Ask HN - need some advice, I'm stuck | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN - need some advice, I'm stuck

13 pointsthrowaway65710 comments

Been a PHP dev for a 5-6 years, and a couple of years before that in Java.

Bored with corporate jobs, but I feel stuck. Last week I went to a job fair (though I have a job currently), I couldn't find many companies working in PHP. Some who spoke to me intially, smirked after I told them I'm a PHP dev. I'd like to learn something new, like Android or Rails, but I'm afraid I wouldn't be employable for a while (which I can't afford). I also thoroughly enjoy non programming tasks like market research, data analysis, product design etc. But don't have any "real world" experience to show in these areas. Also, in my mid thirties, not sure how much that'd work against me.

Anyone in this situation tried something new? Did it work out for you?

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I started my career as a developer by learning PHP over a decade ago, it's still the language I know best, and I was even Zend certified at one point, but I don't describe myself as a "PHP dev," and neither should you. You're a developer, and most of your experience is in PHP. It's a subtle, but important difference.

I'm going to advise you to diversify your skillset, but first, if you really want to stay within the PHP world, find an agency (or start your own) that does a lot of work with either Drupal or Wordpress. They're not corporate, and there are plenty of them.

If you really want to get "unstuck," learn something new. Here's what you're going to do: find a hackathon that takes place a month from now (see http://www.hackathon.io/ or ask Uncle Google), and register for it. Then spend the next month learning Android, AngularJS, Backbone.js, Python, Rails, or whatever your hackathon is based on, and then go to the event and use it.

Given that you already have a job as a developer, there's no reason for you to be unemployable, ever. If you have a corporate job now, I have a hard time imagining that you don't have some slack in your day that you could devote to trying out Android or AngularJS, as julianpye suggested; or Backbone.js, or Python, or Rails, or whatever. If you can't find the time at work, throw your TV off the roof of your house/apartment building and spend an hour or two on it at night.

Come back next month and if you're still stuck, post again and we'll talk. (But I'm pretty sure you won't be stuck.)

Thanks, sounds like good advice.

How do I approach the agencies (for PHP or non-PHP)? Cold emailing won't work, no?

Google for a list of web design/development agencies in your area, and they should have jobs listed on their sites, which will let you know who's looking. Ignore the instructions for applying online and try to meet someone from the firms you're interested in, maybe at a meetup/drinkup/etc. If you want to be really guerilla, set up shop in a coffee shop near their offices for a couple of days and see if you can spot a couple of their employees, then strike up a conversation.

A portfolio will really help here. If you can put together a small site that shows what you've done before, that will help. The Drupal agencies (the better ones, anyway) will also probably want to see some activity on Drupal.org, but that's not necessarily a deal-breaker. If you do want to work on Drupal, go to some Drupal meetups, and make it your goal to be ready to apply for a Drupal job at the next DrupalCon in Austin next year (Drupal has a learning curve, you will need the time).

Thank you for the advice. Been in the corporate world too long, I guess. Need to work on the portfolio.

I'll also try to get out of PHP. It would be nice to do something different for a change.

> I'll also try to get out of PHP

That escalated quickly. :)

If you didn't know, Drupal's written in PHP, and the upcoming Drupal 8 uses the Symfony framework. I always recommend learning new languages, but there's no pressing need for you to get out of PHP to move forward!

You're quite welcome, best of luck. Also, I didn't mean to suggest that you should move away from PHP, only that you should add other technologies to your toolbox. PHP experience is and will continue to be valuable, no matter what the 20-something brogrammers say.

If someone smirked at me for knowing PHP, I'd gladly walk away from the conversation. Knowing a programming language (actually, knowing anything) is a positive thing. PHP isn't glamorous but it is widely used, popular, and effective at solving a goal.

That being said, I was a Delphi developer for 5 years out of school. There's a random little used language for you. I spent a year teaching myself iOS, brushing up on my PHP and javascript. I then tweaked my resume depending on the job I was applying to, regarding the order I listed the languages. Get someone on the phone/interview and explain to them how great you are from there.

Of course, in your mid thirties you might have less freedom to take an entry level job.

You do have Java expertise, so Android would be a logical step. Try out Jetbrain's and Google's new Android Studio to leapfrog over the Eclipse experience. Alternatively learn AngularJS or a similar JS framework and use PHP to serve JSON to state-of-the-art single-page type apps. You can run such PHP scripts on the new Appengine for PHP, so you end up with a highly scalable solution that is also not bad in performance. I think the best way to progress is take something that you know and combine it with state-of-the-art practises or tech. Be glad that you didn't learn some of the technologies that developed over the past years (Rails for example is starting to get out of fashion since it is not so useful/overkill for JS apps) and leapfrog to the new ones.

PHP is perfect to develop and sell your own web-related products (extensions, plugins, themes, integrations).

You can start some side projects in other language like Python or Ruby, do some coding, work on freelance gigs, and earn some experience. That way you will have something to use in a future interview.

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