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Start by offering to develop something pro bono for your local public library, or high school, or aged care home, or your accountant, doctor, or hardware store.

Start by offering to develop something pro bono for your local public library, or high school, or aged care home, or your accountant, doctor, or hardware store. It should be something simple like a spreadsheet or a web page or an app that only does one thing. The most important thing you will experience is the last 10% of the project taking up 90% of the time. The least repeatable thing you will learn is why. After you have done this enough times to start seeing patterns that help you to avoid bad outcomes for both you and the client, you will be ready to start working as a professional developer. After you have experienced successes and disasters as a professional developer, you will be an experienced professional developer.

ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
> The most important thing you will experience is the last 10% of the project taking up 90% of the time. This. Ever notice when there’s a new building going up, and the building looks complete, after just a few months, but it doesn’t open its doors for another year? That’s because all the “finish work,” like carpeting, drywall, painting/wallpaper, doors, etc., takes forever. It also generally requires the most expensive employees. That’s one reason a Mercedes costs three times as much as a Toyota. They seem to be fairly equivalent, but the Merc has a whole lot more “finish,” and that costs a lot. Most folks find they can live without that extra polish, when they learn the cost. Toyotas are excellent vehicles, and have a reasonable cost. So, a big part of commercial feasibility, is learning where the “sweet spot” lies, so the last 10% takes only 40% of the time, and the customer is happy. For myself, I like to do “the full Monty,” and go for 90%, but it has been my experience that no one wants to pay for it. So I do it for free.

ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago

> The most important thing you will experience is the last 10% of the project taking up 90% of the time. This. Ever notice when there’s a new building going up, and the building looks complete, after just a few months, but it doesn’t open its doors for another year? That’s because all the “finish work,” like carpeting, drywall, painting/wallpaper, doors, etc., takes forever. It also generally requires the most expensive employees. That’s one reason a Mercedes costs three times as much as a Toyota. They seem to be fairly equivalent, but the Merc has a whole lot more “finish,” and that costs a lot. Most folks find they can live without that extra polish, when they learn the cost. Toyotas are excellent vehicles, and have a reasonable cost. So, a big part of commercial feasibility, is learning where the “sweet spot” lies, so the last 10% takes only 40% of the time, and the customer is happy. For myself, I like to do “the full Monty,” and go for 90%, but it has been my experience that no one wants to pay for it. So I do it for free.