I know the career I want to pursue, computer programmer, but in order to get my foot in the door I need to create something or help create something that I can use to show people that I am worth their time and money. I am reteaching myself several different programming languages, mainly html, java and eventually sql. I am the kind of person that learns by doing so I want to create something that will help me learn and when its done have a nice project for my portfolio. I know passion is something employers look for so I want it to be something I am passionate about but also something that is at least somewhat practical.
Sorry if i am going on and on, I'm bouncing ideas around and creating a post.
I have had a couple of ideas so far but I feel like I need to make them better.
IDEA ONE: create a database of kites with their stats and search through them based on what the user wants. I am thinking of taking it a step further and doing some webscraping(which I dont know how to do yet) on weather sites and a person could enter a location and based on the conditions tell them what kites they should take with them that they have.

IDEA TWO:
create a database of scale model paints and their color codes and then do web scraping for which model kits require what paints.


I am leaning towards IDEA ONE, but I am just worried that a prospective employer might not take it seriously.

I am working at an ABC Store right now and I am miserable because there are so many things I want to do and cant do them because of money. I want something better. any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Brian aka "Shortie"

I've been a coder (and computer nerd) my entire life (and professionally for some time as well), so that may or may not qualify me to give you advice.

First some good news:
I've interviewed tons of software programmers over the years, and I can tell you that having a degree doesn't affect my decisions at all. It will make me more likely to give someone with a weak resume a chance, but that's the only advantage. As a graduate of a major research university, I can say from first-hand experience that it doesn't matter what college you've gone (or not gone) to... there's rock stars and duds everywhere.

What I do pay attention to is what you've done, and if you really understand it or not.

What you've done:
Doing a project is great, but really executing on it is what makes you valuable. So it's not enough to just make a database or implement a web-scraper.. but you need to show that you are going above and beyond what "teach yourself <ruby on rails, django, php, lamp stack, whatever whizbang webstack du-jour> in 21 days" is presenting. Make it well designed, make the html/css clean and viewable on multiple devices, aspect ratios, etc. comment your code, handle errors and do unit testing.

If you really understand it:
Be able to talk about what issues you ran into, and how you solved them. Making a pretty piece of software is what gets you in the door. Being able to talk about it and show your overwhelming competence is what gets you the job. Nothing makes me want to run from an interview room quicker than when the person across the table doesn't really understand what they're talking about. If you want to be really impressive, then show them that while you have procedural understanding of various constructs in xyz languages, you understand *why* they are that way and how all languages are the same with various little twists.

The bad news:
I'm very much not a web guy.. I don't do graphics, design, or really html/css which is integral to doing web apps like you are talking about. What I do know is that there’s a million people out there who do this kind of stuff (poorly). Your challenge is to figure out why they are bad at it and how to be better than them at it. You can be better than them by delivering better products, or by understand what you’re doing and having a broader tech-base than they have. Things like writing your scrapers in python, ruby, java, and C/C++ (If you’re really trying to get a broad base) will expand your knowledge base and make you more impressive. If you do this sort of thing, do it on github and publicize yourself this way. This would show that you understand the development process.


Lastly:
As you climb the tech knowledge pyramid, there’ll always be people who talk about how good they are, but talk is cheap. Computer nerds love to talk, but hate to execute.

I whole heartedly hope that this helps you move along the path. The field can always use more motivated self-starters, and as you gain expertise, you’ll be able to leave the ABC store behind for good!

I'd suggest that you avoid screen scraping as that's not really a skill that anyone is looking for from a professional point of view. Why not find some APIs that will allow you to get the data you want in a robust and legitimate way. You won't get halfway through writing your complicated HTML parser before the weather sites change their pages and it won't work any more.

I also don't think anybody needs a complicated app to figure out what kites to bring, I'd bet most people bring them all, all of the time. You only have to get burned once by trusting the forecast and leaving your kites behind and then finding you really need them.

I'd look into making an app that allows people to put in information about thier flying sites (best wind direction, speed and tide times) and then sends you notifications about which one is looking good for the weekend. You should be able to find an api that provides tide times and weather info.

Good Luck and have fun

There is already a Kite calculator mobile app, you put in your kites and ranges and then tell it what the wind speed is and it tells you what kite to use. I found it interesting but uninstalled it recently since I don't need it's advice, it's advice is based on what I told it anyways.

I am in your same boat, I know how to program in MS Access and Visual Basic, but want to learn Drupal (website dev platform) and Titanium (mobile app platform). Why write code from scratch when you don't have to and can get a nice website or app up and running in less time using a modular interface with proven/tested code. Maybe you have to write a module here and there but that is easier than doing things from scratch. Security is a big issue and some modular solutions come with relatively good security out of the box.

As I said, I'm not a web guy *AT ALL*.. In fact I'm super old school and prefer compiled languages to interpreted ones.. but for simple webapps (most of them are) I've heard good things about sinatra (ruby) and flask (python).. Just food for thought. Might be a way to get off the ground with webapps with less of the BS that comes along with large frameworks like drupal, Ror, Django, etc..

SpecialK, If a similar app already exists is it still ok to create my own version for a portfolio when looking for a job?
I am relearning everything so I am going to stick with scratch building. at least for the coding anyway. I may use existing databases for weather and other things

should I use mysql or a different database management system

Shortlineflyer:
I'm just one guy, so I can't give you an absolute answer, but for me, it doesn't matter if you're doing something that someone else has done.. it matters if you do it well. And at least for me, i've never asked for code samples.. I'm much more interested in what you say on the spot when you don't have time+google to search for answers..

In fact being first rarely matters at all. Look at the iPod.. when apple brought it to market the pundits were panning it because "who's gonna buy this expensive mp3 player when you can get a rio for half the price".. I guess those pundits were wrong.. (as they always are)...

Point is it's not the idea its the execution thats everything..

Hey Shortlineflyer,

I am currently a Java programmer/project manager at one of the big 3 auto makers. I have worked in consulting, federal contracting, and have also been on the hiring side of the table.

The project idea you have is a good idea, it is a question that I would always ask someone. That being said, I never looked at the actual project. I didn't care what the person made or how they did it, I just wanted to know that they worked on programming in their free time/for fun.

If you are in college right now, get an internship ASAP. You frequently do not need experience or a project to showcase to get an internship. Once you have an internship to put on your resume, you can get a salary position no problem.

Honesty, the best advice I can give you for being successful in your programming career is to read some sales books. (Seth Godin, Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar, Stephen R. Covey)<-- Awesome "How To Do Sales" Authors

*Learn how to sell yourself and you will never be out of work.

Being able to communicate how you can add value to someone's business will help you out way more than having some program on a flash drive.

In IT, communication is the measure of how far someone is able to climb up the ladder. We are known for our lack of communication skills. So working on those will give you the best bang for your buck!

Please hit me up if you want some further info on this stuff. I love helping people get the career side of things figured out and very much enjoy the job finding process. (my wife thinks I am strange because I find working on my resume and the resumes of others fun)

Also, mysql is fine for a dbms if you use php or some other scripting language. I use if for a site I run which aggregates data from about 300 servers every 30 seconds. If you set it up right it can handle a lot.

If you are using Java, I would use Oracle DBMS. Oracle and Java are almost always used together.

Could I send you my resume to look over

Yeah definitely,

Just send it via email.

Right now I am working on on the GUI for the program. I am making a windowed java application. Eventually I will make an smartphone app. baby steps. should I make it a servlet so that it can run inside a browser?

i sent you my resume