Working from home only for developers ?

[juststarting]

Hi ,

I have done infrastructure work , what not in Microsoft. I don't program at all but I am very techy and can pick up coding skills in a few months.

Is there a market for home work other than coding ? Something related to IT of course..

[d000hg]

I see more remote work for tech-support type work than development but only at around £15/hr.

[TykeMerc]

Hi ,

I have done infrastructure work , what not in Microsoft. I don't program at all but I am very techy and can pick up coding skills in a few months.

Is there a market for home work other than coding ? Something related to IT of course..

I've managed projects largely from home quite often.

Infrastructure technical work can be done remotely if you're into configuration of routers/switches/WAN clouds, but that's quite a specific skillset.
Fair bits of server support work can be done via remote control either operating system plugin or hardware (ILO cards etc), but for that kind of support function not all that many clients would want someone who wasn't on site a fair bit.

I'm not sure the coders on here would agree that you can just pick up coding skills quickly when you have no programming background, I'll leave them to respond appropriately to that assertion.

[SueEllen]

I'm not sure the coders on here would agree that you can just pick up coding skills quickly when you have no programming background, I'll leave them to respond appropriately to that assertion.

To be fair some people can code and others simply can't. If you have the aptitude you can learn a language in a few weeks or months.

However it takes practise (as in years) to be able to work on large commercial programs, particularly to design and develop chunks of them, on your own which is what you will be doing if you are home working. The quickest and easiest way to learn the tricks of a language is to have other people physically there to bounce ideas off.

[rephlex]

i know i'll get slated by the dot Net and Java folks on here ("my language is better than your language") , but you can't go far wrong with learning PHP.

the learning curve is very very shallow - if you have the aptitude you'll pick it up relatively quickly. and since its a web development language, its perfect for home based remote working roles.

another tip would be to download a Linux distro and start using it on your "work" machine - i.e. everyday. the Ubuntu distro is the one to go for - its highly popular, relatively easy to setup , and the community is huge - lots of documentation and handholding for you if things go wrong.

Linux runs on rather substantial amount of web servers - very useful skill to have if you want to go down the home remote-working route.

(note - by "work" machine : have your windows box separate. should things go pear shaped at least you can revert to that one... i wouldnt recommend dual booting to a newbie. two separate machines - but use the Linux one day to day. you'll pick it up surprisingly fast...)

[TheBigYinJames]

i know i'll get slated by the dot Net and Java folks on here ("my language is better than your language") , but you can't go far wrong with learning PHP.

I'm not coding snob, but purely based on what will set you up for a few years decent income, my opinion is that LAMP is on the way out, and if you want a cut price entry into the sort of programming that pays well, all the Java tools are free, and you can write dotNet web apps with just notepad and online tutorials (and a web server that runs IIS/.Net obviously, but they can be had easily)

[juststarting]

Thanks guys , I sort of want to stay off programming because it is not my thing.. This is not to mean I will not do it if it gets good rates.

I am deliberately taking time off to try myself as a Plan Ber. However until income from that kicks in it can be a while. And letting go 1500 GBP per month in living expenses .... just pierces my heart...

[rephlex]

the last few php contracts i did were 350 per day in london, and 250 per day outside.

LAMP on the way out? thats an odd statement to make - as the contracts i was involved with were moving in the opposite way - from dot net to LAMP.

maybe its a credit crunch effect - costs are trumping code snobbery...


good one to check out juststarting is SugarCRM. no need to code it - just get to know how it works. brush up on business analysis... theres a demand out there for biz analysts/project managers who can plan and design a sugarcrm site. and since its web based , a lot of this can be done remotely.

plus you can download it for free and have a play.

[d000hg]

i know i'll get slated by the dot Net and Java folks on here ("my language is better than your language") , but you can't go far wrong with learning PHP.

the learning curve is very very shallow - if you have the aptitude you'll pick it up relatively quickly. and since its a web development language, its perfect for home based remote working roles.

I don't hate PHP but wouldn't learning it as one of your first languages encourage exactly the kind of bad practices that give PHP developers a bad name?

[aussielong]

Thanks guys , I sort of want to stay off programming because it is not my thing.. This is not to mean I will not do it if it gets good rates.

I am deliberately taking time off to try myself as a Plan Ber. However until income from that kicks in it can be a while. And letting go 1500 GBP per month in living expenses .... just pierces my heart...

when you are starting out, you really want mentoring - by someone who is sitting next to you and knows what they are doing.