Developer - Retraining to Java ?

[oversteer]

Anyone reskilled into doing Java ?

I'm capped at a low rate as I specialise in PHP; if I knew Java instead I could probably bill 1.5-2x as much. So, spending a year or more retraining may be worthwhile in the long term.

Just wondering if anyone's jumped in at the bottom again (from an experience standpoint; I have some prior exp with Java, just not commercially) and how you got on.

[swamp]

Go to your local bookshop and find a book on Java. There should be a few (hundred).

If you're not good enough to teach yourself the subject, off your own back, in your own time, then you're not good enough to be a Java developer.

However, if you really want it to happen then you will find a way.

[oversteer]

Yeah learning it isn't the problem, in fact I already know the basics (but it was a LONG time ago) but getting a job without commercial experience will probably be tricky.

[Bright Spark]

If you can write and compile a java program then where's the problem?

all you need now is to improve on that, best way is to jump in at the
deep end by getting a java job. you'll either sink or swim, you won't know
this by standing at the edges and thinking about it all the time.

good luck!

[chicane]

Yeah learning it isn't the problem, in fact I already know the basics (but it was a LONG time ago) but getting a job without commercial experience will probably be tricky.

Here's how I would do it:

1) Take a complex PHP project that I've put together for a client at some point in the last 2 years.
2) Spend 3-6 months of my spare time rewriting the project in Java, learning as I go. IMO this is much better than going through meaningless examples in a book.
3) Mark the last 3-6 months of my CV as "Migrating existing client system from PHP to Java".
4) Get a junior PHP contract paying £200/day or thereabouts - possibly less than you currently earn doing PHP.
5) Work your way up the payscale as you gain further experience.

Just be warned that the demand for various dev skills changes every couple of months and that the current level of demand for Java devs (and therefore the financial reward on offer) may look very different in 12 months time.

[oversteer]

Thanks, sounds good, and I have the ideal project in mind for that.

Yeah I had thought rates would vary over time. I'd imagine average Java rates stay more than PHP though! Might be worth staying involved with other LAMP technologies like MySQL ..

[moorfield]

Do the Sun Certifications too - programmer, developer, architect IIRC.

They will give you reasonable coverage and you also have something blaggable on your CV afterwards ("industry certification" etc. etc.).

The problem with java though these days is that every Bob is doing it.