Breaking into the field: the gap between beginner and advanced

I would say don't expect what you want "to break in" to be there. You might have to create it. Internships are good. I truly believe in ask and ye shall receive. If there is a place you would like to intern to learn more ask if they offer one. If they don't now, maybe they will reconsider.

I have certainly never felt at dis-ease at being the only woman in the room. That makes you stand out! Think of it as forging the way for more women. For some reason you are allowing your (our) gender to hold you back. I don't understand that.

As for "there should be opportunities in place to take people who are high level beginners and help them transition successfully into the field, especially in locations that need people with that skill set." Great idea! Be that person who learns something then offers that to others! You can do it!

I have been a web developer/designer for 13 years, and for the last 2 working with Drupal. But all the job postings out there want "Senior" developers. I was unclear and a bit lost on what technologies to focus on to get me where I was employable by those I wanted to work with.

I got discouraged, and finally just googled 'finding a Drupal Mentor'. What I came across is exactly what you describe that you're looking for. I've been working with OwnSourcing to mentor me on some of the skills I need to enhance the talents I already have and direction I want to take this. After a few months I'm now working with some of the very well-knowns in the Drupal world, and continuing to learn skills and technologies that increase my earning potential, not to mention job satisfaction.

Your mileage of course may vary, but I encourage you to contact ownsourcing.com about the mentorship program and be prepared to have a frank conversation about what you want. If it doesn't turn out to be a good fit, keep looking for a mentor that will be.

BTW, I'm often the only female and/or one with gray hair in the room :) I've found that the Drupal community is really happy to help most everyone brave enough to ask for it.

Best of luck to you!

Where are you located? Many colleges have web development certificates, if you're thinking of spending money on skills acquisition -- but I would not recommend grad school. I work at UBC's Computer Science department, and that's just not what our grads do (your mileage may vary at other schools, but I suspect they're similar). If you want to study algorithms or high-throughput computing or network structure or machine learning or other really specific and mathematical areas of computing, then yes. It's not any kind of toolset learning; it's very theoretical.

I disagree with @aarsic -- I've found that it's not easy being the only woman in the room sometimes, especially when I was a beginner. Even really supportive communities tend to be aloof to beginners until they're able to hold their own in technical discussions, and it can be intimidating to break into discussions and ask for help even as an experienced dev sometimes, still. The Drupal community is better than most, but we're not perfect, either.

As for transitioning from beginner to advanced, the way I and many of the developers I know did it was by... doing it. I do not think this is the most efficient method. Building shitty sites, then building slightly better ones; volunteering to build portals for non-profits (because they're often not picky about what it looks like, or timelines... ;) and then doing tonnes of research and googling and head-against-desk-banging until you solve various programming problems, not necessarily well, but acquire another skill incrementally, and the next site is better, etc...

This is not the best way to become a developer. It was simply the only way, ten years ago. So, you may find many of us are a bit stuck with respect to offering advice on training, because it's a different world these days. At this point in the evolution of dev culture, the options are increasing, though: you can now go to hackathons, which are a good place to pick up skills and watch other people code; go to community presentations, for specific toolset knowledge, and do what you're doing here, which is to ask for help from the community specifically.

If you'd like to chat about mentoring, and OwnSource doesn't pan out, let me know (reneestephen@gmail.com). I've never mentored anybody, but we can learn together :)

Actually, there's both issues that can present problems. My point was that being a beginner can be especially daunting as a woman, because the response you get can be more hostile than the response to a man at a similar level; but for both men and women, being a beginner is definitely a hurdle as well. I'm not sure where you get from what I wrote that being a woman is "less than" anything, except that it does result in some less-than friendly responses sometimes. Thankfully that's changing with the times. But it's still a factor for many of us: read the countless blog-posts of women at cons who have been mistaken for wait-staff, or experienced devs being assumed to be graphic designers and cut out of interesting conversations, or, or. Sexism exists. It makes our lives harder. You're lucky if you haven't experienced it overtly, but sadly that experience is far from universal.

This is hot content of this week, so I come here accidentally:) Here're some ideas I'd like to share.

1). I've experienced similar thing when I firstly started Drupal. Leave the gender thing a moment, I was lucky enough to get a job in a company, where colleagues are all friendly and help me learn. This is the real chance to leave the beginner level.

I believe the trick is to work on different Drupal issues continually and when you encounter a problem you can't solve, you can get help from other colleagues. And of course, don't be shy to share your knowledge when other people have problems they can't solve. You can help them too even you are not sure you know the exact answer!

This experience could apply to anyone, I guess. Get a job, as junior developer or something similar, not asking for much pay, but a chance to learn. You don't have to limit it to your local community, while there're remote opportunities out there that you may get such a job.

Maybe you are frightened by all these "senior" job requirements. But I guess applying for those jobs never hurts:)

2). The other way to improve Drupal skills I could think of is to join Drupal core issues. Take part in Drupal core mentoring https://drupal.org/core-office-hours/tasks, work on some Drupal core issues, and get help from Drupal community stars! Drupal community is very open, as long as you are brave enough and work hard:)

Start from simple drupal core tasks and finally you can work some advance tasks I believe. This is a different experience from working on company's Drupal projects. You get the chance to work with the real Drupal stars, and get to know Drupal core!

3). Get back to the gender thing. I have met/known some great woman Drupal developers in my working place, or Drupal community. While I'm a man, and never go to any real-world Drupal events/camp, I can't tell how you feel. What I could suggest is don't worry too much about other people's opinions when you feel these opinions are not true and disturbing you:)

Sometimes, I may feel other people are not counting me much, or kind of despise my skill. I simply ignore them, and don't think much of them in return. The truth is I can't make everyone around me happy, and gain respect from all of them. What I could do is to work hard and let my work speak.

Good luck!