[LA.pm] Next step for a newbie

Wed May 10 13:27:03 PDT 2006

As a recruiter who has specialized in perl people for many years, I agree
with Jeremiah. It's always best to have the fundamentals down and perhaps of
more importance is showing your own initiative.

As noted, you can work on your own project, but I'd encourage you to
consider making a contribution toward an existing open-source project. That
gives you a bit more "scaffolding" (i.e., support) since you can ask
questions from others already in the community of people supporting the
overall effort. Also, you get the chance to network and learn from others.
All are critical in your job search later.

I would also suggest being a bit "flexible" in your first job. If for
instance, you had the opportunity to support a larger development effort by
providing application-level support (and coding monitoring type systems,
etc.), it may be a good step toward learning what is necessary to enter the
actual software development group. It would also give you that rarest of
commodities... real world experience!

Regards,

Todd 
________________________________

Todd Cranston-Cuebas 
Senior Technical Recruiter, Ticketmaster
http://www.ticketmaster.com/
tcc at ticketmaster.com
Phone: 310-360-2436
Mobile: 310-422-3347	

> -----Original Message-----
> From: losangeles-pm-bounces+tcc=ticketmaster.com at pm.org 
> [mailto:losangeles-pm-bounces+tcc=ticketmaster.com at pm.org] On 
> Behalf Of Jeremiah M. Jordan
> Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2006 1:53 PM
> To: Ron Smith
> Cc: losangeles-pm at mail.pm.org
> Subject: Re: [LA.pm] Next step for a newbie
> 
> Hey Ron,
> 
>    Congrats on the move to Perl programmer!  I personally 
> have never regretted it, well maybe once in an all-night 
> debugging session...
>    But I digress.  My first recommendation is that you make 
> sure you have the fundamentals of Perl down.  Make sure you 
> know at least the Llama book (ISBN:0-596-10105-8
> http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/learnperl4/) backwards and 
> forwards.  Get the Camel book (ISBN:0-596-00027-8) once you 
> feel that you've outgrown the Llama.
>    For a web programmer, a working knowledge of HTML, CSS and 
> Javascript are a must.  It wouldn't hurt to understand SQL 
> and database design as well.  I was about to suggest PHP, but 
> then I remembered that I've never actually had to code PHP, 
> since Perl can do everything it can and fix the kitchen sink 
> too.  Plus if you know the other things I've mentioned, 
> grokking PHP enough to fix it will be easy.
>    For general programming, you can't go wrong with "Code 
> Complete" (ISBN:0-7356-1967-0), which should keep you pretty 
> busy for a while.  A good understanding of Object Oriented 
> Programming/Design would also be useful, man perlboot & man 
> perltoot to start, then get Damian Conway's "Object Oriented 
> Perl" (ISBN:1-8847-7779-1) and then maybe grab "Design 
> Patterns Explained" (ISBN:0-321-24714-0), although you might 
> have to just browse around the web or talk to other gurus first.
>    I mention mod_perl last, because honestly you don't need 
> to be a mod_perl guru to get a job.  If you at least know the 
> basics of coding CGIs under the Apache::Registry, you'll do fine.
> 
>    In order to increase your skills, I would highly recommend 
> that you create some kind of personal project that you 
> develop on in whatever spare time you can devote to it.  
> Something that interests you and that has parts that you can 
> accomplish.  This will not only give you valuable experience, 
> but also give you *code that you can bring to an interview*.
> I have edged out other candidates for jobs because I had 
> source code and/or a demo-able site that I could point to.  A 
> savvy tech manager will appreciate being able to actually 
> look at your code to see what level you are at.
> 
>    To me, the most important thing for an entry-level 
> programmer to have is the right attitude.  She/he should be 
> excited to learn new technologies, be willing to adopt 
> different ways of thinking, and always be willing to ask questions.
> 
> Hope that helps,
> --Jeremiah
> 
> On Fri, 2006-05-05 at 13:43 -0700, Ron Smith wrote:
> > Hi all,
> > 
> > I need advice on my next move. I'm relatively new to Perl and 
> > programming in  general but have written a few useful 
> programs, over 
> > the past year or so, that actually have been used on the job.
> > 
> > I'd like to make a career change to full-time programming but need 
> > advice on what areas I need to focus on in order to land an 
> > entry-level position.
> > Mainly, I'd like to know what skill-level I should be at and what's 
> > usually expected by an employer. Working with web pages seems to be 
> > the most fun to me but I'll take on any project offered.
> > 
> > Right now I'm in formal classes for Perl, Java, C/C++ and the rest. 
> > Also, I was wondering how critical a degree is for 
> programming or is 
> > it possible to get started while you're working toward an AS/BS 
> > ...etc?
> > 
> > Any and all input would be appreciated.
> > 
> > 
> > Ron Smith
> > geeksatlarge at yahoo.com
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> > Losangeles-pm at pm.org
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