Plato Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 Hello As the title says I'm from the UK. I have been writing PHP for about 6 months and although I'm obviously fairly new, I'd really like to pursue it as a career. I only have A-levels (no degree) and I'm really not interested in going to university for a few years. So based on all of that, could anyone give me a few pointers as the best course of action to take to advance a career in PHP? Obviously experience is invaluable, so I thought the best first step to take would be to get my foot in the door as a part time job (or very junior full time position) in a web development company. I still want to gain a bit more experience, writing scripts and practising in my own time but it would be great to aim for some sort of web development related job in a year or so. In order to make this easier I'm looking at getting some kind of certificate as I won't have a degree. The only one I've been able to find is the Zend engineer certificate. Could anyone tell me if this has any value to employers? Thanks for any help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonLewis Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 I plan on getting the Zend certificate when I get time. I think it'll help. It's something anyway, something that you can show to people that proves you are qualified to some degree. Other then that though, I'm sure companies would want to see some sort of portfolio of your scripts. Maybe... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 Yeah I was going to say more than anything a company will want proof of pexerience over qualification - but obviouslly you'll want some qualification there.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILMV Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 Hello All! My first post, go easy on me... I am from England too, and have been right were you are... My opinion is that both experience and qualifications are important as far as a your career goes. Thing is, if you are going into a job vs someone with a HND (a uni level course) then a bit of experience isn't going to make you more favorable. My advice is to checkout what IT courses at your local college are available, at the same time attempt to run a part time development job. I am currently doing this whilst gaining a degree (BSc Hons Applied Computing). Again, I believe that having both experience and qualifications will make my prospects of getting a job in the future a lot higher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redarrow Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 ive been using php for ages, and it all takes time, you can do it the easy way and i think the best way foward do what im going to do, goto a local collage and get your php mysql cert, the course only cose £75 pound consessionery, yes it 3000 pound no concession i no a lot off money, then move onto the zend exam but to be truthfull you dont need a bit off paper it all juged on skill...... what i got so far they were done free from a local collage intruduction / advance cert level 1,2,3..... html xhtml css javascript illustrator. frontpage. dreamweaver getting needed... starting mysql and php for cert..... php. mysql. linux sever. windows server. mail server. networking. seo is based on exp and can take years... my certs are incase off needing future work outside as i work from home........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plato Posted November 5, 2008 Author Share Posted November 5, 2008 Thanks for the advice all. So if I combine, the Zend qualification (which shows I have some dedication and a certain level of competence) and over the next year, keep a collection of any scripts I write - that should be enough to get my foot in the door? I appreciate candidates with a degree could often have the upper hand, but as I said uni really isn't a choice I want to make so I'd be willing to make that sacrifice. So with the portfolio of scripts, would I keep them online for an employer to see? Or print off some hard copies and bring them to the interview? Regarding the work experience, surely it would be hard to get accepted for any kind of PHP related job in my current situation.. no qualifications/certificate, very little in the way of my own work to show what I've done. All I really have is two years office experience. Perhaps just getting any kind of IT related job for now would be ideal to at least get myself going in the right direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redarrow Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 zend cert will help and a mysql cert but ur need to produce many working website examples.......... many users clone websites to prove there abilty and truthly it helps... but i think working hard on ur own idears are better....... always keep ur work backed up and shown if complete to any employeee.... sometimes it nice to show a paper format to a employeeeeeeeeeee... and to be onest the best programmers are self tault no exams at all, they got jobs showing there current work only........ remember getting a job will be easy, but if u can not do the work then ur in trouble.......... getting a collage cert or a zend cert will help but examples out weigh any........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel0 Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 ............................................................................ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonLewis Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 Haha. So with the portfolio of scripts, would I keep them online for an employer to see? Or print off some hard copies and bring them to the interview? Never done it before, but I'd say have a laptop or something with you. That way you can just flip it open and show him/her. Regarding the work experience, surely it would be hard to get accepted for any kind of PHP related job in my current situation.. no qualifications/certificate, very little in the way of my own work to show what I've done. All I really have is two years office experience. It would be very hard. Experience will help, no doubt about that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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