Prospective developer/consultant (with 'tainted history') seeks advice

Hi people,

I'm an experienced freelance programmer / 'sql expert' / 'business consultant' in need of a career shift.
I think Drupal as an environment (the things you can work on, the community) would make me happy.
However my programming experience with PHP/Drupal is very small. I'd have to 'get into it' (very probably unpaid) for a couple of months.

That's fine - but because of that, I'm somewhat afraid of diving in there without feedback. Is there enough work if you're good?

(What I'd ideally like is for you to tell me "oh I'm sure you can get good paid work" or even "if you show your face in the Dojo for the rest of the year and do some stuff for me while learning, I'll have this great contract opportunity for you in 2009" ;-) Any references you can give me are appreciated. I promise to prove to be an asset.)

This is especially important in my case because of the weird reason for my need of a career shift. Recently I made money consulting/programming for 'big business' companies (banks, Tommy Hilfiger) - always through agencies supplying interim personnel to them. These are much more run by big impersonal HR departments guarding any 'image threat', than I thought. Since the google results for my name have been 'tainted' with a very scary (but very non-work-related) subject... I haven't been able to get work any more, despite the fact that (I know) they desperately need people with my experience. (Part of the story is up on http://wyz.biz/en/node/19 / http://roderik.muit.nl/en/node/27#lostjob)

By now, I have grown weary of trying to get a job by writing to specific employers 'in my field', being ignored (or hired by enthousiastic superiors and then un-hired by theirs / the HR dept.) That's why I'm asking you in more or less an 'open application to the community'. I need to find a less image-run world. because I need to know I'll be able to work for a living again, come 2009. And I also think the drupal world Drupal is that, because there are more geeks than bank directors, hence more people who are able to think for themselves.

why post this now?

I had wanted to put my own full story up about how 'freedom of expression' apparently does not apply to me (along with my reasons for doing that) just to make a point... and then hunt for jobs in this way. However I won't get that done in time. I wanted to tell you that if anyone thinks they have a serious opportunity, and they want to talk to me in Szeged, then I'll try hard to be at the conference.

Oh, I'm also willing to relocate if necessary/appealing. Not even because I'm that desperate, but because it's the time for a new experience; my private circumstances allow me to pack up and leave, and return whenever I want to. (a.o. ownership of an extremely rentable apt. in Amsterdam, NL :-))

experience

Have been running Drupal sites, and submitted the occasional small patch, since 2004.

(Private) experience with Linux sysadmin since 1997 / running 'private ISP' internet server since 2002

1995-1999 Started work at the hart of the European internet (a place called RIPE NCC), also a crowd I liked. Did Perl programming and sysadmin(BSDI unix)

1999-2004 Strange career switch caused by my best friend: programming database applications in MS Visual Basic / MS Access

2004-2007 Self employed, contracting as software engineer/business consultant/sql guru doing MS Access / Excel stuff, mostly in the financial industry.

So I basically drifted away from the true path in 1999. I know. I repent ;-) (I still have this 'EX-Perl Mongers' shirt I got form my colleagues when I left the RIPE NCC)

CV at http://wyz.biz/cv

my pluses

Good programmer and good social skills / eye for what the client wants. Team player and being able to work very independently. Well, you all know. That's what it takes to be a successful consultant. Experience with that.

my minuses

No good in design. I know CSS. But you can teach me design like you can teach a monkey tricks; I'm just not good at really seeing what people find purty. (The 'feel' of a website is OK in my hands, with some hints. The 'look' isn't.)

why Drupal?

• I have a knack for 'freedom of information'. I love enabling people to get what they want so they can do a better job.

• I also have a knack for giving people the tools to be heard in a useful way. I like activist/opinion sites. (You might gather that from my story ;) ) And I'd especially love to make my work helping to build them - or anything in that area aimed at making the world a more useful place for more people.

• I love having some sense of a 'shared community'. (Always been part of one or other, but not in my work since 1999.)

So what better thing to work on (and hopefully extend in places) than a good CMS?

• duh! Drupal is the future. I had to choose a CMS in 2004 and was confident this would be the right choice and I'd never look back. (Much like I felt about Debian when decided on my Linux distro in '97.) I'm even more confident now.