what should my next step be?

[DoubleV]

Hello.
I need some guidance from you more knowlegdebale and experienced folks.
Here’s my story:
I never considered myself a ‘techie’ before. I was good with math and physics too, but still thoght of myself as a humanities kind of person.
That was when I lived in another country. There you did not have to get a 4-year degree as a prerequisite for law school. Then life thew me a surprise and I moved to the US. Many circumstances changed with the move. To get my law degree would have been a much longer process here, plus, I got somewhat bored with it. I was expecting it to be sort of different. So I did not know what to do with myself here, but I had to find something for myself. My husband suggested I try web. At first I though her was out of his mind. “Me and computers cannot possibly be used in the same sentence” I told him. But eventually I went to take some web classes in a college, then, one of those “schools” to get some kind of certificate. This took me a year. Neither the college nor the ‘school’ classes did not teach me all that much so I’vbe learned mostly on my own. And then I got my current job. When I first started, it was a great experience for me. I am the only web person for the company (creating/maintaining their web site + extranet) so I had this responsibility on me that forced me to learn to problem-solve on my own. Which is a great thing. The problem is that a company does not need anything ‘technologically advanced’. My experience is all front-end (html, javascript, css, dhtml) + some Miva Scripting and Miva-based store management. That’s it and I’veen here for 2 years. In the beginning it was a great learning experience, but now I feel like I am stuck and not learning anything new.
I have to say that I have abandoned the “Me and computers cannot possibly be used in the same sentence” thinking and now beieve that I can do this kind of stuff well.
I feel I need a new job to advance (we would also like to move in about a year and my current job would be too far from our desired moving location, so I’d need a new job no matter what). I guess the biggest question is – what are the routes I can take from here and what should I learn to get there? I can do fine with Photoshop & Illustrator, yet I feel I do not have what it takes to be a graphic designer kinda person. PHP & MySQL come to mind, but would that be enough of an addition to my skillset to get me a good job? I doubt it. Going to school for a full Bachelor’s is not an option for me today. It is a long story and I’ll spare you the details.
I am not a self-confident person, so I also have this ‘fear’ that no matter how much I learn I will always be competing against peple who know so much more. Especially now when so may internet-boomers are out of jobs. They know so much more then I do, have much more experience then I do and are willing to take pay-cuts. What are my chances???
Can you offer me any words of wisdom? --------------------------------------------------
Goals are dreams with deadlines
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http://www.nimlok.com

http://www.orbusinc.com

 

[onpnt]

Words of wisdom.....

I can tell you what I did simply to learn a little more and keep my skills active in web development. I started a business of my own.
A web business does not take much financial support and tax preperations so it's the perfect way to learn more plus gain teh expierience you need to go farther in your career at the same time. After a while of doing this on the side I gained what I needed in real time development to have the ability to widen my job searches for future employment.

hope that helps out I dare to learn more

http://www.onpntwebdesigns.com

admin@onpntwebdesigns.com

 

[AIXSPadmin]

I believe you are correct when you say that PHP * MySQL are not enough for web development. The internet has changed from 3-4 years ago when it was mostly just HTML static pages. Today most companies web sites are using a java application server such as WebSphere that pull the data from backend databases; so in one respect you should learn PHP & MySQL because databases are important to know, but you should supplement this with java or another OOP language. I say java first because that is the predominant language with web application servers.

Take comfort in the fact not that there are a lot of dot-commers out of work, because a lot of people who are older are set in their ways. Ask an old mainframer who has done Cobol for 20 years if they want to learn java and do internet development and my guess is they would say they are happy doing their Cobol or RPG. What I am saying is that having a desire and ambition and motivation is what will show through to employers. Also, if you know one language it is easier to learn another, it is really just syntax once you have the logic.

Best of luck!

 

[mmorancbt]

The introspection your currently going through is actually a great positive experience. Here is what I can suggest.

You are at a company that gives you some experience but you want it to expand. You mention that they need nothing technologically advanced but I would venture to say that if you jumped into the business model you would find need for some type of automation and information analysis.

Perhpas it is not directly web back-end programming but I am a minimalist. Technology, whether web technologies or in-house automation, is really the same thing: utilizing tools to assist in furthering technology's role at a company.

Check out my article on the Role of Technology:
The Role Of Technology

http://news.thetechmag.com/?article=1000010142

Also, you mention something else, very important. You mention your belief that you were more of a "humanities" type of person. That is actually great! As the former owner of a consulting company, and a CIO, I used to tell my technologists that "it is not about the technology".

I teach a project development/solution oriented methodology called "Concept Over Process". It's goal is to take highly technical professionals and make them better able to provide the creative/business model analysis and understanding that is the most critical skill in technical projects.

You are right in saying there is always a more skilled technologists. That's fine but pure technology is truly widget/commodity work. Better to have someone who is less process-savvy and stronger in business concepts and communications.

Consider: Perfectly implemented technology used to solve a flawed business concept will produce a perfectly flawed solution! However, a solid business concept/model built with less than optimal technology can at least be optimized and perfected over time. One is a throw away-tear down problem, the other is a solution that simply needs tweaking.

I'm not indicating the strong technical skills are not important but in comparison to the creative/conceptual skills, they just aren't as valuable. It is not really either/or. Instead, it is both/and. I want both skills present and that is a rarity.

Read my article "Why Technologists Must Learn To Speak Business" for more on this:

http://news.TheTechMag.com/articles/?id=0,7180,6682010,00.html

I hope this was helpful. Matthew Moran
The I.T. Career Builder's Toolkit

http://www.cbtoolkit.com