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One upvote on this comment wasn't enough, so let me expand as well: Someone asking for free development work, in modern circumstances, is not someone you shoul

by hawkice 12y ago

One upvote on this comment wasn't enough, so let me expand as well: Someone asking for free development work, in modern circumstances, is not someone you should work for, even if they _do_ pay you later. I was a student, right after the recession hit, didn't have my degree, had to remember a sentence I didn't understand in case they asked me about the difference between an inner join and an outer join (because, at the time, I had absolutely no clue what SQL was, aside from 'database-y'). I, and dozens of other students like me, were paid more than double minimum wage and given paid on-the-job training for our admittedly non-expert web development work. And the market is way better now than in 2009.

gamechangr 12y ago
Interesting (upvoting both) Original OP here. I guess my "heartburn" focused on not being able to learn what I wanted or not being certain of what I wanted to commit time learning, but you point makes sense too. I should find a way to get paid to learn. I can work on that.
- hawkice 12y ago
  If at all possible, invest in learning independently as much as possible. The tools these days, both free and paid (for almost all price brackets, although it's hard to beat some of the free resources), for independent study are amazing. EDIT: On second thought, if your projects are for real and not just homeworky projects that no class assigned, you're already extremely well qualified for a job. I'd spend more time talking to people who have hiring authority (they tend to make themselves available at hackathons, through email at /hiring pages, etc.) Honestly this is all stuff you probably know, but it can be helpful to hear someone say "yep, that's the important bit".
  - gamechangr 12y ago
    By "independently" do you mean not employed by someone? Or do you just mean self study? For the last five years my job has required above 60hrs a week, I know that if I get a 30 hour a week commitment with a company - I will still put my time in on the side to study what I want.
    - hawkice 12y ago
      By "independently" I just mean that you will learn faster and earn more per hour if you work a normal job and learn on the side than spending the same time learning on the job. All jobs require some learning and adaptation, so the marginal increasing in learning for a job that e.g. allows you to pull a technical book off the bookshelf and read if you don't have a task assigned is pretty low. Sounds good on paper, but they'll pay you a lot less for pretty little benefit.

by hawkice 12y ago

gamechangr 12y ago

Interesting (upvoting both) Original OP here. I guess my "heartburn" focused on not being able to learn what I wanted or not being certain of what I wanted to commit time learning, but you point makes sense too. I should find a way to get paid to learn. I can work on that.

hawkice 12y ago
If at all possible, invest in learning independently as much as possible. The tools these days, both free and paid (for almost all price brackets, although it's hard to beat some of the free resources), for independent study are amazing. EDIT: On second thought, if your projects are for real and not just homeworky projects that no class assigned, you're already extremely well qualified for a job. I'd spend more time talking to people who have hiring authority (they tend to make themselves available at hackathons, through email at /hiring pages, etc.) Honestly this is all stuff you probably know, but it can be helpful to hear someone say "yep, that's the important bit".
- gamechangr 12y ago
  By "independently" do you mean not employed by someone? Or do you just mean self study? For the last five years my job has required above 60hrs a week, I know that if I get a 30 hour a week commitment with a company - I will still put my time in on the side to study what I want.
  - hawkice 12y ago
    By "independently" I just mean that you will learn faster and earn more per hour if you work a normal job and learn on the side than spending the same time learning on the job. All jobs require some learning and adaptation, so the marginal increasing in learning for a job that e.g. allows you to pull a technical book off the bookshelf and read if you don't have a task assigned is pretty low. Sounds good on paper, but they'll pay you a lot less for pretty little benefit.