Freelance Direction

[Psyksis]

I currently have a FT job that provides me with tremendous amounts of free time. I have started my foray into the world of coding with tutorials for Java, and JavaScript and have thus far enjoyed them immensely. I was wondering if it would be realistic to self teach programming now a days to receive freelance work to supplement an ERE income, or if formal training is the best way to approach the field?

Also, for those that have established an income from freelance writing, did you have a degree/experience associated with the field before you began, or did you start from a blank slate and just build your way up to where you are now?

I appreciate your responses and feedback!

[JamesR]

Programming is definitely one of those things that can be self-taught and you can go on to a successful career & freelancing. I recommend focusing almost entirely on Javascript (which has nothing to do with Java). Javascript programmers are in huge demand, and command high salaries.

If you know javascript, you can do server-side web development with node.js, you can do front-end (browser) web development, you can develop apps for iOS/Android, you can do desktop apps as well.

There's also lots of online resources/schools. You could take more formal CompSci 101 classes at edx.org/coursera.org/udacity/MOOC sites. You could try out codecombat.com, codeCademy.com, codeAcademy.com, codeschool.com, teamtreehouse.com, bloc.io, learnstreet.com

You might want to make it a goal to develop at least 1 non-trivial application that you can showcase online. (Non-trivial would be something that probably takes 1-2 weeks to do, after you know the basics.)

After you have that, you can put that in your portfolio, and start looking for freelance work on odesk.com or similar. (Highlight your english skills/timezone since you're competing against workers from many countries)

[Psyksis]

Awesome! Thank you so much for the advice! It just so happens that I lucked out, and JavaScript is the first language I've been learning. I'm currently 81% of the way through the tutorials at codeAcademy. I know I have a LONG way to go, but from what I've covered so far I love it. I will definitely be researching offline resources that I will be able to take with me into the field and work on while at work.

[almostthere]

@ JamesR What do you think of freelance opportunities for python? I am much more attracted to stats and data analysis, but I'd like to make some money on the side too.

[JamesR]

Yeah I think there's a growing field in Data Mining, Quantitative Analysis, etc. Python, R, Julia all seem to be pretty hot for that. I don't know much about getting actual work doing that, or freelancing for that, but it must be possible.. See if people are posting jobs related to that on odesk/elance/etc.

In my experience with odesk.com, I found it easier to just put up a profile and wait for job invites. Which means I don't actually go around applying to jobs. But that meant my profile had to be at least somewhat attractive to make that happen - so my hourly rate was low initially, and it was in a specialty with lots of demand (ruby on rails).

[simple aly]

I recently finished the Javascript course on Codecademy and am working on the other languages now. But I don't feel equipped at this point to start coding anything. Not anything that anyone would find useful anyway. I am going to keep increasing my knowledge.

Thanks JamesR for the informative post.

[simple aly]

Any input on whether these are good values?

Codeschool.com $29 per month, access to all courses

Safari books $42.99 per month for unlimited access or $19.99 per month for ten books

[JamesR]

Personally I'd rely on free resources as much as possible, and for that extra oomph, perhaps I'd do something like codeschool/academy/cademy but for just 1 month (I.e. cancel subscription right after), and try to learn as fast as I can during that period.

[almostthere]

@ Simple Aly- I followed JamesR advice to check out Bloc.io and found this blog entry:

http://blog.bloc.io/2014/02/7-step-guid ... odecademy/

It basically says we recommend you do every track on Codecadamy b/c eventually you are going to need at least some of 4 to 6 languages.

That said I am newby I am only one quarter through learn python the hard way and one quarter through codecademy python, so i may be completely wrong.

Please keep me posted on any good resources you find.

[simple aly]

I finished Javascript, Ruby and JQuery tracks on Codecademy. I feel that starting the other tracks right now would be like starting four or five foreign languages at the same time, so I'd rather try to deepen my knowledge of one or two.

I'm currently doing the free two week trial at Team Treehouse and reading Eloquent Javascript for free online (open license for the digital copy).

[Chad]

I finished Javascript, Ruby and JQuery tracks on Codecademy. I feel that starting the other tracks right now would be like starting four or five foreign languages at the same time, so I'd rather try to deepen my knowledge of one or two.

I'm currently doing the free two week trial at Team Treehouse and reading Eloquent Javascript for free online (open license for the digital copy).

How long did it take you to learn each of those languages? Total and/or individually?

[almostthere]

@ Simple Aly Considering the work you have done, what is your opinion of TreeHouse?

[simple aly]

@ Chad - I completed all the tutorial lessons for those tracks in Codecademy but I haven't learned the languages, since I mainly followed the examples. Sometimes I wasn't sure what I was doing, mainly imitating. So now I'm trying to read more in depth. I guess it took a few weeks but I'm not working so I spend most of the day trying to learn coding.

@ almostthere - TreeHouse looks very professionally done, the problem for me is it revolves around watching videos (primarily audio learning). I am an extremely visually oriented learner and get frustrated when I have to get information by audio (unless it's music or foreign language immersion). Another thing about TreeHouse is many of the very enticing courses require the higher subscription level so you can't try them during the trial period.

I am also trying out Learn Street which has a lot of projects you can work on. Since my level is poor I'll have to keep researching the answers as I work on projects.

It just depends on your learning style and what appeals to you.

[jacob]

Seems to me that programming, like writing, is one of those fields where you get better with experience. Just learning the syntax of a correct sentence doesn't necessarily result in good programming. Looking back at all code is sometimes a painful reminder of how clueless one used to be.

Formal training can probably help somewhat in learning "good form" without having to resort to trial and error as long as it's not too formal.

[Chad]

Thanks Simple.

Adding a tangent to what Jacob said, programming is probably a lot like writing. You need to learn the basics, but then the best way to learn might be to just do it. Of course, you will hit walls trying to program, but learning how to surmount these obstacles is probably the best teacher? Given my lack of programming skills I'm just guessing.

[almostthere]

@ Simple Aly - very nice that you have many hours in a day to practice. I'd be interested in hearing any lessons learned on how to learn as well.

For example for me, I really like the Learn Python the Hard Way (LPTHW) method of actually typing in the whole script, running it, and then running experiments on it (making small changes to see their effects). As I do each Codecadmy exercise, I re-type each script in Notepad and then run it.

Another is keeping track of and analyzing every error (deliberate practice). I love programming b/c their are so many errors and one gets immediate feedback. I can see how mastery could truly happen.

I note that you are also have done some foreign language learning. Have you ever used Pimsleur? I would love to think of a way to use the "graduated recall method" for learning computer languages:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaced_repetition

[Ockham]

I'm not a career freelancer or anything, but I have dabbled in it. I taught myself things like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and SQL between the ages of 12 and 20. I learned from W3 Schools. My interest in programming was on and off during those years. You can self-teach this kind of stuff if you have the brain and patience for it. I think if you're going to do web coding, you should probably get yourself a website. I have a free host, x10 Hosting. I also have my own domain name which I think looks more professional, but it's not strictly required. x10 hosting will give you a subdomain and append it to one of the domains they own. So you get something like yourdomain.x10host.com or whatever. On that website you should make stuff that demonstrates your skills. It's the best way, imo, for people to know you're good at what you claim to know.

[jacob]

On that website you should make stuff that demonstrates your skills. It's the best way, imo, for people to know you're good at what you claim to know.

It's also the best way to get noticed. Creating something useful/interesting and making it available to a wide audience is 100x more effective than sending out resumes.