LAMP stack can never hurt—it's used everywhere. It could be the "nice-to-have" that puts you ahead of another interviewee.
posted by ixohoxi at 12:20 PM on January 5, 2011
However I’ve already got some web skills (HMTL, CSS, Javascript) and before Christmas I had started updating my old programming skills by learning C#, .net and looking at adding some of the newer web technologies like AJAX and JQuery.
First thing you want to do is pick a niche and focus on it -- the skills you're talking about are all over the map, and do not really complement one another. Just for starters do you want to be a serverside guy (C#, .net) or clientside (HTML/CSS/JS/jQuery)?* If serverside, the .net family is fine if you have a lot of corporate-level Windows server experience and want to stay in that world, but depending on the type of work you're interested in, you might be better off with something less niche-y.
* "AJAX" is not a technology. It's a buzzword that used to be code for "my javascript skills are up to date," which is itself starting to be out of date.
It's going to be hard for people to recommend good projects or learning resources without a clearer idea of what type of work you actually want to be doing.
Honestly it sounds like you might be best off updating your skills in the areas you already have some experience -- i.e. networking and whatever kind of coding you used to do -- rather than branching off into something new right now. I don't think a month or two of dinking around on somebody's github project is going to bring you up to speed in any real sense, or make you any more employable; given the urgency with which you want to be changing your situation, I'd worry more about finding a job rather than the job, if you know what I mean.
Also any ideas what can I do about a lack of references?
If you've been freelancing (assuming that's what 'various bits of self-employment' means) your happiest clients can serve as a reference.
posted by ook at 12:28 PM on January 5, 2011
First thing you want to do is pick a niche and focus on it -- the skills you're talking about are all over the map, and do not really complement one another. Just for starters do you want to be a serverside guy (C#, .net) or clientside (HTML/CSS/JS/jQuery)?* If serverside, the .net family is fine if you have a lot of corporate-level Windows server experience and want to stay in that world, but depending on the type of work you're interested in, you might be better off with something less niche-y.
* "AJAX" is not a technology. It's a buzzword that used to be code for "my javascript skills are up to date," which is itself starting to be out of date.
It's going to be hard for people to recommend good projects or learning resources without a clearer idea of what type of work you actually want to be doing.
Honestly it sounds like you might be best off updating your skills in the areas you already have some experience -- i.e. networking and whatever kind of coding you used to do -- rather than branching off into something new right now. I don't think a month or two of dinking around on somebody's github project is going to bring you up to speed in any real sense, or make you any more employable; given the urgency with which you want to be changing your situation, I'd worry more about finding a job rather than the job, if you know what I mean.
Also any ideas what can I do about a lack of references?
If you've been freelancing (assuming that's what 'various bits of self-employment' means) your happiest clients can serve as a reference.
posted by ook at 12:28 PM on January 5, 2011
Pssh... I worked in the most laid back little C# shop for awhile... They're not all massive corporate operations..
If you wanna get down and dirty with .NET I'd suggest you read CLR Via C#
posted by Glendale at 6:35 PM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
If you wanna get down and dirty with .NET I'd suggest you read CLR Via C#
posted by Glendale at 6:35 PM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
What ixohoxi said has a certain amount of truth to it, but it's not the whole story.
That said, big corporates are less likely to employ a coder without recent relevant commercial experience (HR screening, 3 interviews, etc), so you may want to target technologies more widely employed by small web agencies.
This may also be useful when deciding on what to learn.
(Have you considered doing iOS or Android development? Both growth areas, lots of learning resources around, good tools.)
Jobsite.co.uk is much better than Jobserve for programming jobs, in my experience.
posted by dickasso at 11:36 AM on January 6, 2011
That said, big corporates are less likely to employ a coder without recent relevant commercial experience (HR screening, 3 interviews, etc), so you may want to target technologies more widely employed by small web agencies.
This may also be useful when deciding on what to learn.
(Have you considered doing iOS or Android development? Both growth areas, lots of learning resources around, good tools.)
Jobsite.co.uk is much better than Jobserve for programming jobs, in my experience.
posted by dickasso at 11:36 AM on January 6, 2011
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posted by hominid211 at 11:57 AM on January 5, 2011