March 24, 2011 at 7:44 pm
Hello All -
I'm really looking for some opinions here amongst a more experienced group. I'll try hard not to be too wordy (my weakness).
I changed careers from a non-tech arena (radio broadcasting & later account management) into a more technical focus a few years after I moved to Seattle and started contracting at Microsoft for various product and service marketing teams. It was there that I rubbed shoulders with developers and took advantage of some of the free tools and resources available to me and decided that I wanted to learn more. Long story short, I enrolled at a local community college and started taking classes for a new one year certificate program aimed at budding SQL BI developers. While doing that I worked various contract jobs for about two years or so as a Data Analyst for an Xbox team and later for a Microsoft team where I worked on my first professional SSRS projects for the Microsoft Partner Program. After that I got hired full-time at the Walt Disney Internet Media Group in Seattle where I currently work as a Report Developer. I'm in my third year here at DIMG.
I really love development and programming. I spend lots of spare time trying to learn new things. It has recently occurred to me that I could possibly find a part-time project-based job and put my skills to work earning extra money. I am single with no children so I have lots of time.
I spent some time poking around and so far here's what I noticed:
Most part-time development jobs want open source knowledge such as PHP, MySQL, etc. They also tend to lean very heavily toward web development. Unfortunately due to my focus while transitioning into this field, I really have limited knowledge of and experience with open source or even other platforms such as Oracle. As part of the certificate program at the community college, I was required to take C# classes, including ASP.NET and object-oriented principles, but that's where my knowledge and experience ends. I have tried to bring these skills into the workplace but my manager doesn't want the team going to far afield in our focus. At this point, i'm strictly a data guy and really a report writer at that. I do not have a ton of exposure or experience to SSIS or even Crystal Reports. I also have not received much training in database administration beyond the basics and so my DBA skills are lacking.
Two questions:
Where do you guys look for part-time project jobs? Which websites are good to use and reliable?
Is it possible for someone with my experience to find a part-time project job and where in your opinion is it good for me to look?
Thanks!!
March 24, 2011 at 7:59 pm
Polymorphist (3/24/2011)
Most part-time development jobs want open source knowledge such as PHP, MySQL, etc.
Primarily because most clients who use open source are either small, so they don't have a lot of work or IT capital so they use the 'cheaper' tools, or they're cheap, so they only want fill in work. More of the first then the second.
They also tend to lean very heavily toward web development.
For reporting and BI, yes, that kind of comes with the territory if you don't use an engine that's integrated, like SQL is. MySQL and the rest usually need those things built on top, though I haven't worked with them in a while.
Unfortunately due to my focus while transitioning into this field, I really have limited knowledge of and experience with open source or even other platforms such as Oracle.
That's a whole different discussion altogether. The Oracle shops are usually looking for dedicated admins, and web programmers build what's left to attach or they are very familiar with their own integrated tools that can be purchased and hooked on.
At this point, i'm strictly a data guy and really a report writer at that. I do not have a ton of exposure or experience to SSIS or even Crystal Reports. I also have not received much training in database administration beyond the basics and so my DBA skills are lacking.
That's going to limit you heavily to a shop that would need your reporting skills as a primary and willing to train you up further in the rest, probably in SSAS for cubing or SSIS/T-SQL/OLAP maintenance if they were building right off the DBs.
Two questions:
Where do you guys look for part-time project jobs? Which websites are good to use and reliable?
I don't, sorry. Sometimes they'll find me, but I never really look for part time jobs in SQL Server. They're rather rare. Most contract/consulting jobs are full-timer for a month or three. If they want part timer, they've usually got a full timer who'd like more free time already, so they'll work in house. They're also very desirable jobs, as folks with kids and whatnot really like the shortened days to be able to take care of kids and still get an income.
Is it possible for someone with my experience to find a part-time project job and where in your opinion is it good for me to look?
I don't mean to discourage you, but I'm probably going to. It's going to be very difficult, especially if they need you to be 'local'. A lot of those part time positions are not going to be telecommutes, they want to see the warm body in the chair. I would start, personally, with the usual suspects though. Monster.com, dice.com, and your local consulting firms and headhunters.
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March 29, 2011 at 7:11 am
At your currrent skill level, what you can honestly charge, you should be looking at local non-profits, schools, that sort of thing. Then, as you build your skills, you can start charging more and then branch out.
Where to find work? I don't have a clue. Luckily, I'm starting, just starting, to get people coming to me for it. But it's still very rare.
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