Web Developing??

[Soliciting Stu]

Hullo all!

This is my second foray into this part of the Pprune website in one week! Does that make me a regular yet??!!!

Anyhow, I was looking for some advice please.
At the ripe old age of 27, I have found myself jobless. I left the Police Force earlier this week, and all week long, I have begun to think about what it is I would like to do next in this adventure I call my life! This is where I am seeking some guidance please....

The area of web developing has always appealed to me, but I have never really had any opportunity to get to grips with it.
I know the term 'web developing' is huge in its remit, and covers a multitude of skills. Yet, I use the term in this broadest sense.

Is there anyone out there who could recommend where I could start? Courses, self-teach, entry-level jobs, give up?

I'm able to use a computer and its applications, and pick things up very quickly (ordinarily!).
However, programming is a whole new kettle of fish! Beyond programming my old Spectrum 48k back in the day, I've never delved!

Zero experience; looking to do this as a potential career; living in Kent, just outside London.

Thanks for reading, and thank you all for any feedback! It would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,
SS.

(Edited because I realised I did not put in enough info. to begin with!)

[E-Liam]

Hi Stu,

I don't know how much experience you have of building web pages/sites, so I'll assume that you don't have any and start at the beginning.

WebMonkey (http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/kids/lessons/index.html) is a good place to start. Yes, I know it's for kids, :) but it starts at the very beginning and explains what you need to know to build your first site. You have to build the first one before you acn go further. It also deals with basic HTML as well.

Hope that helps.

Cheers

Liam

[Evo]

What do you mean by "web developing"?

While people with nothing more than a bit of HTML could make good money in the ".com" goldrush, it's very rare now. Web applications have moved on, although there's still money around if you've got the right skills. I'm no real expert (I mainly work architecting this stuff) but from where I work two options spring to mind:

There's some demand for people with Enterprise Java skills, so you could look at something like Sun's "Certified Java Programmer" and "Certified Web Component Developer" exams (the second is the one you want, the first is a pre-requisite - i've done both, they're not too hard but getting there from a standing start will be difficult). JSPs and Servlets are popular, but not many people can write them well (plenty can bodge them!). It might also be worth looking at the Microsoft .NET equivalents, it's a bit slower to market but you can bet they'll catch up like they always do.

The alternative might be to get skilled up in something more graphical like Flash (Certified Macromedia Flash MX Developer maybe). I know much less about this and the demand for skills, but at work it always seems to be hard to find someone when you need them - although that may be where I work :)

You'll notice that I'm suggesting certification in both cases. It's a bit of a pain to get, but these days you're really going to struggle to get a job doing any of this stuff without experience or demonstrable skills. Certification at least shows that you've got the basic skills to do the job.

HTH - feel free to PM if you would like to discuss further.

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Soliciting Stu,

If you are thinking of breaking into 'web developing', I would suggest going though the sites:

Flash Kit (http://www.flashkit.com/index.shtml)

and

Hot Scripts (http://www.hotscripts.com)

They are both an excellent recourse for both the budding as well as the veteran 'web developer' ;)

Take Care,

Richard

[???pax]

Hi Stu,

Take a look at..

http://www.w3schools.com/

It will give you the low down on HTML, XHTML etc, and will also provide you with an introduction to ASP so you can start playing around with forms processing and dynamic content.

To be marketable in this day and age you should be capable of turning your hand to anything in the "web development" domain. I suggest that you will need to get your hands dirty with a programming language, such as Java, and grasp an understanding of relational databases and SQL. I'm sure this will be disputed by some of the more design-oriented web folks who may never need to know this, but in the long run you will be doing yourself a favour if you can at least talk shop with some of the more "techie" members of your team.

As advised before, have a look into JavaServerPages (JSP), the Java way of providing dynamic pages, and also have a look at JSTL (JSP Standard Tag Library) . The JSTL wraps up a lot of common functionalities like database access and output formatting, and is designed to be used by web page developers. It's usage does not require you to be an expert Java developer, however a comprehension of Java web technologies is essential if you are to become a "JSTL guru".

As far as software is concerned, there are numerous free (open-source) servers and databases out there that you can downlaod and play around on, and there are lots of tutorials to work through.

Good luck and PM me if you want any further info.

???pax

[drauk]

Nice thing about web developing as your target is that you can build something useful, put it on the web and use it for self-promotion. We interview developers and system designers and always ask if they've got anything online that we can check out. And it amazes me that so few people, who say they're so keen, haven't built anything.

It doesn't have to set the world alight, but something clever, well designed and professionally created will do wonders for your chances. We'd hire someone with zero commercial experience if they could demonstrate real ability and knowledge.

Your online application doesn't have to be wildly popular, it has to be well created. Make it interesting for yourself. If you're in to flying, build an online log book which shows the flights in the log book on a map. Or a flight planner which automatically shows the weather and/or NOTAMS for your route. Or a navigation simulator.

As others have pointed out, there are a million free online resources for how to do this stuff. So get to it!

[phnuff]

Dont forget things like Shockwave and Flash - the graphics tools which create the really annoying ads etc. you see on the net. Good skills on those are always in demand.

[mazzy1026]

All the advice above is top dollar - here's my 2 cents worth !

Try looking for some work experience in a large organisation that will have a web development team. I work in the NHS on a placement (gap year) and I have done tonnes of web design and learned loads of new things. You will be suprised what you can learn in a couple of weeks, and the best way to do this, is sit at your computer and just get building !

Best of luck and let us know how you get on.

Maz :ok:

[SteveSomebody]

This is all good advice. I was in a similar situation and I'm quite a lot older than you. I did some study both at a private college and then University. Loads of courses are available and university courses are very, very cheap compared to the private sector. Much of what you'll learn can be found in books and on the internet but it's very valuable to meet people already in the industry. Most of the people I studied with who've got new jobs, got them through friends and contacts.

Best wishes for your new career!