Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2012 14:07:07 +0200 From: Paul Schenkeveld <freebsd@psconsult.nl> To: Jamie <jamie@geniegate.com> Cc: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD/Perl jobs? Message-ID: <20120817120707.GA15509@psconsult.nl> In-Reply-To: <20120817114152.GC71604@mule.podro.com> References: <20120817114152.GC71604@mule.podro.com>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Hi Jamie, On Fri, Aug 17, 2012 at 06:41:52AM -0500, Jamie wrote: > I'm a successful freelance developer, have been for many years. > > But lately.... things are drying up. Not to discourage you but this is something many freelance developers and sysadmins face at the moment. > I can do PHP quite well actually. If you've written in perl, other languages > are usually a piece of cake. However, the problem with PHP is that you're > dealing with younger people who aren't very interested in Perl experience > and frankly, they're not very interested in anyone over 35. :-/ It doesn't > matter if you know PHP, they want someone who can cut-n-paste wordpress > plugins or things of that nature. (which is rather silly, IMO) > > FreeBSD has the same problems. It's much better for servers, it's solid, it's > awesome and very few people care if you have experience with it. I agree that good software written/maintained by skilled and experienced developers beat cut-n-paste hypeware, Some others sadly speak about progress... > Where would you say the jobs are for older people who like Perl & FreeBSD? There must be many, trick is to find. OTOH, accumulating more skills brings you better chances of finding work to do. BTW, it'd help if you disclose where on this planet you are, roughly. > The other question has to do with gaining/keeping skills. I've done python, > java, etc.. on my own time, just to understand it. But it's difficult to get an > XYZ job, unless you've done an XYZ job. How do you get experience in other > technologies without wasting your time learning the wrong niche technology? Open source development, community projects etc. > Freelancing is tough these days! In the late 1990's there was so much work to do and companies seemed to have endless resources to attract and pay for freelancers that many people took a chance and became one. In the 2000's we now have so many people competing for jobs and companies are reluctant to spend a lot of money on IT that it has become difficult to keep all freelancers working. My "over 35" experience started before the turn of the century so yes, I know what you mean. I'm sorry I cannot help you solve your problem right now but I can only advise you to keep learning by putting newly acquired skills to use, even if that does not directly generate income and start thinking of how you see your future from here till you think you can retire from work. I started thinking about this many moons ago and came to the conclusion that if selling your skills as a freelance developer or sysadmin gets difficult after 35, I have to be doing things radically different before I hit the 50 or 60 mark. Wish you good luck, keep fate! With kind regards, Paul Schenkeveld
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20120817120707.GA15509>