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I am 23 years old and I live in Alaska. I was recently laid off from the Oil and Gas industry and began to look outwards for new career paths. My wife has a child from her previous relationship so leaving state is not an option. College is not an option due to my financial situation. Trust me. It is not an option, I've looked...hard...please don't say "go to school".

I have some light web development experience but nothing major. I was looking at trying to find a job in the field but find 99% of the jobs want previous experience. I have been taking classes on codecademy anf started to expand my skills. I am in the process of building a website but I clearly have a lot to learn. I pretty much have a grasp on HTML, CSS/Bootstrap, JQuery, and am picking up on wordpress. Would I be better off trying to come up with 15K+ to go to a coding bootcamp? Or try to keep building small websites? My problem is soon I will have to start bringing in some kind of income (on work comp right now due to a knee Injury, but that will likely end soon). And I don't know if I can get a decent portfolio up in time. Is this a feasible endeavor? Will a small handful of websites be enough to convince someone of remote work?

Yes I know this is similar to another ques to on but IT and Web dev are different and people from Web Dev have different insights on it than people from IT. I realise they are similar but I feel it warrants a seperate question since they are both (hopefully) viable passions of mine Web dev more so.

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  • Exact duplicate of your previous question.
    – Lilienthal ♦
    Oct 23, 2016 at 18:27
  • No. The previous question is about being IT. This is about web development. They are both serious interests of mine that I am pursuing. IT appears to be unfeasible at this juncture in my life. Web Development may still be and is basically my last hope before I am forced back to the oilfield.
    – Weber
    Oct 23, 2016 at 18:32
  • They may be similar in wording but the answers to them are vastly different
    – Weber
    Oct 23, 2016 at 18:44
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    The fundamental question here is "Is it feasible to get a remote job in technology with little experience." The answer involves some kind of training/learning and job searches for that technology, regardless of the specific technology. In the context of all 12K questions on The Workplace, this would be considered a duplicate.
    – mcknz
    Oct 23, 2016 at 19:05
  • Look at the smaller underlying questions....
    – Weber
    Oct 23, 2016 at 19:54

2 Answers 2

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Do not waste time and money going to school to learn how to make web sites.

Visit webmasters stack exchange and absorb as much as you can. Then ask the frequent posters there for the best learning resources. Find out how they got started.

I would be surprised if anyone there tells you to attend a formal tech school. Current web site technology is disastrously chaotic at its core. You will need to deal with unfinished standards, conflicting protocols, and buggy libraries. Nobody can teach you how to do that.

You can also apply to job postings that require experience. A few of those will be willing to hire you, perhaps at a reduced rate.

Some web developers start with a little pro bono work for a charity organization. Just be sure it's highly visible and well done, so you can point to it as part of your portfolio.

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  • Thank you so much. This is the kind of advice I am looking for.
    – Weber
    Oct 23, 2016 at 18:40
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$15K for a coding boot camp is not a good return. There are good books and free tutorials on the Internet. Even not getting a degree junior college classes are typically economical.

On the low end people can build their own web sites.

On the mid and higher end they are gong to want experience.

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    I don't understand how it isn't a good return. Can you please explain?
    – Weber
    Oct 23, 2016 at 18:33
  • $15K is a lot of money and they typically go at a fast pace. And it does not mean much on a resume.
    – paparazzo
    Oct 23, 2016 at 18:37
  • I didnt. The other question is about IT. This is about web dev. Very different paths
    – Weber
    Oct 23, 2016 at 18:41
  • @Weber Not very different questions. VTC.
    – paparazzo
    Oct 23, 2016 at 18:41
  • Vtc? And I feel they have very different answers though the wording is close to the same.
    – Weber
    Oct 23, 2016 at 18:43

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