Help Choosing a job/future (web developement)

ywmsb

Hi all,
I'd like to use your collective knowledge so that I get the best start in my work.

Skip this bit if your in a rush

---

Firstly education

Cert in computer applications (distinction) 1year
cert in computer programming (distinction) 1year
Higher Cert in computing science (distinction) 2 years
BSC (hons) in software systems (1.1 distinction) 3 year add-on

Secondly experience
Have been running my own web design company for about 5 years now, it definitely paid the bills while I was in college, was not a student lifestyle
Also have two fixed term contracts of one year for a state bodied company and a very big communications company doing web design/ some development.

main languages
html, xml, asp, php, some pearl, java, vb, ajax and learning asp.net at the moment.

---

Right so onto the question, I see there are loads of asp/asp.net jobs out there but I'm just not sure what type of job I should be going for. I have a friend who done the same course and went into a private clinic just doing web apps and he loves it. And looking at job sites I see some are for big companies and some are "small dynamic teams" which im guessing means about 10 people in the whole company. But which is a better environment?

So any advice or tips about ANYTHING at all that could help would be really appreciated. Should I stay away from certain types of jobs, should I aim for other types? I'm a self proclaimed geek so I pick up most languages really quickly so not too worried about that but should I be going for a Junior position? What does junior really mean? Do all jobs train you in or do you hit the ground running. I just never really worked in a development team so its a bit daunting. I don't know what to expect.

One tip I found out myself is NOT to tell them I ran my own company, cause they think you can not be a team player or follow orders so I say I "worked for" instead of "ran".

Thanks

forbairt

Have you worked with people before on projects or has it all been done by yourself?

ywmsb

Well with one of the contracts I had to work with 5 different departments, and with college 80% of our projects were in teams. I do work well with other people but honestly most of the work I have done in the past would be on my own. I think its my biggest downfall on my CV

DJB

I understand the predicament you are in. Very similar to mine. I joined one of the larger web companies in the country a few years ago but decided it wasn't for me. Went back to building my business.

Why the reason for going to a company? Why not stick with your business? Do you want to learn from a team, get access to bigger projects, take on less responsibility? In job interviews, if they know you had a web business or freelanced, you will be asked these types of questions. No harm in letting them know this.

The company I worked for had about 6 on the development team, 5 on the design team, 8 project managers, and 3 management. We all had are own projects and when I started, I was thrown in at the deep end. Thankfully I could hold my own. Your responsibilities immediately are less - as a developer: you don't need to deal with design (it's just handed to you to implement), you don't deal with the client (you go through the project manager), and you get your cheque at the end of the month!

I also worked in a small team for another company where I was doing the majority of the work - from design to development. If you are in a smaller environment, you'll end up overlapping tasks across different aspects of web design, e.g. design, development, usability, databases, building client relationships, etc. You basically get more responsibilities. However, in larger (20 employees), you get a particular task and you don't usually move into the other areas of the business.

I hope this helps but if I can be of further assistance, please let me know.

Rgds, Dave

ywmsb

Dave, Thanks very much for that reply, It's exactly the first hand information I'm looking for.

Why am i going to a company rather then doing my own thing, basically it's a wise career move.
With my company I am turning over around 25k a year and could possibly get it up to 30-35k but I have to deal with prsi,paye,vat returns, accountant bills etc
If I went to a bank for a mortgage they would not like if I self employed as I don't know where the next cheque is coming from, Not that I rely on each cheque as I have a nice balance and take a wage now. But it's just alot of stress and it has distroyed my social life as I work all hours.

If I went with a company I could just do my 9-5 5 days a week and then the rest would be free (honestly I'm going to keep things going on the side haha so will probably have less time) But to get a garenteed 35-45k a year and have prsi and health insurance etc paid for would be such a relief. Also I would learn more in one year working for a company then I would in 5 years working for myself.

