where do you guys come across getting PHP jobs?

I have been learning PHP/MySQL for a little while, and would eventually like to get into doing some freelance work with it. Was just wondering where you guys would recommend I could go to get some small jobs? I was checking out the eLance site, and there are alot of projects there within my capabilities, but you have to pay a monthly subscription to bid on projects there which I am not to thrilled about. Anyways, if anyone can share some tips they have learned over time, I would be appreciative... I am slowly thinking about a career shift that might require me to earn my keep doing small stuff on the side for awhile.

Well... here's the thing about freelancing IT and development work these days in America... it sort of sucks and then it sort of doesn't.

A lot of people will tell you the economy is dead and people need to get back to real jobs now. Well... that's not quite true... BUT... with the economy in it's *ahem* "downturn" (read: correction to a more realistic market) a lot of businesses are re-evaluating IT and outsourcing budgets while a lot of others are looking to outsource a lot more. It all depends where you look.

Personally, I would reccomend staying away from places like eLance. You can get jobs without them... BUT....

The firms that ARE looking to outsource are largely looking to deal with other firms such as eLance that make a business by basically "renting" you out. They find you work and send you out, but then they skim off the top of your pay for their "services". Personally, I think it's a crock. However, in true U.S. management fashion, whatever hurts individuals the most is what business managers want to do.

So... after that rant and tirade, you want advice? Well, what sort of skills (skillz? Don't put skillz on your resume ) you got? You're going to need experience. No way around it. There's a lot of folks out there who know a little PHP and mysql and think they're ready for the programming world. They ain't. You need to get on a project somewhere and have something solid and tangeable on your resume. Try to get volunteer work somewhere so you can prove you have the problem solving skills and you're not just some wannabe who memorized some syntax from the manual.

Then, maybe you'll need to take a crap job somewhere doing HTML coding or whatever. But hey, gotta work your way up. After you have some experience, you can begin looking for some coding work. Even on the web, people are going to want to SEE your work and SEE that you've got experience. There's no way around it. In other words, you can pop up a site that says you know your stuff and has a few scripts you wrote, but unless you have EXPERIENCE in the business (see above for how to get) your odds are slim. Of course, if you want to try for corporate positions somewhere, by all means do so. The worst that can happen is they don't give you an interview... no harm in trying...

just me take, take it or leave it tis how I see it.. oh.. and good luck!

Thanks for the rant Ctb I am currently working doing SEO (among many other things) for a company full time, and I am going to be developing a site utilizing both PHP/MySQL (though not a whole lot) for them. Also, I am currently developing another site that is going to be pretty pushing me very hard in problem solving :P So basicly I am not going to worry about the resume, by the time I get around to actually looking for freelance stuff, I know that I will have these two sites under my belt to show.

I am not really worried about 'skillz' either, because a) I am pretty confident in myself, and b) I have been taking the time to learn all this stuff out of my free time, since I enjoy learning it and have alot of goals to accomplish with the sites I am developing. I think if you work at something you enjoy, you will almost always excel. I am a very long ways away from being at a level I would be comfortable at before I attempt to get work doing this, the lsat thing I want to do is bite off something bigger then I can chew.

Thanks again for the comments.

If you can't "get a PHP job", you can always make one for yourself.

It's risky, but you could definately start your own small bussiness. My company was started way back in 1998 with a sales person, a developer, a graphic designer, and a part-time accountant.

Easily, the sales person and accountant are the most important to your success. If you're the developer, finding the other people to partner with - people that you trust your financial future to - will be the hard part... But people do it every day. Also, instead of coding all day long, you'll get to write proposals, make sitemaps, meet clients, and all that fun stuff.

Today, our company is still fairly small, at 8 employees. But we (usually) do what we want to do. We've rarely had a problem convincing a client (Starwood Hotels, EMC, CivIII) to use PHP/Postgres/MySQL/Apache. In fact, most clients don't care as long as it's within their budget and easy to maintain.
____________________
dave tufts
http://imarc.net

I'm with Dave, we set up our own company and use the technologies we want to. However every choice you make has a reaction, and for us we need to convince businesses here that PHP is enterprise. However as long as you have a good argument (and there is one), and you produce software/ web services that work well, are easy to use, meet the client's budget, you can find work.

Good luck,
Z.

Make a name for yourself on here or other forums and on the PHP mailing list. I get requests for work all the time and they all come from Devshed or the mailing list.

Show people you know what you're talking about and you have some knowledge and they'll come looking for you when they need something done.

---John Holmes...

I agree with John Holmes here - I get a couple of requests each week and occasionally they materialise into some worthwhile bits of freelancing...

Having said that, Anyone got any work ?

christo

SepodatiCreations, that is a great call. I did get one offer of work from devshed, but it wasn't a go. But to get work, you need to make a name for yourself, either through businesses/people you know, or through the net

Z.

Cultivate a relationship with small computer consulting companies who don't do what you do. Many hardware/network setup consultants get requests all the time for website work, database programming, etc...

These consulting companies tend to focus on delivery of shrink-wrapped software, setting up servers, making sure Windows is working properly, etc... So they generally don't have time for software work, but they often would be happy to refer you for a small commission, or even subcontract you.

Be careful, though. The biggest problem with working through a "middleman" is that there is a big chance for misunderstanding in project scope, delivery, time requirements, etc... Insist on personally meeting with the client, put everything carefully in writing, and try to keep projects on a billable hours mode if at all possible.

Totally. Write up a user requirements and project scope into a specification. The scope tells you and the client exactly what they are going to get, and then they sign-off on it. This keeps you safe from the never-ending changes pit

I've noticed that there is a huge disparity between the frequency of 'full-time' positions involving technologies that aren't PHP - such as asp, jsp, java, c++, oracle, etc. - than f/t positions that do involve php.

If I were younger, and knew what I know now, I would have studied the hell out of applications development - esp. java, c++, vba - as these higher-level languages can give you the deep-roots knowledge you need to quickly adapt to the scripting level languages - i.e., jsp, php/perl, asp.

Instead, i've worked up the staircase in programming, starting off w/ html, javascript, then moving to asp/mssql, now php/mysql... as well as dabbling in java and vba. its a tougher road, tho, and the fact that the core experiences I've had are now in php, the lack of f/t gigs out there for php dev is frustrating.

back to my project!

dude ..forget Elance. Do you want to work for $ 5 an hour ? I had some luck with .www.sideliners.ca

Maybe that site wasn't active 8 MONTHS AGO WHEN THIS THREAD WAS ACTIVE!

---John Holmes...