[thelist] Career Q's

adrian,

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: From: Adrian Kearns <adriank@reactor.co.nz>
:
: 1) Does it count against you if you have no formal
: quailifications?
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i think alot of traditional companies will want to see some level of
schooling and/or certification in the discipline you're applying for.
however, i would wager a guess that most web design companies are going to
place more importance on results.  in other words, your porftolio and
associated experience are probably going to hold more weight than a degree.

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: 2) For getting experience, are you better to try and
: develop for clients directly, or work for another company?
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

that would depend on what suits you best.  i've been doing this for
approximately 3 years and have never worked in a corporate environment.
given the opportunity, i'd say i'm extremely employable though.  it comes
down to enthusiasm, motivation, and a thirst for knowledge.

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: 3) how seriously do poeple take hand-coders?
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

if i were in a hiring position, i don't think i'd hire someone that couldn't
handcode.  if you don't know the code how are you going to fix anything that
the editor does?  how are you going to fix a rendering problem in a
particular browser?  how are you going to know what combination of html
works in one browser but not another?  the question of the necessity of hand
coding isn't even an issue when it comes to data-driven websites.  you have
no choice.  you absolutely *must* know how to handcode.

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: 4) How essentail is Database experience?
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

the is and will continue to move more and more to using databases to hold
the content.  it makes it much easier to address content delivery issues by
keeping the content separate from the layout.  using a database to hold
content it doesn't take much work to take a whole site full of content and
produce a version that is wap accessible or palm accessible or text browser
accessible or even screen reader accessible.  it's just a matter of creating
the appropriate templates for the task.

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: Javascript?
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

in my opinion a basic understanding of javascript is as necessary as being
able to hand code html.  if you really want to be good at what you do or
move into data driven sites, you'll find that you'll have more and more need
for a solid understanding of javascript.

good luck,

.jeff

name://jeff.howden
game://web.development
http://www.evolt.org/
mailto:jeff@members.evolt.org