Skills needed to get a job as a Drupal site builder / developer

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dang42's picture

I've determined I'm not going to make enough money quickly enough as a solo site builder / developer to be able to get by, so I need to find actual, regular employment. Ideally this would be doing something working with Drupal, or at least using a similar skill set.

However, I do not have a background in computer science, programming, etc. I've built a number of Drupal sites (no custom module work) over the past few years, I worked as a System Administrator from 2000-2002 and I've used some flavor of Linux as my desktop environment since then. My undergrad degree is in History...

So my question is, what skills should I be looking to add in order to make myself attractive to potential employers in the Drupal world? I'm guessing a good understanding of, and the ability to use php & mysql would be a place to start, as well as experience creating custom modules in Drupal. What else?

Also, my current ability to use & manipulate php/mysql is rudimentary at best. Any suggestions for how to most effectively & efficiently build up my understanding of and ability to use both?

I've done some looking (i.e. Googling) re: classes on php/mysql and there are a whole bunch. Any way to narrow down those choices would be greatly appreciated.

Finally, primarily because it would be easy to register for, affordable, and the registration deadline if fast approaching, do any of you have any experience with or opinions on the Basic and Intermediate PHP/MySQL classes offered online by Century College?

Thank you very much for any / all help that might be provided...!

Dan

Comments

Hey, Dan-- Kudos to you for

sparklingrobots's picture

Hey, Dan--

Kudos to you for looking to build your skill set. I was an anthro major with no CS background when I started in the Drupal world, and now I work full-time in Drupal --so your story sounds very familiar.

It sounds like you are more focused on the Drupal back-end, but other skills you could consider are: theming, SASS, and, of course, being very, very familiar with important modules like Views and Panels. Some shops will start people in theming and then move them to the backend as their skills grow.

I'm hosting a session at Camp this week for freelancers and freelancer-hopefuls: http://2014.tcdrupal.org/session/byob-being-your-own-boss-drupal-style It will likely be helpful to you, even if you are looking at full-time employment for the time being.

Best of luck,
Tara

BYOB camp session

dang42's picture

Tara-

Thanks for the encouragement... :)

I hadn't looked at the camp schedule yet, but I checked out the description and that is exactly what I need right now - I'll introduce myself just so you can put a name with a face, and I look forward to a great session!

Dan

Sounds good! I look forward

sparklingrobots's picture

Sounds good! I look forward to meeting you.