Dear PlanetKDE,
I’m just a student, but I can build just about anything with code. The problem is that people in the industry disregard me because I’m young. I also doesn’t have many “contacts” or “networks” for shmoozing up. I am, however, looking for a lucrative freelance coding job for this summer.
So I’m wondering – amongst those of you who have been in a similar predicament, how have you gone about finding programming gigs?
A related question: does anybody hire KDE programmers?
Sincerely,
Unemployed
Well you can try open sourcing now, and if you can do what you’re saying, with few good ideas and apps, it will look good in your resume. There are people hiring QT developers somewhere on kde-apps.org if I cam remember.
I’m far from young, but have a similar problem having worked for the same company for 12 years doing projects way below my abilities.
You need to keep learning about different real things, not abstract computer ones.
You need to build a network of people – most of my contracts have been through a friend of a friend.
You need to build a portfolio of solutions/demonstrations.
You need to use correct (formal) English for communicating with non technical people who do not have the skill to judge your technical abilities and will judge you by your non-technical ones.
If you just want to earn some money and could live without any fancy C++/Qt/KDE stuff, try to get a job in the web business.
I myself do/did that in my holidays and got payed pretty well. And in my eyes a little bit of PHP / JavaScript / HTML / CSS is quite simple. Thus it’s cheap money.
And the good thing: Really good developers are rare in these areas, I’d say because they are subchallenged. Yet that makes it even easier for you to get a job.
Not sure whether it’s any good for your resume though…
I applied for Google Summer of Code and I’m crossing my fingers until April 20
I have hired college programmers in the past, and it always worked pretty well. In fact, some of my strongest hires were either in college or just graduating. I don’t know anyone looking for a KDE programmer, but other things are out there.
Send me an e-mail.
Why don’t you look for bounties on FOSS projects? There are many, and some pay quite alright!
Cheers and good luck!