$10 hour

[Paul Puodziukas]

I'm a novice programmer who is very interested in the Java/XML connection as well as JSP/Servlets. I'm not in a position to be searching for a full time position making 30 - 40k a year due to my lack of experience. Besides open source, what would be the best moves for me to make in order to land a situation where I was gaining ON SITE real world experience while making $10 an hour or even less? I know that there are tons of very qualified programmers out there, but while they are requiring full-blown salaries, I would be a skilled person who is willing to do junior programmer " grunt work " for almost nothing. I would imagine that there are senior type programmers who maybe would'nt mind giving "busy work" to someone else. What does everybody think about this?
[This message has been edited by Paul Puodziukas (edited November 11, 2001).]

[Daniel Dunleavy]

I suggest you take anything you can live with. Often times I have cut my billing rate to gain experience in a certain skill. In the end you make it back by billing someone else for the skill you now have.
You also should remember that when your in someplace, you have the chance to show them what you can do. If you shine, they will be happy to raise your pay. When you feel that you are performing your tasks in a timely fashion and without bugs, ask to meet with your boss. Say 3 - 6 months after starting. Ask him how he feels you are performing. If he agrees that you are doing an excellent job, he should be willing to give you a bump.
HTH...Good Luck
Dan

[John Coxey]

Paul Puodziukas:
- If you are in college - talk to the career service folks, and also your professors.
- I believe if you use "junior" in your job searches as opposed to "entry level" that you may get more hits.
- Even though you are looking for a $10/hour IT job, you will still need a resume. At this stage of the game - it will be important to highlight your education/certifications.
- I would look at brassring.com and also flipdog.com . They seemed to have some internships listed here and there. Also, there are some internship directories that you can look at under the "job search" category at your local Barnes&Nobles or Borders Bookstore.
Take some paper/pen with you - and write down the info. Books are too broad in nature to be worth spending $$ on. But, they still have some good info.
John Coxey
([e-mail])

[Paul Puodziukas]

The thing is that I already have a 4-year Liberal Arts degree as opposed to being in the processs of earning a CS degree. I always read advice like, " go talk to a career councilor at your school." Well, that's not really an option for me. I know that many programmers are people who have backrounds in other disciplines whether it be mathematics, musical composition, or philosophy. Growing up, my backrounds have been in music and theatre, but I've become very interested in software development as a new career. I'm wanting to find out how programmers who are starting from scratch generally go about starting their careers. Initially my belief was 1. master a set of programming languages, 2. contribute to an opensource project and get a couple of certifications, 3. get a six month internship to gain real-world experience, 4. transition into a full-time salaried position while always continuing to gain new skills. Please tell me what I'm not understanding.
Paul

[This message has been edited by Paul Puodziukas (edited November 14, 2001).]

[Joseph Hammerman]

I don't want to sound negative, but this is a very bad time to break into the programming field. It is very difficult for talented experienced developers to find employment. Unless you have really good connections, you don't have much of a chance until the job market gets better. The steps that you mentioned will help you once the market improves, as will relevant degrees and certifications.

[Raghav Mathur]

You can still go for technical coursese like BS and MS . You would be asked to complete certain deficiency courses .

Originally posted by Paul Puodziukas:
The thing is that I already have a 4-year Liberal Arts degree as opposed to being in the processs of earning a CS degree. I always read advice like, " go talk to a career councilor at your school." Well, that's not really an option for me. I know that many programmers are people who have backrounds in other disciplines whether it be mathematics, musical composition, or philosophy. Growing up, my backrounds have been in music and theatre, but I've become very interested in software development as a new career. I'm wanting to find out how programmers who are starting from scratch generally go about starting their careers. Initially my belief was 1. master a set of programming languages, 2. contribute to an opensource project and get a couple of certifications, 3. get a six month internship to gain real-world experience, 4. transition into a full-time salaried position while always continuing to gain new skills. Please tell me what I'm not understanding.
Paul
[This message has been edited by Paul Puodziukas (edited November 14, 2001).]