Do you need to have had work experience working for someone to become a freelancer?
American poet and playwright Edna St. Vincent Millay is quoted as saying, “I am glad that I paid so little attention to good advice; had I abided by it I might have been saved from some of my most valuable mistakes“. Even though that classy, gangsta quote sounds like something the Dowager Countess of Grantham would say on Downton Abbey, it is super applicable today when we broach the topic of freelancing and previous experience.
On our ‘code-on-the-go’ segment we answer the oft-asked question: should young devs get experience working for a company prior to getting into freelancing? Can a self-taught freelancer get as skillful as a dev who works within a company?
“Short answer is yes – not a problem. I’ve had many of my mentees come right outta school and they start freelancing; working for me as contractors: I start them with little projects and they would build up that way.” We’ve talked about this in past and even dedicated a whole article to it regarding field experience vs. class/book learning, but essentially “…learn your foundations, one or two quick project courses and then what you do is you start asking around local businesses about whether they need a website (if you’re doing web stack), and start with small simple projects…the key is to build your portfolio…yes, self-taught programmers can become just as skillful…”.
Check out the VLOG. Although it’s short I can guarantee you’re going to be illuminated. Also<Shameless Plug> if you’re interested in freelancing but don’t know where to start or you’ve just started and don’t think you’re doing it right, check out our course: ‘The Complete Freelancer‘. We wouldn’t offer it unless we were confident that you could profit from our over 3 decades of experience in the field. Links down below… -Enjoy!
Wix is another tool that web designers can use to build out simple client websites and for some client websites, using Wix just makes sense.
When it comes to building websites for clients most devs will turn to CMS giant WordPress but there are other less complicated web-builders out there like Wix, SquareSpace, Weebly, etc. that generally let you create websites easily at the cost of versatility. And that’s not altogether a bad thing, depending on what the client’s needs are.
And from these sites that offer simplicity and ease have risen freelancers in their own right. “If you look at Wix today or shopify…even though they’re much easier to use than, let’s say building from scratch: using a template or something, it’s still something that many small business owners don’t want to tackle. …In terms of freelance work, I call it becoming a web professional. A web professional is not necessarily somebody who is a developer (although they could be), …[It’s] somebody who knows how to put up websites, knows the different options; knows how to build from scratch, …you understand when those types of builders make sense, …hosting options, …domain names …this is what a web professional brings to the table.”
Don’t call Wix and the other builders a niche – I’ve been here for years, rockin’ my peers, puttin’ others in fear…okay seriously though, “…because it’s such a huge demand, this type of freelancer is gonna make a lot of money because there’s so many small businesses out there who are positioned on the web in some form or another and they don’t have all this knowledge, they don’t understand the differences between these different platforms and they’re probably not aware of most of these platforms…”
So should you consider using Wix, shopify, etc when choosing how to service client(s) demands over WordPress? “So your job as a consultant/web professional is to direct them in the right direction. Shopify, Wix, SquareSpace, etc. they’re not competition, they’re not taking away from web design and development, they are just tools in your toolbox. …Go in there first [and] talk to your client: see what their needs are and then you as a web professional can determine whether or not the Wix platform can support that.” As previously mentioned, “the thing about these web builders… they’re typically limited: the simplification comes at the cost of flexibility. …When you simplify you usually remove options that you have on the table. So you have to determine whether you need those options or not; maybe you don’t/maybe you do…”. Hey, we never said it was gonna be easy…
The VLOG goes into a way better explanation, you should check it out. And maybe while you’re at it <shameless promo> check out the really cool and thoughtfully put together courses that we offer. Whether is freelancing, or learning web development, you’ll be taking advantage of almost 3 decades of experience in all these subjects AND if you click here, you can take advantage of a super deal! We’ve teamed up with InMotion hosting for a really amazing offer where they essentially pay for you to take my course and learn how to become a web developer. Links to all these offers are below as well. -Enjoy!
Google announced it would comply with U.S. government restrictions meant to punish the Chinese tech powerhouse.
Google suspended some of its business with Huawei by restricting access to Android updates. Huawei could lose its grip on the No. 2 ranking in worldwide cellphone sales but amidst espionage and technology theft accusations, that would be the least of their worries. This article from the verge and this CBCarticle pretty much sum it up, as will any other online news article you search for (depending on your news outlet).
But what does this mean for developers in the field looking for work? Will this affect the number of jobs out there?
