My thanks to the OcUK developers

[SpicyDuck]

That's great, Jasper; I'm really happy for you.

 

[swinnie]

Well done Sic!

You can teach me now!

And me

 

[blade007]

I can do HTML/CSS fine, the Photoshop side too. It's the back end stuff I want to get into.

http://www.duperouzel.co.uk/yagenji/

I made that above URL in around 2 hours and I used an image from the client on there. Never went further than this stage however. That's the first site I've done in years.

A lot of people ask me about updating it themselves etc. A lot of the pre-made CMS systems out there are quite over the top for what a small business would need, so developing my own seems the best route, which I could then apply to future projects with ease.

Before you develop your own take a look at MODx. It's fast, not too complicated and has a big support community.

 

[furnace]

When I started out, I was like "I'm not a designer, I develop and that's it" but there's a really sneaky way to design websites without actually doing anything. If you browse enough sites, you get an idea for stuff you like (I actually bookmark them and tag them "inspiration" so I can refer to them when designing {which I still don't enjoy [I can just about do it if I have to]}) and you start to subconsciously employ things you've seen - it's rewarding and disappointing at the same time because you think you're becoming a good designer, but you're just a subtle plagiarist!

Haha, that sounds so familiar!

Congratulations Sic

 

[RandomTom]

Haha, that sounds so familiar!

Yeah same here , except I used to say I was a designer, the results were okay though, currently not taking on anything 'til I learn more now. I think I need to dabble in PHP/mysql/ruby though for the future.

Congrats sic, well deserved!

 

[MarcLister]

Hehe - post anything you need on the forums and I'll be more than glad to help if I can

Much obliged sir.

So far, I'm versed in PHP, MySQL, Javascript (and jQuery), HTML, XHTML, XML and CSS (up to 3). I've dabbled in Java, Ruby, Bash and Shell scripting. Once I've got my next couple of projects out the way, I'm looking at doing some stuff in Cocoa with Objective-C for OSX

Wow! Quite a range of stuff. I think I am fairly OK with HTML/XHTML/CSS having done a project for Uni on this. Haven't done much XML and really need to learn this. Some mates of mine are doing a tough looking assignment for an XML module and I'd love to be able to get to their level, if not better sometime and show 'em what I can do.

Can I ask if you got any books or did you just use websites and tutorials online not to mention the legendary friendly help of OcUK?

And me

 

[Sic]

Wow! Quite a range of stuff. I think I am fairly OK with HTML/XHTML/CSS having done a project for Uni on this. Haven't done much XML and really need to learn this. Some mates of mine are doing a tough looking assignment for an XML module and I'd love to be able to get to their level, if not better sometime and show 'em what I can do.

Can I ask if you got any books or did you just use websites and tutorials online not to mention the legendary friendly help of OcUK?

yeah, on the things I've dabbled in it's a case of "I know how to use it, but it's a slow process" - I won't be getting a job as a Java dev any time soon!!

XML is great - so incredibly useful - I'm actually thinking of rewriting part of my site config rules stuff in XML and having a PHP class to extract what I need from it - maybe for my next project!

When I started learning, I had a couple of books (that I actually read, I've got loads I've barely opened!) but I prefer the internet as a medium for this sort of thing because it allows you to search. Books, I found, weren't incredibly user-friendly for beginners. Indexes can be a bit daunting when you don't really know what the words mean :/

 

[darude]

A very inspiring message Jasper, big congrats....I hope I reach that dream target as a developer one day!

 

[AHarvey]

When I started learning, I had a couple of books (that I actually read, I've got loads I've barely opened!) but I prefer the internet as a medium for this sort of thing because it allows you to search. Books, I found, weren't incredibly user-friendly for beginners. Indexes can be a bit daunting when you don't really know what the words mean :/

Now I am the other way round, I find it very hard to learn from the internet compared to books. Only problem is that I can't afford the books so the internet is my only option

Wasn't too bad when I had my second monitor but that went bang several months ago and I haven't been able to replace it. Having to switch between apps is a real PITA!

Anyway, congrats matey. It sounds like the way I want to go, however my main problem is that I already have a mortgage and a wedding to pay for so getting a job as an intern wouldn't be viable for me!

 

[MarcLister]

yeah, on the things I've dabbled in it's a case of "I know how to use it, but it's a slow process" - I won't be getting a job as a Java dev any time soon!!

