[thelist] Career Q's

> >1) Does it count against you if you have no formal quailifications?
> >obviously it would depend on the qual'.
>
> Not really important. Luckily for us the web hasn't matured to that
level
> yet.

I don't think maturity really has anything to do with it. The Internet
has changed the way people think about skill. You don't need a college
degree to write HTML. Maybe I should think about this a different way...
consider painting. If you're good, and you can prove you're good from
past works, then would Don Pablo's restaurant ignore you because you
have no formal education beyond high school (assuming that the painter
didn't go to college)? Artistic media are all mainly the same way, I'd
say. Even programming is an "art" in a sense.

> >2) For getting experience, are you better to try and develop for
clients
> >directly, or work for another company?
>
> Seeing that someone has experience working directly with a client is
always
> a plus. It means they have a better grasp of what it takes to get a
site
> done, and therefore are more likely to be team players.
>
> But in the end it's really the work that counts. I would consider
hiring a
> guy who's run a fan site out of his apartment for the past 3 years if
it
> was good.

The other thing to consider is your portfolio. When you work for a
company, you can't claim the sites your company builds as work you did
on your own. Personally, I think co-workers and mentors are more
beneficial than the extra money you might get from doing it all on your
own.



--
Matt Warden
http://mattwarden.com
me AT mattwarden DOT com