HN Explorer

Need Career Advice/Guidance

4 points by blackmario ↗ HN
Most of my life I worked as a WordPress developer and learned a few other things in-between. WordPress was never my first choice but due to financials I needed a job quickly so, I got into this 5 years ago after completing my high schools and left college/formal education since then.

Last year, I was sick of everyday customising and fixing WordPress websites. I worked as a contractor for a few companies all these years. So, In July, I left everything and started working on my personal projects. I had experience with Python and Django because I was learning this once in a month or two.

So, I started improving these first. I can build eCommerce level websites with django and moreover JS, JQuery (due to WordPress and all those CMS), Postgresql, mysql, and recently learning React and HTML canvas.

Now, the situation is I haven't earned a single penny in last 9 months and my personal project haven't move forward to a level or any level at all. Because everytime I deploy, I came through a post or article here and there which every time I find useful and start redevelopment from scratch and this loop is not stoping from the last 4 months especially. So, I'm only working development part but not on its business part like SEO or content.

And now, I'm broke as hell and not sure what should I do. Whenever I look at jobs either for backend: they need algo and for frontend they need 10 different frameworks. I don't have any education background in CS or even in anything after high school.

What should I do now?

My overall skills: Python, Django, JS, JQuery, CMS like WordPress and Shopify, SEO, and paid ads.

My portfolio: 0 As a contractor I cannot show those websites in my portfolio and only I can tell but no one is going to listen without seeing first.

Should I learn a few more frameworks, languages or other thing like cloud to get a job as quickly as possible or should I just apply and these are enough?

10 comments

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bckr
You're falling into analysis paralysis.

It's a hot market right now. You can get a job. Just start ferociously applying and then following up with recruiters on LinkedIn.

If you don't get any opportunities in a couple weeks of doing this full time, or someone rejects you for no portfolio, spend 1 week and build something. Then stop. Don't keep doing your around and around thing.

Then go back to ferocious applications.

blackmario
Make sense. What should I include in the portfolio if I need to like eCommerce or any specific type application that looks good from a recruiter point of view, any idea?
GianFabien
In my experience (Sydney, Australia) most recruiters are keyword matching and have absolutely no clue about the reality of what jobs require. If at all possible, apply to direct job advertisers.

You might also want to offer your services as a contractor to local businesses. It may still require using some of your WordPress skillz, but with small biz it is often easy to extend out into the areas in which you have also gained expertise.

blackmario
I should try there too, may be local business as well. I had a good reach last year but not now. Just submitted to a few jobs.
bckr
Anything you can complete in less than a week
GianFabien
Being "broke as hell" is a very uncomfortable place to be. If I were in your position I would apply for jobs which primarily require the skills you have now. The job market is hot, so with the skills that you do have, you are good prospective developer in many areas.

Personally, I consider job descriptions that require more than one solid framework as having a certain "smell". In other words, I suspect that the hiring manager hasn't got a clue or that every developer on his team wants to use a different framework. Neither are good signs for the long-term.

blackmario
Agreed. I did created a cv. Will start sending soon!
cdclaxton
I have run a fair few interviews for my employer and I know how hard it is to recruit at the moment as other people have mentioned in the comments. I think you've got more saleable skills than you realise. Your experience counts for lots and you're not alone in not being able to talk about the detail of your work there. I would get a CV together and I'm sure you'll find recruiters who are only too keen to help you find companies to apply for. I wish you much success in your search.
sdevonoes
> And now, I'm broke as hell and not sure what should I do. Whenever I look at jobs either for backend: they need algo and for frontend they need 10 different frameworks. I don't have any education background in CS or even in anything after high school.

I think you can get up to date in these new tech stacks quite fast. Just apply for jobs and get used to their interviews. You'll discover a pattern (classic questions tech companies ask, and their answers). In the meanwhile learn 1 frontend framework and 1 backend framework (you usually can extrapolate knowledge. For instance, if you know Vue, you more or less know about React. If you know Django, you more or less RoR. Details differ, but the concepts remain).

In a nutshell: just apply. First rounds will be hard, but it's all about getting used to it.