Nah. “I don’t think there’s much implications. That’s it, if you work in China, and then maybe work for Huawei or for the Chinese it’s not so good for you…”. In fact, “if you’re in North America or Europe it’s going to be good for you because they’re going to start moving things back here…” What will this mean for China, whose chief economic advantage was “cheap” labor? Well, it’s hard to say as the North America is also in massive debt to China and other countries but as with most things, only time will tell.
The VLOG offers more insight into the subject and some sweet drive-by scenery of Montreal towards the end. -Enjoy!
The tech giant will still support Java but Kotlin is king for Android development.
A quick snippet to be sure, but Google has announced that when it comes to Android development, going forward it will use Kotlin. There will still be support for Java, “…but in terms of documentation, new libraries and so fourth…they said, ‘that’s it! Kotlin is our beast’.”
Without sounding like a broken record (probably a dated reference…), this does go back to what we were saying about a language that is easy to write in, generally gets more use/support and ends up winning out over more verbose/heavy languages. “Kotlin is an easier language to write in, it’s far more productive so…if you are looking for native Android development (and that I think is going to diminish over time…), …then I would lean towards Kotlin.”
The VLOG goes onto mention other casualties in the “simplicity wars” of languages and frameworks, like Apple’s ‘objective C’ being replaced by Swift. It’s worth a look just for the nostalgia factor alone. -Enjoy!
In safety news today, we regret to inform you that our ‘code on the go’ segment: where we drive around and talk about coding/tech and give our opinion will no longer be done in the car. I know, I know, but driving requires attention and concentration coupled with the ability to react to danger in a split second, and I just don’t think I can do that while delivering a deep dive into coding and insulting ‘Ruby’ at the same time…
Going forward there will still be a ‘travel’ component, where I show you parts of the city or nice scenic views but that will either be at the beginning of the VLOG and then we’ll go into deep dives, or maybe it’ll be more of a ‘walk n’ talk’, I haven’t decided yet… Which brings me to my next point; multitasking is a lie. There I said it. Think about it. When have you ever been able to do two things at once and finish both of them quickly and efficiently? Or to put it another way, “…our brains cannot multitask: they can focus on one thing, and then they focus on something else… that’s why if you want to be maximum productive in what you do, do one thing and finish it and then you move on to the other thing.” Studies have shown that taking on two tasks or projects at the same time has been shown to actually reduce your output and efficiency. “There’s not such thing as multitasking with human brains. …Our brains cannot multitask: they focus on one thing, then they focus on something else. That’s why if you want to be maximum productive, …you do one thing and then you finish it and then you move onto the other thing. If you’re trying to do two projects at the same time you’re actually reducing your output by quite a bit. …There’s a start-up time, there’s a spin-up time; let’s say you’re focused on talking about subject A and then you want to go to coding for an hour and you’re going to go back to talking about something else…the time it takes you to spin-up into coding mode…typically it’s ten/fifteen minutes, especially if you’re dealing with complex application development. …When you’re switching from one area to the next, there’s a loss of productivity with every switch, so multitasking doesn’t actually happen”.
There you have it. Now, obviously the VLOG will go into better detail about multitasking and you can hear the channel news straight from the source, so check it out. -Enjoy!
We get comparison questions a lot: Is it better to learn x or y? Is this language even worth learning over that language? The most recent example: Is Java and Kotlin development dead for Android development? When compared to progressive web apps (PWAs), which while more ‘generalized’, can be faster, and can cross-platform(Android & iOS) so you only have to write the app once, it’s easy to see why native tech would not be long for this world.
Our answer is, “I think native dev is going to be important for awhile…[but] there’s nothing to be lost by learning any language, as I said you can’t lose when you learn – even if you don’t end up using the technology.” “…Because what you’re going to see as you advance as a developer…is that all these frameworks, all these languages share many, many, many, many things in common and in fact when you learn your second framework, when you learn your second and third and fourth language (which will eventually happen), learning the new languages and frameworks are going to make you more knowledgeable of all the frameworks and languages you learn.” So, if you learn Java and then you go into PHP, you’re going to find the PHP is “…pretty much like Java. Yeah there’s some differences here and there but whatever; a function’s a function, a method is a method, and arrays are arrays…”.
Check out the VLOG for a more eloquent explanation of this thinking, but essentially, learn as much as you can because most languages have more in common than different, and you can’t lose from learning. -Enjoy!
Another fatality in the war of ‘generalized’ vs. ‘specialized’?
A ZDnet article claims that the R programming language is on the decline, even in the face of a boom in statistical jobs, thanks in large part to devs and programmers using Python as the go-to language. We spoke to Kevin, one of our freelance developers and friendly pirate for confirmation and his reply was, “…yes, that is correct.” – Kevin is a consummate professional and doesn’t like to mix his freelance work with his other ventures in privateering and high-seas chicanery (long walk to get to that joke, but I get paid by the hour…).
