Looking To My Future

Matt Arnold

September 13, 2011

I almost certainly have a job, as an office clerk and phone liaison. I'll know by the end of the week. I'll have money for fuel, so you'll see more of me. After I've worked there a few months, my hours will go up from 40 to 54 hours a week. Then you'll see somewhat less of me.

(It's in Warren, so I'll have to move. Again. For the time being, I'm living out of a suitcase in Warren and only going home to Whitmore Lake on weekends. Whitmore Lake is an hour away, so that doesn't work. I have been browsing Ferndale/Royal Oak room-for-rent listings on Craigslist. I feel encouraged by the price ranges.)

This job is managing a huge number of outside contractors; i.e., people who have a tenuous relationship to us and do not necessarily have to do what we tell them to do. All we can do is replace them. Sound familiar? So, during the job interview, I described my experience with Penguicon. Keeping in touch with remote strangers who are never seen. Tracking when work is due, what is late, and when to replace someone. Motivating rather than nagging. Documenting processes. They were impressed, and said this is similar work.

You might be wondering now, "why did you spend a few years and a few thousand dollars to get a web development certificate with a 4.0 GPA?" That is only the first step of a journey. It was a good start, but job interviewers have made it clear to me that I'm still not qualified. I need to do a lot more personal learning, including:

1. Server administration from my laptop, so that I can install whichever additional technologies I want to learn.

2. Javascript libraries such as JQuery and YUI.

3. Python frameworks such as Django, and Ruby frameworks such as Ruby On Rails.

4. More about databases.

5. SASS. I would love to learn SASS.

6. How to inflict bloated, swiss-army-knife Content Management Systems. Hissssss. Actually, never mind this one.

A qualified portfolio should include a large number of web applications with polished interfaces and finished-looking designs. I would like at least one to have rich, responsive interaction, such as a game. I would like at least one to be a multi-user database-driven site. The thing is, each such project would take months of spare time. Frankly, I'm not the type who can become a hermit and emerge from my cave with a finished project in a short timespan. I like other humans too much. Other humans are the whole point of a project. Will I some day get a job as a creative or technical professional? In this economy, who knows. Perhaps in a few years. Or perhaps not-- perhaps it's only for hermits. Either way, I'm determined to learn. While I learn, I have to pay the bills, and it looks like my current job prospect is a perfectly pleasant and agreeable way to do that. I'm satisfied.

Comments

drkelso on Sep. 13, 2011 8:11 PM

Sounds like a good plan. Working with contractors might also be a good way to get a foot in the door later.

A couple ideas for technologies to learn that will help you out:

#C - Actually it is a decent framework for web and windows apps. Plus you can get the base model of Visual Studio pretty cheap if not free. You don't need an advanced version.
Under C# - Linq, WCF, and MVC (slightly easier way to make web sites)
jQuery - Great idea to learn. Also pretty easy to use.
SQL Server - tack on database normalization, relations, stored procedures, basic SQL language, how to use SQL Server Management Studio and Profiler. Should get you most of the way.

Go find the study guides for the certification tests for the above technologies. You don't need to take the tests but the guides are a great way to outline what you need to be able to spout off to get through an interview. And it helps you learn much faster. Also get the "dummy" books for the same. It's just more fun to learn it that way from scratch. At least for me. If you have one good API reference guide and one good tutorial style book for each thing, it is usually the best.

There are probably another half dozen things to mention but that will get you started. You listed more linux based stuff and those are good as well but .NET windows jobs tend to be more frequent. Self-study an hour a day for a year or so and you'll be more than ready to get a good entry level job.

drkelso on Sep. 13, 2011 8:17 PM

http://www.microsoft.com/express

matt-arnold on Sep. 13, 2011 8:23 PM

Thanks. I'll look into it a bit, and we'll see.

selki on Sep. 14, 2011 3:20 AM

Meh. Depends on the location and the industry/niche. With the upcoming Windows changes, I'm not sure how solid .net is any more. Lots of Linux over here.

