I originally went to college for a broadcasting degree. In the world of
broadcasting, introductory unpaid internships are the norm. Oprah has
more unpaid employees than paid. My fiancee is a Chemist and low-paying
"fellowships" are the norm in her industry and she has a PhD. So anyone
who thinks that a company should hire and pay for training is definitely
living in a world where the economy's always rosy. During the recession
of 1989-92, phew! Talk about a tough time getting an employer to do
anything for you, whether the company was good or not and no matter how
talented you were, they couldn't have cared less. You had to do it for
yourself and lots of my friends were paying for college night classes
just to get that promotion.
There are many reasons why it's important to build up a portfolio of
work if you don't have one. I was a writer with a background in
broadcasting and museums. How could I snag a website job back in
1994-95 when CS grads were taking the good ones? Because I built up a
portfolio at my job and on several Geocities sites. How did I move from
HTML design to CF in 1996? I not only learned from "the book" but I ran
a lunch-hour CF training group for other HTML people at my company.
Sure, in 1995 the internet was less structured and a developer could get
away with a "fan site" on their portfolio, but I think it is an
important first step. If you are a Jr Developer and only have 1 or 2
sites in your portfolio, by all means, walk into your next interview
with some volunteer projects for a charity of some kind. Churches,
local political causes, community groups, PTAs, etc all need computer
work at some level. If you don't have the CS degree, you have to take
charge of your own career development in ways that others might not.
Plus most interviewers require a good code sample, so you need to have
at least one site finished and written well.
Also, one of the best pieces of advice someone gave me was this-- if
you're having trouble learning Spectra, build a Spectra site to catalog
your videotapes or cds. Talk about the kind of personal database that
people can use in real life and a system (Spectra) which needs daily use
to get anyone up to speed on. Create a complete home management
interface for bill paying, schedules, cd database, everything. What do
you need to manage in your life? Create a CF intranet that does all
that. Then you have web-based application experience too.
Another good tip? Write a custom tag and put it on the Allaire site.
Then create a website based on your custom tag.
Basically, the jobs are here for you to fight for. But you're going to
have to really fight for them.
Don
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