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Need advice! Getting a web development job

Anything considered a "hustle" and not necessarily a CENTS-based Fastlane

spirit

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Right now I'm making very little money. So to support myself and learn more about the industry, I want to get a web development job. I'm taking courses on Udemy and Codecademy. Once I get a job and can support myself, I want to work on creating a Fastlane online business.

That being said, I have a couple questions!

1. I'm taking a Photoshop web design course on Udemy. This made me aware that I'm not much of an artist and would rather stick with code. How do I build a portfolio without being a visual artist? I don't want to steal other people's designs either.

2. I live in a relatively small city. There are maybe 6 web development businesses. In case I can't find a job here, how can I get one online? I would like to avoid moving to a large city.

Thank you very much to anyone who can help out!
 
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Jeff Noel

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You don't need a portfolio to get a web dev job. Just show them you are able to code. Try to get a front end developer job if you prefer that to backend. You can learn to integrate Photoshop templates while on the job without problem.

Show them you can learn and you're a good coder. I don't think they'll ask for a portfolio, you're not a web designer.
 

Feyyaz Özkalin

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I understand your situation. I asked the same question myself. Would be great to get a feedback regarding the designs to be used meanwhile webdev eloping.
 

astr0

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Totally agree with @Jeff Noel. You don't need a portfolio and you don't need to be a designer.

You just need to get invited to an interview and to pass it.

Logically, if there are only 6 web development businesses in your city and they are doing well, then there shouldn't be many people looking for a web developer job too. They would either be hired, move to another city or start freelancing. So if the businesses are growing they would have lower hiring standards. You probably would be invited with an ok resume.

Based on your post I assume you have 0 commercial experience with web development. That's no great and no way to fix that any time soon. So you should really focus on showing them that you're able and willing to learn. Be honest as they probably had interviewed a lot of people and would easily spot lies and exaggeration.

You should actually be able to code, not answer theoretical questions and pass tests. So think of any small project and do it. Find free design somewhere or even copycat it, you won't be using it for commercial purposes anyway. It's just for learning and, maybe, showing it in an interview as a small bonus.

Here, software companies often invest in training people. Especially if they still can financially benefit from their work at least a little. My current partner was hired on his first job as a frontend developer after learning from scratch for 6 months.

Have no idea on how to get a job online, only freelancing. You can find pretty long hourly paid geeks on upwork, making you effectively a dedicated developer for the client.
 
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Alecxandra

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Hi there! If you're new to the field and find it challenging to get a full-time job within your town, you could go freelancing first to build your connection, credibility and career. It is still important to have at least a few experiences to jump-start your career judging from how competitive the workforce is now a days. As what others said, Upwork is good when you want an online job, but you have to have a strong set of skills and experience before you get noticed there. Just do your best and never be afraid of the challenges ahead of you. You can do it!
 

Ubu_roi

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I believe that building a portfolio might help you get customers, but more importantly you'll learn a lot on how to do the job.

I think the fastest way to quickly build yours would be to use Bootstrap themes (you should know a little html, css and bootstrap to do that, but they are all rather easy to learn if you don't already).

I regularly use paid themes on https://themeforest.net/, Website Templates | Web Templates, and 200+ Bootstrap Themes | BootstrapBay. They cost anything from 10$ to 75$, but they are generally well built and can save you huge amounts of time. And they look very professional. Of course there are many free themes (like Free Bootstrap Themes & Templates - Start Bootstrap, or Bootswatch: Free themes for Bootstrap and many others) but they are generally worse.

Right now I can complete a simple web site in just one day using a premium theme. Customers also love being involved in the choice of the theme, so they are twice as happy with the result.

Good luck!
 

ddesigns

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Hi, As most of the people advice, you don't need portfolio to start your business, you need strong selling skills which will help you to convenience your client that you will be able create a stunning website for them and address their pain point. I am saying this from my personal experience, I started in the same manner 3 years back, just with a website for myself so that I can show that to my client.