I hope you get that job, and am glad you'll be reasonably satisfied for now if you get it. Very cool that your Penguicon experience was so applicable, and good for you for relating them so well.

pstscrpt on Sep. 14, 2011 6:41 PM

I really like .Net MVC; the style reminds me a lot of Ruby on Rails with a more polished language and tools.

I would never recommend the older style .Net WebForms framework. It can be the fastest way to satisfy a lot of internal business website requirements (with a lot of experience), but the basic design is an exercise in denial of how web sites really work. Experience in WebForms does not translate well to other tools, and there's a lot of debugging to figure out places where their abstraction doesn't quite work.

-------------------------------------------
Installing the Express Edition Visual Web Developer 2010 will also install SQL Server. Most of the online examples you find for MVC will also use Linq, and quite a few will include JQuery.

anyaristow on Sep. 13, 2011 8:23 PM

You don't need all of those technologies or a large portfolio of personal projects to find a job in programming. What you need is a demonstrated ability to solve problems, sometimes using technology you need to learn on-the-fly. Personal projects can do that if you have no paid programming experience, and they demonstrate you are interested enough to spend your own time. Start with a single non-trivial, *non-game* app with a polished design and rich, responsive interaction.

And remember that programming for someone else isn't about being clever or smart. It's about being helpful. Your project should be actually useful, not just cool.

If you had interviews with people who expected you to know all those things then perhaps you over-sold yourself. Be realistic. You're looking for an entry-level position. Yes, you're competing with people who already have those skills, willing to accept an entry-level position. If you can't be the most experienced applicant, be the most honest, realistic and likable. That works, too.

matt-arnold on Sep. 13, 2011 8:25 PM

It's not that I over-sold myself-- recruiters did. I long for an entry-level position, but there aren't any. Not one.

I'm working on a dice game now. Why not a game?

anyaristow on Sep. 13, 2011 8:39 PM

A game demonstrates you know some syntax. That's not the point.

Your project should show that you can solve a real-world problem using technology. It's not a programming test. It's a problem-solving demonstration. IT is full of programmers that know syntax and terminology but can't solve problems. Don't be one of them.

matt-arnold on Sep. 13, 2011 8:52 PM

By the way, do I know you?

anyaristow on Sep. 13, 2011 9:07 PM

We've met. I've been to Penguicon and other Michigan events. You're a friend of people I follow on LJ.

matt-arnold on Sep. 14, 2011 11:05 PM

I've thought about this for a while, and decided I'm not going to let this stop me making web-playable versions of my games. I think about it all the time. I've longed for it with every fiber of my being, for years. I am solving a problem-- mine. Life's too short to spend on things I don't care about.

(I'll be on the lookout for problems that are solvable by technology, and if I see any that I care about, I'll work on them also.)

If this means I don't get a job in this business, so be it. I'll adjust the purpose of all the work I'm doing. The real purpose is to finally give my vision to the world. I already have a job as an office clerk, and that pays the bills.

On the other hand, if I eventually do get work in web programming, so much the better. But my goals are prioritized.

thatguychuck on Sep. 14, 2011 11:08 PM — Congratulations!

Congratulations, Matt.

Random thoughts:

* You're right on the lack of entry level positions. I don't see them advertised in the SF Bay Area, either.
* If you want to learn C# as a first full-language, going through the book "Head First C#" by Andrew Stellman & Jennifer Greene seems to be a good way to go. (Based on research, and recent beginning personal experience.)
* Kudos on the 4.0 GPA! That's never, ever going to hurt you. Grades will almost NEVER be noticed, but when it is they'll raise an eyebrow and remember you. The huge benefit of busting your ass is you likely learned a lot more than most of the others in the class.

Did I say kudos and congratulations? Yes? Well here it is again. :)

matt-arnold on Sep. 14, 2011 11:26 PM — Re: Congratulations!

Thank you!