[thelist] Career Q's

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Adrian Kearns [SMTP:adriank@reactor.co.nz]
> Sent:	Monday, March 20, 2000 2:53 AM
> To:	evolt list
> Subject:	[thelist] Career Q's
> 
> 1) Does it count against you if you have no formal quailifications?
> obviously it would depend on the qual'.
[Burns, Martin]  
Depends on what you're doing. The further backend you go, the more
it's going to count to get you in the door. But experience is all. You
*will*
need a portfolio which showcases the skills you're selling. If you're not
a front-end guy, then the design doesn't matter, but the way the backend
interacts with the design does.

> 2) For getting experience, are you better to try and develop for clients
> directly, or work for another company?
[Burns, Martin]  
Once you've got a good portfolio (which can include cheapie jobs for small
companies), go work for someone else.

Meantime, get hold of every damn book & material you can and read,
memorise and inwardly digest. I can recommend reading pretty much
all of Webmonkey in your chosen area, and we have some very, very
nice tutorials on thesite.

> 3) how seriously do poeple take hand-coders?
> If your a WD company, do you perfer hand-coders or not, or do you 
> avoid them?
[Burns, Martin]  
Even if the company does use WYSIWYG tools, they will be chopping
the initial page apart by hand. Even if you don't type the whole damn thing,
you will be editing on a very detailed level.

> 4) How essentail is Database experience?
> Are other skills have a higher priority?
> IE - Javascript?
[Burns, Martin]  
The more skills you have, the better of course. People that can do
databases *well* earn more. Even if you're a frontend guy, knowing
how your visual design interacts with a backend is a key skill,
so being involved in a data-driven project, even if you're not the database
guy is very useful experience.


Cheers
Martin


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