The Switch
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Hello, First off, I am/have been a manager in Retail and have a Fashion Merchandising BS and I would love to make a career change to Web Development. Now you are probably saying to yourself "Another one of these people". I don't see that the market is flooded with developers and I am sure there is competition over any job. But lets get to my question.... I would like advice on where I might connect with individuals that do Web Development? I would like to really see what the field is all about. Anyone have any ideas or other questions for me that would be great :D Thanks, Gen
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Hello, First off, I am/have been a manager in Retail and have a Fashion Merchandising BS and I would love to make a career change to Web Development. Now you are probably saying to yourself "Another one of these people". I don't see that the market is flooded with developers and I am sure there is competition over any job. But lets get to my question.... I would like advice on where I might connect with individuals that do Web Development? I would like to really see what the field is all about. Anyone have any ideas or other questions for me that would be great :D Thanks, Gen
Contact all the mothers you know and check in their basements.
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Hello, First off, I am/have been a manager in Retail and have a Fashion Merchandising BS and I would love to make a career change to Web Development. Now you are probably saying to yourself "Another one of these people". I don't see that the market is flooded with developers and I am sure there is competition over any job. But lets get to my question.... I would like advice on where I might connect with individuals that do Web Development? I would like to really see what the field is all about. Anyone have any ideas or other questions for me that would be great :D Thanks, Gen
On a more serious note, The Lounge is a good place to virtually converse with developers. Interacting with developers in person is a bit more tricky and will require some effort on your part. Here are some ideas:
- Get a crummy job doing QA (quality assurance) for a web development company (one of my first jobs, actually). Plenty of web developers there.
- Play video games with your friends. And their friends. Developers are nerds and nerds like to play games (well, not me, but I suspect there is something to the stereotype).
- LinkedIn groups that are related to web development.
- Use your management skills in a department at a company that works closely with web development. For example, I work with marketing a lot, so there is plenty of chance to communicate cross-department.
- Start a career in web development by reading a book and completing a project on one of the outsourcing websites (e.g., vworker.com). Or maybe try making a website for free for a non-profit. Build your skills. You might get the opportunity to work side-by-side with other developers or you may have to work for a bit before that happens.
- College. That's where I met a few programmer friends. You don't need to get a degree... you can just take programming courses. You might be able to find a local community college that offers 3-credit courses for about $300 each.
- Hire a developer from a local college to build a website for you. The first website I made in college was done for $8/hour, so you could probably hire a budding developer for cheap.
- Pay a developer from a local college to tutor you. I did some tutoring in college; there was actually a program setup by the college to help tutors find tutees.
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On a more serious note, The Lounge is a good place to virtually converse with developers. Interacting with developers in person is a bit more tricky and will require some effort on your part. Here are some ideas:
- Get a crummy job doing QA (quality assurance) for a web development company (one of my first jobs, actually). Plenty of web developers there.
- Play video games with your friends. And their friends. Developers are nerds and nerds like to play games (well, not me, but I suspect there is something to the stereotype).
- LinkedIn groups that are related to web development.
- Use your management skills in a department at a company that works closely with web development. For example, I work with marketing a lot, so there is plenty of chance to communicate cross-department.
- Start a career in web development by reading a book and completing a project on one of the outsourcing websites (e.g., vworker.com). Or maybe try making a website for free for a non-profit. Build your skills. You might get the opportunity to work side-by-side with other developers or you may have to work for a bit before that happens.
- College. That's where I met a few programmer friends. You don't need to get a degree... you can just take programming courses. You might be able to find a local community college that offers 3-credit courses for about $300 each.
- Hire a developer from a local college to build a website for you. The first website I made in college was done for $8/hour, so you could probably hire a budding developer for cheap.
- Pay a developer from a local college to tutor you. I did some tutoring in college; there was actually a program setup by the college to help tutors find tutees.
Thanks AspDotNetDev, *I have been working on getting a job more in the tech arena. Even if it's administrative in nature. *I have played a couple MMORPG but did not even think of being a developer at the time. This is my late discovery of being geeky. *Already on top of the LinkedIn groups :D *Looking forward to rubbing elbow with some developers. *I have been looking at projects on Elance and the like as well. *The community college here has a WebMaster certificate program that I will take, it's only 25 hours but it will give me a base on things like HTML, XHTML, PHP, CSS, Java, SQL... you know. *Good idea about hiring a developer! *Good idea about the tutor. :D Thanks!!!
