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Sales is awful. I want to be a web developer. Where should I start?

11 points by hackerbe ↗ HN
When I was much younger, I spent the majority of my time immersed in web technology and eating up any scrap of information available. But then something very, very tragic happened.

I learned about sales commissions.

I’m nearly 7 years deep into advertising sales with an excruciating year in pharmaceutical sales. I frequently find myself fantasizing about the ROI of “accidentally” cutting my finger off in an apple slicing accident in the break room so I can go home for the day and continue with my self-teaching of web development. Other days, I’ve painted an image in my mind where I survive a non-fatal traffic incident and due to my bodily injuries, I am limited to listening to books on tape – all of which would be about XHTML and the like -- while cocooned in a full body cast.

If I have to spend one more day prairie-dogging in sales cubicle hell, I am going to lose it.

In my spare time, I draw interesting websites I’d like to create and mobile apps that would make my life a billion times easier (perhaps yours, but that’s kind of a crapshoot bet, right?). Too many times, these plans have been executed by someone else either because I’m subconsciously a no-talent plagiarist or because maybe I actually have some great ideas but I have no idea where to even start to bring them to fruition.

So, Hacker News, if I want to develop these life-changing sites and mobile applications while simultaneously experiencing the Heaven-parting/angel singing/riding on a unicorn kind of joy of leaving sales at some point, where should I start? I’ll gladly do an unpaid internship outside of work hours, or maybe I should take evening classes at the local community college?

What would you do if you had to start all over again?

Your advice is greatly appreciated!

17 comments

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jrp
Other people here will tell you how to get into web development. But it sounds like you're very unhappy with your job (though don't overlook that there could be a different/other problem). Why don't you quit your job and get by doing something you don't hate?
CyberFonic
1. QUIT ! 2. Then take on an entry level job doing what you love.

As for commissions - if you are earning good commissions, then how much have you saved? How long can you live on a much reduced income? If you have been promised big commissions and are being conned, then another job should be no worse.

jwegan
Get a book on PHP, Python or whatever language your mobile platform of choice uses. Learn the language and try actually doing the examples in the book and getting them to work.

Once you've done that start making things. It doesn't need to be novel, just make a simple twitter clone or something like that. You'll learn how to setup a server, a database, make a website etc. I've found the best way to learn something is usually by doing something your interested in (i.e. a project of your choice rather than an internship) and it also gives you flexibility in terms of how much time you can choose to spend or not spend on it. Try to Google answers, but if you're really stuck you can ask questions on a site like StackOverflow.com

hackerbe
I would like to "not hate" a job in web development.

Don't get me wrong, there are some days I LOVE my job and I certainly love everyone I work with, but it's just not clicking despite my extensive efforts. It feels like a loveless marriage and I'm on my way to starring on "Snapped."

zedshaw
Well, I'll take this as an opportunity to pimp my free book I'm working on:

http://learnpythonthehardway.org/index

Depending on how much code experience you have it may be great or dead boring. Try it out, and drop me your comments in the ticket system on the site.

Good luck.

chipsy
This is a typical outline that assumes that you will ultimately want to work for yourself and don't have much to tie you down to your existing career path:

Figure out a business you want to be in that makes use of web development. "Web development" itself is not a business, unless you want to be an employee or a consultant, and most people ultimately loath that kind of labor just as much as sales. You might want to be an employee for some time to learn from others, but a motivated learner is probably going to extract most of the value from employment after a year or two.

Then save money, downsize your lifestyle, quit the job, and start on the business. Or preferably start on the business before the other things and gradually squeeze it into your time. It doesn't matter too much if there's a competitor(that's proof of worthiness) as long as there isn't a capitalization or path-dependency(aka. "lock-in") problem that will significantly hamper your own efforts.

Then expect to lose money for a year or so, but at incrementally slower rates until you break even.

[dead] mediarosh
If you know XHTML/CSS well you can start freelancing. I could help you out, as I am a web designer/developer myself and am looking for others to partner with.

Email me at mediarosh@gmail.com

webworkerAM
Move to Boulder, CO and come to our Web Developer university at Wall Street on Demand. It starts June 1, and we pay you to learn for 6 weeks about cutting edge javascript and standards-compliant XHTML/CSS.
coryl
Tell us more. You pay people to learn? What do you get out of it?
hackerbe
You are all so helpful and chipsy, dead on. Thank you so much for your input everyone!

I'm in Seattle, but Boulder does sound interesting...

pg
BTW, we have nested comments here: you can reply directly to an individual comment using the reply link at the bottom of it.
hackerbe
Oh, thank you! See? I need help. Lots of it.
andyhin
I guess it really depends on how you learn, but IMO you should avoid buying a textbook. There are plenty of resources online and often they come with "real" examples from users, etc.

My advice would be to just do it! Think of a project you want to do and start playing around. Start hacking, make it work, iterate. Later on, if you find something you did isn't the best way to do it - go back and rewrite it. You will learn a great deal from your mistakes - I know it was the best way I learned things.

You said you are interested in developing a website - start with HTML/CSS and PHP. There are TONS of php resources online, it is a powerful language, and quite easy to learn.

Good luck and be sure to post back when your product is launched :)

standardminds
You have part of the solution already. If you know sales well and are good, you have a valuable skill that you can barter with an independent programmer for instructions. Heck you could even end up making some money together. FYI, I'm in Seattle and would barter instruction for some sales help! PM me nm1161 (at) gmail if you're interested
imp
Learning web development will take time. How you approach it will depend on your financial situation and general life flexibility. Even if you need to keep your day job, you should be able to start learning on your own in your free time. It would be best to focus on a smaller project first that you can complete. Try HTML and CSS, then either Django, Ruby on Rails, or PHP. If you're brand new to web stuff, buy the book Head First HTML and CSS and set a goal to build a simple website in a month. After you've spent some time working on it, then you'll have a better idea of whether or not you really like it as much as you thought you would.
stiggz
Programming and web development is awesome, I've taken a 3 year course in Software Engineering and have been working the last two years developing apps for a government agency and a publishing house. To get here I had to exit my career as a law enforcement agent, but it's been a worthwhile choice. I actually love going to work, and working from home on projects in my spare time. Learning new and exciting technologies every day.

I'd say, take the plunge, get a community college degree in software in evening school, or self-study for MSCE and CCP exams. You'll need to start at entry level in your new field, but a lot of your sales skills will transfer over well in writing proposals and performing user acceptance testing. Read some books on languages that you want to learn- it's the kind of thing that will totally kill your free time though, prepare to have no social life for awhile.

And forget about getting out of the cubicle- although you may earn a private office after a year or two of programming, esp. if you target start-ups.

Best of luck to you!