Why should this not be surprising? (the R language thing, not the fact we have a pirate working for us). We would imagine, “that the people who love the R programming language will argue (and perhaps quite rightly), that R is better than Python in certain areas.” Well, we’ve said it in past articles and we’ll say it again here, “Open technologies/open languages that have more flexibility for you; easier to work with, they typically win out even over more ‘performante’ technology or languages.”
The VLOG is short but sweet and touches on the importance of the previous statement/lesson. Check it out and while you’re at it, look into our Python course that we offer in the links down below. In the words of Kevin, “Yarrr, there be no regrets here, because regrets are for the dead…”. Good guy, that Kevin…went to his wedding 2 months ago: amazing venue… -Enjoy!
WordPress is the most popular CMS in the world and they just released a new major update.
With over 30% of the world’s websites running on WordPress and something akin to 80% of small businesses, it’s safe to say that this content management system (CMS) is a pretty big deal. Which also makes it a huge opportunity for freelancers to become ‘WordPress professionals’ – someone who provides services on the site to those businesses.
WordPress recently released version 5.2, named “Jaco” in honor of renowned and revolutionary jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius, and it’s available for download or update in your WordPress dashboard. For those of you not familiar with the CMS giant – TaDa! – and for those of you that just wanna check it out for yourself –Abracadabra!– but we’ll be looking at a couple key/cool updates. Full disclosure, we use WordPress…why? “Because dealing with the headaches of creating your own CMS or your own sites…”, it’s just easier with WordPress.
–PHP Error Detection: You’ll be able to fix fatal errors – like the white screen of death – without requiring ‘developer time’. Also, if your plug-ins and themes go haywire, there’s a recovery mode that you can enter into.
–Accessibility Updates: If you’re using a screen reader of other accessibility technologies, there’s a more seamless integration and more “contextual awareness and keyboard navigation flow”.
–Heads up: *If you are running an old version of PHP (less than 5.6.20), update your PHP before installing 5.2.
Of course, please check out the link above for a list of all things new and shiny, not to mention the VLOG for a more robust pass at this new version. On a side note click here for a really cool offer. We’ve teamed up with InMotion hosting and they’re essentially going to pay for you to take my course and learn how to become a web developer. Links to the offer and my courses are down below. -Enjoy!
Is Microsoft starting to embrace ‘openess’ in it’s push towards the web platform?
A couple of months back Microsoft announced their new ‘Fluid’ framework and we read off the intro from an article at the beginning of the VLOG at the bottom of this page, so we’ll spare you that here… But what makes this announcement interesting is that Microsoft seems to be moving away from native apps, systems, etc and embracing a more ‘open’ operation. It’s even “…going towards the web platform, …it’s embracing web technologies: think html5, css3, javascript versus native development…”.
This is something we’ve touched on in past articles and even dedicated a whole VLOG to here, and Microsoft is just another great example: “…when you’re not sure which way to go, always go for the open technologies, …because open technology typically wins out over closed technology”.
We even went so far in a past article to say the native development languages like ‘swift’ for iOS or ‘kotlin java’ for android were going to go down to the open web technology solutions. Now we’re not saying that we know it all or that maybe we have the gift of premonition or anything like that, but it looks like Microsoft seems to be having a ‘premonition’ of their own…
The VLOG, of course, goes into more detail and is worth checking out but we want to let you know about a really cool offer by clicking here. We’ve teamed up with InMotion hosting for a really amazing offer where they essentially pay for you to take my course and learn how to become a web developer. Links to the offer below as well. -Enjoy!
OR ‘how did I get started as a web developer?’ OR ‘you kids today don’t know how good you’ve got it…’
Gather round the fire again, younglings, it’s story time. Some of you have been asking how I got my start as a web developer…well now, I reckon I can’t remember that far back (and every time I try, I see quick flashes of people with pitchforks and dragons: greedy and terrible), but I’ll try fer ya…!
It was the 1990’s…’94 to be exact and I had no idea what a website was. In fact, I wasn’t even working anywhere near computers…I did have my own business but you’ll have to checkout the VLOG to find out what is was (mostly cuz I forget…).
You can stick around to the end of the VLOG or click here for a really cool offer. We’ve teamed up with InMotion hosting for a really amazing offer where they essentially pay for you to take my course and learn how to become a web developer. Links to the offer and my courses are down below, but this is a really great opportunity and who knows, maybe one day you’ll be telling the story of how YOU got your start. -Enjoy!
