server side scripting advice

[spritch2]

i'm a web designer trying to break into development, i've just finished php and mysql web development 2nd edition by luke welling, my question is, should i concentrate on php programming for a while or do you advise me to learn other technologies like asp and coldfusion?

do employers expect you to know more than one server side scripting language or do you normally specialise in a chosen language?

thanks
spritch

[jatar_k]

>> do employers expect you to know more than one server side scripting language or do you normally specialise in a chosen language?

well, when you look at job listings every employer seems to want their prospective employees to know every language under the sun, which is unrealistic at best.

I have specialized and haven't had any problems.

>> should i concentrate on php programming

I would, if I were you and I am not just saying that because you chose my personal preference. If it was perl or asp I would recommend the same. Any other way you end up mediocre, or less, at a bunch of languages. The basics of any true scripting language can be applied to any of them so you will be learning general as well as specific skills.

There isn't really much that php can't do, as is true with some other languages, I do some things with perl but not really much.

[spritch2]

thanks jatar_k

ok, as a first year php programmer in the uk, is there any tips you can give me on finding employment?

it would have to be a trainee developer would'nt it?

have you had any good expieriences with agencies?

thanks
spritch2

[jatar_k]

I have never used an agency myself though i do know some folk who've gotten good jobs through them.

If you're a web designer, have you worked in that field already? You could always work in a php shop as a designer and learn more programming.

There seem to be a bunch of php shops around these days. I have gone around to individual companies, I have gotten involved with local php groups, I have scanned tons of job sites and there is always the newspaper.

Anything and everything, try and get involved in any local groups that you might find. Check out the php site for local events or just do a bunch of searches for anything in your area.

be industrious and you'll find something.

[mincklerstraat]

You can get some good experience and add to your portfolio while you're at it. Experience always helps you clean up your coding act and do simple / powerful better. Find some sort of open source CMS or other script that could make a site on a topic that interests you. Build the site, see what the limitations of the script are, see what you want to do that nothing quite fits the bill for. Then write something that will take care of this task, but is also generalized enough that it could do other things for other sites that webmaster type x could really use. Or re-write a module and make it better.

Then offer the module for download and open a forum for support issues. Write up a 'case study' - what was the problem, or desired feature, why was this a problem or why was it desired, thinking both short-term and long-term - how does your module address this problem, what are the benefits of using it?

When I evaluate people's portfolios, if it looks like they have a good idea not only of what they're doing, but why, and can explain it well in fairly simple language, I'm more likely to think that they'll be good at problem solving, and will also communicate effectively with the other people associated with the project. And if they've written code and gone through the agony of feature requests, bugs, and updates, I'm very impressed indeed.

[spritch2]

some good ideas there

thanks
spritch2