In initial stage, you can start building free sites for NGO, Church or any small business which your family or friends own, this way you can build your portfolio which will help you to grow your business (in case if you are not getting job) .

Coding is very important, but now a days you are having good options like wordpress and wix which will give you readymade templates, which you can tweak and make it look tailor made and make a website for your clients (with less coding skills). While doing this, keep learning coding side by side so that in future when you want to develop a website from scratch, you can do that without any difficulty.
 
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GrandRub

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dont try to focus only on "web design". a website is nothing without a online marketing strategy or a sales system or any goal behind that. dont just sell pretty websites, responsive websites and techy stuff to your clients - sell them the benefits that they will get from their new website and how their business profit from the new website.
 

MAB1138

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A small off topic.

A friend of mine pointed me a web site telling me it's the ugliest site he's ever seen.
Well, he was right. I can't help sharing it with you.

Personal & Business Car Leasing | LINGsCARS

Don't thank me.
It's a kind of genius move...think about it - how much traffic does this guy get from people like you and me sharing his site because it's so ugly it demands to be seen!?

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk
 
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GrandRub

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i think that site isnt bad at all. its a bit extravagant but very personal brand :D
 

Ubu_roi

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Yep, I must reluctantly agree. The guy IS a genius. I spent half an hour on the site and its shocking ugliness is somewhat efficient and probably an excellent selling machine. And Mr Ling is probably laughing at all the people who share his link for the ugliness of the site.
 

Brindas Andrei

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Well, let me tell you how I almost got a web design job.
I haven't got it because I turned it down in the end because I considered it not to be a smart move. Here's the story...

I started learning web design in late 2017. I've learned for 2 months I think and got used to HTML, CSS and PHP (I really disliked JavaScript and still do). Besides coding, I've also learned about the concepts of programming and especially, web programming (stuff like what is front-end, back-end, what is OOP etc).

I've begun building some dummy websites and at one point I've made a CRUD aplication that would remind you when your different car stuff will expire (technical inspection, insurance etc). And guess what: It worked :D

So, lesson one: build projects for yourself in order to learn - and have a portfolio too.


One evening I've been talking with a friend of mine who was a web developer as well. We were talking about different projects, different ideas we had. We've had several good discussions before and after that. On that very night he told me to approach the owner of a small local web development company.

Lesson two: try to make friends with people that work in the industry.


On that very night I've texted the owner on Facebook. He gave me his phone number and asked me to call him. We've talked and scheduled a meeting where I had to bring some past projects I've made.

When the day came, went to their office and had a talk with him. He asked me some questions about why I wanted to get hired in the industry, how had I been leaning the trade and some extremely simple programming question.

After that he asked me about some projects, but didn't mind to have a look. He was already convinced and has already told me that he would like to hire me.

Wow, that escalated quickly.

Lesson tree: just ask the right guy - the owner.


On that night we agreed on a deal: he was to give me a project and I would go weekly to check in with one of his guys who had to help me with this project.

I've been working, learning a new framework (Laravel for php) and made a web app.

Here's the nice thing: It was the same kind of app as the one I did for myself. So, it was a relatively easy project.

As the project went on I've learned new useful stuff.

When I finished the project we've talked about hiring. I wasn't fond of the wage and thought that moving to a smaller salary won't be a smart move.

To be honest, I doubt my decision now.

Well, this is how I almost got hired as a web developer having only about 4 months experience only with personal projects.

But the story doesn't end here.

I have a good friend who loves computer science, web development and programming. The only problem is that he had absolutely zero experience with web development.

He wanted to get into this industry. So, I've told him about this company and I've talked to the owner who asked me to give his phone number.

They've met and told him that they had no open position at the moment. But he gave him something to study and to learn.

Two weeks after that my friend got a phone call from the owner. He got an open position in his company. My friend got hired in about one month after that.

And please pay attention...

