[ajug-members] Re: ajug-members Digest, Vol 26, Issue 6

Tue Jul 18 01:59:27 EDT 2006

If you are looking to get experience and are willing
to do work that you won't necessarily get paid for
then another possibility is monitor Craig's List (or
similar sites) looking for people that are posting
small projects and/or part-time work that you can do
from home. You can find these under the "computer
gigs" section or they will sometimes be mixed in with
the regular job postings (you can find them if you
filter your search based on jobs that are part-time
and allow telecommuting).

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/cpg/
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/cgi-bin/search?areaID=14&subAreaID=0&query=java&catAbbreviation=sof&addFour=part-time
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/sof/174429488.html

S.F. Bay Area (start-ups)
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/cgi-bin/search?areaID=1&subAreaID=0&query=java&catAbbreviation=sof&addOne=telecommuting&addFour=part-time

Some of these postings are from small firms that need
programming assistance with web projects. Others are
start-up companies that are seeking developers that
are willing to work in exchange for equity in the
company (you see more of these if you go to the SF Bay
Area Craig's List site but if they let you work from
home it doesn't matter where the "company" is
located). With these small shops and start-ups you run
the risk of not getting paid in a timely manner (or
not at all) but at this stage you are just trying to
get some experience to add to your resume just go in
assuming you won't be paid (and keep your regular job
to pay the bills).

That isn't to say you won't encounter jobs that
require the same experience as other full-time
development jobs but some entrepreneur that is trying
to get a prototype built without spending any cash
might be more willing to work with a newcomer.

An advantage of working on a small project is that you
get to be be involved in all aspects of the
development process and you may have less restrictions
on what software you can use. 

Ben

--- Andre Ghonda <andre at ghonda.com> wrote:

>   I am new to this user group and my case is fairly
> close to Cathy?s.  
> I have been working in the IT fields for over 8
> years. I did few C and  
> C++ development at the beginning of my career but
> ended up being stuck  
> with admin jobs since 1998. In middle 2004 I earned
> a B.S. in Computer  
> Science. Between 2004 and 2005, I successfully
> passed the SCJP, SCJD,  
> SCWCD and SCBCD. However, I am still having trouble
> getting a first  
> job as Java programmer. I am desperate to start
> working as a Java/J2EE  
> programmer/Developer and I am willing to volunteer
> my time in any  
> project that will help boost my chances of getting a
> job as Java/J2EE  
> programmer/Developer. I tried registering at
> sourceforge.net but it  
> does not let me register. Is there anything you
> recommend in my case?
> 
> Your advices are deeply appreciated.
> 
> 
> Regards,
> 
> 
> 
> Quoting ajug-members-request at ajug.org:
> 
> > Send ajug-members mailing list submissions to
> > 	ajug-members at ajug.org
> >
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> Web, visit
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> > or, via email, send a message with subject or body
> 'help' to
> > 	ajug-members-request at ajug.org
> >
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> > 	ajug-members-owner at ajug.org
> >
> > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it
> is more specific
> > than "Re: Contents of ajug-members digest..."
> >
> >
> > Today's Topics:
> >
> >    1. RE: New to java (Dean H. Saxe)
> >
> >
> >
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 1
> > Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2006 15:33:39 +0000
> > From: "Dean H. Saxe" <dean at fullfrontalnerdity.com>
> > Subject: RE: [ajug-members] New to java
> > To: ajug-members at ajug.org
> > Message-ID:
> <200607141533.k6EFXeUG014693 at rs4.luxsci.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain;   charset="ISO-8859-1"
> >
> >
> > I absolutely agree with Doug here.  And having
> worked with/for Doug   
> > for a number of years I can say that DI is a great
> place to learn a   
> > lot about what enterprise software looks like. 
> Its not what one   
> > learns in a book!
> >
> > -dhs
> >
> >
> > On July 14, 2006, Doug Morgan wrote:
> >
> >> After you've done the online studying and gone
> through the exercises
> >> from a couple books, I would recommend getting
> the Java SCJP
> >> certification from Sun.  It would show that even
> though you don't have a
> >> lot of experience, you have initiative and have
> proven you can learn.
> >> In the end, initiative is more important than
> experience.
> >>
> >> You can also pick up volunteer work for a
> non-profit or something like
> >> that to get some experience.
> >>
> >> Your first job is likely to be maintenance and
> support of existing
> >> applications.  At my workplace, we bring new
> people into the maintenance
> >> group since they need to learn our industry and
> products, as well as
> >> enterprise architecture, J2EE, Cold Fusion,
> CORBA, SQL and C++, before
> >> they won't be dangerous to let loose on projects.
>  It really takes a
> >> couple years to get all that in your head.
> >>
> >> Don't let that put you off though.  Maintenance
> is real programming, and
> >> in some sense it is a lot harder than writing new
> stuff from scratch.
> >> Figuring out which line of code out of 1 million
> is broken and what you
> >> need to do to fix it is not simple, and it's
> often a very rewarding
> >> challenge.
> >>
> >> In my experience, people who have come up through
> maintenance or QA are
> >> almost always better programmers than those who
> did not.
> >>
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: ajug-members-bounces at ajug.org
> >> [mailto:ajug-members-bounces at ajug.org] On Behalf
> Of didoss at comcast.net
> >> Sent: Friday, July 14, 2006 8:27 AM
> >> To: General AJUG membership forum (100-200
> messages/month)
> >> Subject: Re: [ajug-members] New to java
> >>
> >> Luckily, the tools that you would need to write
> Java programs are free
> >> online,...so get a good book (I've found the Head
> First series useful)
> >> that will walk you through and teach you to make
> classes and
> >> applications,...and pull down a version of
> java,...decide on a text
> >> editor (really makes you think through the code),
> or an IDE (does some
> >> of the thinking for you, so better for when
> you've suffered the
> >> pain),...
> >>
> >> then it is a matter of selling yourself in an
> interview.
> >>
> >> Having recently been in the market, I didn't see
> much (in my area) for
> >> "entry-level" java engineers, so your challenge
> is going to be getting
> >> in the door.  Then, as Rai noted, it might be
> easiest to try to get into
> >> a maintenance role (often does not require many
> design skills to get you
> >> started; and provides a code base to study - "why
> does it do this").
> >>
> >> Good luck.
> >>
> >> Dianne
> >>
> >>  -------------- Original message
> ----------------------
> >> From: "Lester" <cwlester at bellsouth.net>
> >> > Hi all,
> >> >
> >> > I am new to Java and was wondering if anyone
> has any input on how to
> >> get
> >> > experience or an entry-level position that does
> not require previous
> >> experience.
> >> > I will appreciate any advice.
> >> >
> >> > Thanks,
> >> > Cathy
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> ajug-members mailing list
> >> ajug-members at ajug.org
> >> http://www.ajug.org/mailman/listinfo/ajug-members
> >
> >
> > Dean H. Saxe
> > dean at fullfrontalnerdity.com
> > "What difference does it make to the dead,  the
> orphans, and the   
> > homeless, whether the  mad destruction is wrought
> under the name of   
> > totalitarianism or the holy name of  liberty and
> democracy? " -Gandhi
> >
> >
> >
> 
=== message truncated ===

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