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Hello, First off, I am/have been a manager in Retail and have a Fashion Merchandising BS and I would love to make a career change to Web Development. Now you are probably saying to yourself "Another one of these people". I don't see that the market is flooded with developers and I am sure there is competition over any job. But lets get to my question.... I would like advice on where I might connect with individuals that do Web Development? I would like to really see what the field is all about. Anyone have any ideas or other questions for me that would be great :D Thanks, Gen
I don't know what your technical skills are but Visual Web Developer Express[^] is a free tool to get you started, and the ASP.NET web site has some good tutorials. You can also check out the articles here on CodeProject for some useful help.
The best things in life are not things.
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I don't know what your technical skills are but Visual Web Developer Express[^] is a free tool to get you started, and the ASP.NET web site has some good tutorials. You can also check out the articles here on CodeProject for some useful help.
The best things in life are not things.
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Hello, First off, I am/have been a manager in Retail and have a Fashion Merchandising BS and I would love to make a career change to Web Development. Now you are probably saying to yourself "Another one of these people". I don't see that the market is flooded with developers and I am sure there is competition over any job. But lets get to my question.... I would like advice on where I might connect with individuals that do Web Development? I would like to really see what the field is all about. Anyone have any ideas or other questions for me that would be great :D Thanks, Gen
Hi Gen Just wondering if you should consider doing a course (online or onsite) in web development, maybe a short introductory course which would give you a feel for whats involved. There are also a lot of resources available on youtube, vimeo etc which would help you do a basic website quickly - again just to get a feel for whats involved. Best of luck
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Hi Gen Just wondering if you should consider doing a course (online or onsite) in web development, maybe a short introductory course which would give you a feel for whats involved. There are also a lot of resources available on youtube, vimeo etc which would help you do a basic website quickly - again just to get a feel for whats involved. Best of luck
Found a nice site.... openstudy.com
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Hello, First off, I am/have been a manager in Retail and have a Fashion Merchandising BS and I would love to make a career change to Web Development. Now you are probably saying to yourself "Another one of these people". I don't see that the market is flooded with developers and I am sure there is competition over any job. But lets get to my question.... I would like advice on where I might connect with individuals that do Web Development? I would like to really see what the field is all about. Anyone have any ideas or other questions for me that would be great :D Thanks, Gen
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Hello, First off, I am/have been a manager in Retail and have a Fashion Merchandising BS and I would love to make a career change to Web Development. Now you are probably saying to yourself "Another one of these people". I don't see that the market is flooded with developers and I am sure there is competition over any job. But lets get to my question.... I would like advice on where I might connect with individuals that do Web Development? I would like to really see what the field is all about. Anyone have any ideas or other questions for me that would be great :D Thanks, Gen
In Australia with our professional migration scheme, there is definitely no shortage of developers which can make it hard starting off. But then again it's always been hard finding that first real job. 1. I'd do a course, 1-2 years part time. This will show you are serious. (but don't wait to look for a job) 2. Start cutting the code and learning how the nuts and bolts work. Web development is good in the respect that you can demonstrate your skills. 3. Once you have the skills, take any programming job you can get, regardless of wage. 4. A lot of development teams have more axillary staff than actual developers, QA, client services, sales and marketing. So depending on your previous experience, you may be able to get into the industry while training up. This would be your best option.
"You get that on the big jobs."
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In Australia with our professional migration scheme, there is definitely no shortage of developers which can make it hard starting off. But then again it's always been hard finding that first real job. 1. I'd do a course, 1-2 years part time. This will show you are serious. (but don't wait to look for a job) 2. Start cutting the code and learning how the nuts and bolts work. Web development is good in the respect that you can demonstrate your skills. 3. Once you have the skills, take any programming job you can get, regardless of wage. 4. A lot of development teams have more axillary staff than actual developers, QA, client services, sales and marketing. So depending on your previous experience, you may be able to get into the industry while training up. This would be your best option.
"You get that on the big jobs."
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How's the switch going so far?