He had NO / ZERO / NADA experience as a web developer.

He had just asked, just like I did.

Well, this is the story I wanted to share with you. Here are the few lessons I've learnt along the way.

1. Build projects for yourself
2. Have friends (or make) in the industry
3. If you want to get the job, ask the owner
4. If you don't have experience - tell them you have passion to learn. It worked for me and it worked for my friend.

Hope this helps you.

Have a great day.
 
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MAB1138

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Nov 28, 2017
14
18
49
New York (State, not city)
Well, let me tell you how I almost got a web design job.
I haven't got it because I turned it down in the end because I considered it not to be a smart move. Here's the story...

I started learning web design in late 2017. I've learned for 2 months I think and got used to HTML, CSS and PHP (I really disliked JavaScript and still do). Besides coding, I've also learned about the concepts of programming and especially, web programming (stuff like what is front-end, back-end, what is OOP etc).

I've begun building some dummy websites and at one point I've made a CRUD aplication that would remind you when your different car stuff will expire (technical inspection, insurance etc). And guess what: It worked :D

So, lesson one: build projects for yourself in order to learn - and have a portfolio too.


One evening I've been talking with a friend of mine who was a web developer as well. We were talking about different projects, different ideas we had. We've had several good discussions before and after that. On that very night he told me to approach the owner of a small local web development company.

Lesson two: try to make friends with people that work in the industry.


On that very night I've texted the owner on Facebook. He gave me his phone number and asked me to call him. We've talked and scheduled a meeting where I had to bring some past projects I've made.

When the day came, went to their office and had a talk with him. He asked me some questions about why I wanted to get hired in the industry, how had I been leaning the trade and some extremely simple programming question.

After that he asked me about some projects, but didn't mind to have a look. He was already convinced and has already told me that he would like to hire me.

Wow, that escalated quickly.

Lesson tree: just ask the right guy - the owner.


On that night we agreed on a deal: he was to give me a project and I would go weekly to check in with one of his guys who had to help me with this project.

I've been working, learning a new framework (Laravel for php) and made a web app.

Here's the nice thing: It was the same kind of app as the one I did for myself. So, it was a relatively easy project.

As the project went on I've learned new useful stuff.

When I finished the project we've talked about hiring. I wasn't fond of the wage and thought that moving to a smaller salary won't be a smart move.

To be honest, I doubt my decision now.

Well, this is how I almost got hired as a web developer having only about 4 months experience only with personal projects.

But the story doesn't end here.

I have a good friend who loves computer science, web development and programming. The only problem is that he had absolutely zero experience with web development.

He wanted to get into this industry. So, I've told him about this company and I've talked to the owner who asked me to give his phone number.

They've met and told him that they had no open position at the moment. But he gave him something to study and to learn.

Two weeks after that my friend got a phone call from the owner. He got an open position in his company. My friend got hired in about one month after that.

And please pay attention...

He had NO / ZERO / NADA experience as a web developer.

He had just asked, just like I did.

Well, this is the story I wanted to share with you. Here are the few lessons I've learnt along the way.

1. Build projects for yourself
2. Have friends (or make) in the industry
3. If you want to get the job, ask the owner
4. If you don't have experience - tell them you have passion to learn. It worked for me and it worked for my friend.

Hope this helps you.

Have a great day.
I'm a developer by profession and can tell you that if you just want to get your foot in the door, you just need to be able to do the work.

If you're looking for a 100k salary and climb the corporate ladder, you'll need the paper to back it up (ie: college degree).

But small business owners especially only care about getting the job done.

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk
 
D

Deleted50669

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You know who else is trying to get a web development job? Half the planet. Get building.
 

MAB1138

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129%
Nov 28, 2017
14
18
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New York (State, not city)
You know who else is trying to get a web development job? Half the planet. Get building.
True.

But if you can focus local to start, that weeds out an awful lot of the planet. [emoji16]

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk
 
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