XML is great - so incredibly useful - I'm actually thinking of rewriting part of my site config rules stuff in XML and having a PHP class to extract what I need from it - maybe for my next project!

When I started learning, I had a couple of books (that I actually read, I've got loads I've barely opened!) but I prefer the internet as a medium for this sort of thing because it allows you to search. Books, I found, weren't incredibly user-friendly for beginners. Indexes can be a bit daunting when you don't really know what the words mean :/

Sounds good. Half my problem is that I lack imagination. I have VS2005 free from Uni and I thought I'd try and do something with C# to try and learn it, I just couldn't think of anything to do.

I might see if I can get the XML assignment sheets off my mates and work on that and see how I go.

 

[Stelly]

Well Done dude

Stelly

 

[robmiller]

My consulting fees are £250 a week in perpetuity btw

 

[Sic]

your cheque's in the post. I just addressed it robmiller and put a stamp on it; hopefully it'll arrive soon.

 

[zetec452]

Nice one Jasper. You've obviously got a talent for this coding lark. .

I'll leave the coding to chaps like you.

 

[Haly]

Nice one sic Congratulations

 

[ringo747]

well done! thanks for the help on here that you have given!

 

[Augmented]

Many congratulations, you deserve it without a doubt.

It's great to see really accomplished developers getting just rewards! Having been interviewing a number of people for a frontend position recently, I've discovered that there are a great deal of people out there that demand a lot in return for their skillset. But in reality they're very basic in technical knowledge and, more importantly, in their understanding of web development as a whole. That's not what bothers me though; it's that they're still likely to be able to succeed in employment as they can 'talk the talk' and there are a lot of people hiring that have don't actually have an appreciation of what a good developer is. The more forward-thinking developers in senior roles, the better! So, congrats again to you, but also thumbs up to your managers for giving you the promotion!

 

[radderfire]

Congratulations and well done.

 

[zinc]

Nice work!

Theres so many resources available today to learn yourself and although I havnt posted up too much on here, I do check this HTML forum every day and there is such good support from everyone.

I myself in the summer started really into web developement and since back at Uni this semester 2 of my modules are on web development and its seriously opened my eyes. Hopefully I can get to your standard someday Sic. Would love to be an ace at all the popular languages, I'm steadily getting there

 

[Sic]

Many congratulations, you deserve it without a doubt.

thanks very much - that really means a lot!

It's great to see really accomplished developers getting just rewards! Having been interviewing a number of people for a frontend position recently, I've discovered that there are a great deal of people out there that demand a lot in return for their skillset. But in reality they're very basic in technical knowledge and, more importantly, in their understanding of web development as a whole. That's not what bothers me though; it's that they're still likely to be able to succeed in employment as they can 'talk the talk' and there are a lot of people hiring that have don't actually have an appreciation of what a good developer is. The more forward-thinking developers in senior roles, the better! So, congrats again to you, but also thumbs up to your managers for giving you the promotion!

Sadly, that's too true. I've not been conducting any interviews recently, but I've had to write a test to give to people who apply and it's shocking to see that people who call themselves PHP Developers (for example) and aren't in the slightest bit up-to-date. The last place I worked put a guy in charge of eCommerce essentially because he'd used a few acronyms in meetings and it was very clear to us that he didn't know what he was talking about! Normally, we'd have been pleased because it should've made him easier to manipulate but that wasn't the case.

As you say, it's incredibly annoying that people can get by with a frighteningly minimal knowledge on a larger salary than I'll be netting at least for the next few years!

Nice work!

Theres so many resources available today to learn yourself and although I havnt posted up too much on here, I do check this HTML forum every day and there is such good support from everyone.

I myself in the summer started really into web developement and since back at Uni this semester 2 of my modules are on web development and its seriously opened my eyes. Hopefully I can get to your standard someday Sic. Would love to be an ace at all the popular languages, I'm steadily getting there

In honesty, it's been very recently that I've actually started looking at other languages. Maybe in the last 6-8 months. I really wanted to get my first language (and relate as much theory as I could to it) to a standard that I was very happy with before I started looking elsewhere as I didn't want to confuse myself.

Annoyingly, client-side apps have been really looking appealing to me recently and I'm quite excited to write a simple OSX client side app. Should be fun!