Re: FN-FORUM: Programmers (was:- iframes)

date posted 14th May 2007 22:15

> There are loads of graduate opportunities out there to help build up a
> portfolio. To go straight into contracting or freelancing with little or
> no
> experience or real commercial exposure must be very difficult, and perhaps
> it is our duty to mentor those with these limited experiences, helping to
> raise standards in return.
>
> Forums like this do a lot to help raise standards which I believe is
> crucial
> if the market is to remain sustainable. Then we get back to what makes a
> good programmer?

I find myself in this exact situation right now. I have very little work to
show prospective clients and therefore the guy with the portfolio charging
the same amount wins the job, and if i charge less then the client thinks
that i'm no good because otherwise i wouldn't be offering my skills so
cheaply.

At the moment i'm doing as much work as i can on different linux
distributions. This is perfect because you can do as much or as little as
you like and can also experiment in different areas such as interface design
etc. I'm hopefully going to do two or three projects based on linux and then
try and get some paid work.

Not sure whether this strategy is going to work yet but all the same its a
great learning experience.

James