In 3-4 years time I might step back into my own company and use the experience and knowledge gained to make another go at full time self employed but right now it is too much stress to make the same amount of money as if I went into a job.

From what you said I think a smaller company to start out with so that I can develope my programming skills like asp.net while at the same time use my design skills/photoshop to hide the fact that im not excellent at asp.net (yet) Where as if I went into a big company then all focus would be on programming skills and If they asked me to code in a language I wasn't 100% on then I would be in the deep end

Thanks again dave, amazing insight and really appriciate it. If anyone else has experiences PLEASE post them as the one post from dave has already calmed me down

DJB

ywmsb wrote:

Dave, Thanks very much for that reply, It's exactly the first hand information I'm looking for.

no problem

ywmsb wrote:

Why am i going to a company rather then doing my own thing, basically it's a wise career move. With my company I am turning over around 25k a year and could possibly get it up to 30-35k but I have to deal with prsi,paye,vat returns, accountant bills etc. If I went to a bank for a mortgage they would not like if I self employed as I don't know where the next cheque is coming from, Not that I rely on each cheque as I have a nice balance and take a wage now. But it's just alot of stress and it has distroyed my social life as I work all hours.

I know exactly what you mean! I just love it though!

ywmsb wrote:

If I went with a company I could just do my 9-5 5 days a week and then the rest would be free (honestly I'm going to keep things going on the side haha so will probably have less time) But to get a garenteed 35-45k a year and have prsi and health insurance etc paid for would be such a relief. Also I would learn more in one year working for a company then I would in 5 years working for myself.

Watch out for trying to do the bits on the side. I tried it and I found my energies completely drained from getting up 2 hours earlier, commuting to dublin city centre, and after programming solidly for 8 hours, I couldn't look at another computer.

ywmsb wrote:

From what you said I think a smaller company to start out with so that I can develope my programming skills like asp.net while at the same time use my design skills/photoshop to hide the fact that im not excellent at asp.net (yet) Where as if I went into a big company then all focus would be on programming skills and If they asked me to code in a language I wasn't 100% on then I would be in the deep end

You'll probably get that from the interview as to what skills they are looking for. I was told they need an asp developer but wanted to migrate to asp.net down the line so it wasn't an issue but they would want me to start learning it.

Rgds, Dave

Eoin

DJB wrote:

no problem


I know exactly what you mean! I just love it though!


Watch out for trying to do the bits on the side. I tried it and I found my energies completely drained from getting up 2 hours earlier, commuting to dublin city centre, and after programming solidly for 8 hours, I couldn't look at another computer.

Love the site Dave - very nice indeed.

Fair play to you going back out on your own - I would absolutely love to do the same, but I don't have the cojones.

I'm in the position of doing the stuff on the side. All above board, just in my spare time - and you're right; it's very tiring stuff. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a catch 22 sometimes, I'd can't take on the work I'd like to without giving up my permanent job, and I can't guarantee the work would come if I did.

DJB wrote:

I also worked in a small team for another company where I was doing the majority of the work - from design to development. If you are in a smaller environment, you'll end up overlapping tasks across different aspects of web design, e.g. design, development, usability, databases, building client relationships, etc. You basically get more responsibilities. However, in larger (20 employees), you get a particular task and you don't usually move into the other areas of the business.

This is probably the case in larger web dev orientated companies, but you may also find a good mix of responsibilities in a large corporation, though it's probably doing internal projects. We don't have an in-house designer - all design stuff is done by contract (at massive prices), so we are pretty much free to define the design, interface etc. Unfortunately, it's all internal applications though, which are more data-driven and can't be too different from existing systems.

DJB

eoin_s wrote:

I'm in the position of doing the stuff on the side. All above board, just in my spare time - and you're right; it's very tiring stuff. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a catch 22 sometimes, I'd can't take on the work I'd like to without giving up my permanent job, and I can't guarantee the work would come if I did.

aha... to leap or not to leap question. welcome to business and the endless world of calculated risk!