<rant> Before doing anything too drastic I would recommend doing a web development project or two as side projects. If you find the work more interesting and even better, if you find a passion in doing web dev, then great! There are lots of opportunities to teach yourself and to do all kinds of interesting work as a web developer. That being said, if it turns out to not be your cup of tea and you realize that you have more fun/passion for networking, maybe look for ways to step up your game and move up within that world.
You might have noticed a bit of a theme happening here: above all else figure out what you want to do and are happy doing. From there figure out the details of how to get paid to do it. There are a few reasons I suggest this. First, life is way too short to spend 40+ hours a week doing something you don't like or care about. Additionally, the job trends in the development world are pretty similar to networking (if somewhat delayed). For the most skilled and passionate developers, there will be well paying jobs for a long while. At the opposite end of the spectrum there are fewer "pay the bills" programming jobs each year. Just like in networking, tools are getting better so non-developers can get more done without needing a developer and developers can be more productive than they could before. Accordingly if you're not careful you can end up in a situation similar to what you are in today. </rant> Now that that's out of the way here are a few resources you might want to check out with web dev: http://www.udemy.com/ http://codelesson.com/ https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.3/intro/tutorial01/ http://peepcode.com/screencasts http://ruby.railstutorial.org/ruby-on-rails-tutorial-book?version=3.2 Additionally some bits of guidance on learning about web dev: Read the HTTP spec (http://ftp.ics.uci.edu/pub/ietf/http/rfc1945.html) - It's not that long and it gives you a solid background on what is happening between your web browser and the server. Give a framework like Django or Ruby on Rails a try. Even if you decide to go back to PHP/MySQL it will give you additional perspective which helps you understand what's going on. If you do decide pursue this as a career path, there will often be more/better paying opportunities available is you know how to work with languages/frameworks beyond vanilla LAMP. If you need help beyond the tutorials check out the IRC channels and local user groups. As long as you ask nicely and be polite, there are lots of people who are happy to help new users. Remember that web dev is just a specialized form of programming. Accordingly there's a ton of value in learning the languages that these frameworks are built on top of better. For Python Learn Python The Hard Way (http://learnpythonthehardway.org/) is a great guide and I've heard good things about the Pragmatic Programmers Guide for Ruby (http://pragprog.com/book/ruby3/programming-ruby-1-9). Don't mess around too much trying to get hosting setup and just use Heroku to start (http://www.heroku.com/). Their platform is super easy to use, has solid documentation, and is free for the level of use that you'll need. Do some tutorials lessons (e.g. build a simple blog) and then try a personal project or two. Try to find an itch to scratch for your projects. I personally find that I am much more likely to finish a project that address a problem that I need to deal with regularly. Good luck with your exploration and remember: find something you love doing, then worry about figuring out how to get paid for it! -- Sean O'Connor http://www.seanoc.com On Monday, March 12, 2012 at 8:23 PM, david battaglia wrote: > Hey all, > > I wondering if its a wise move for me to focus on web development and start > to move away from networking which is where I currently work ( in net ops). I > don't have that much experience a little php/mysql, some javascript html/css > but other than that, that's about it. > > I feel as though my career path has become stagnate and I am beginning to > think its time to get into something that's more in demand as networks > become smarter and there are only so many network positions that companies > have opened as compared to web dev's where there seems almost double the > amount of openings. > > What are some of your views? > > Thanks > _______________________________________________ > Mid-Hudson Valley Linux Users Group http://mhvlug.org > http://mhvlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mhvlug > > Upcoming Meetings (6pm - 8pm) Vassar College > Apr 4 - An Intro to Chef > May 2 - Git > Jun 6 - June 2012 Meeting > >
_______________________________________________ Mid-Hudson Valley Linux Users Group http://mhvlug.org http://mhvlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mhvlug Upcoming Meetings (6pm - 8pm) Vassar College Apr 4 - An Intro to Chef May 2 - Git Jun 6 - June 2012 Meeting
