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General Discussion

Justin Whedon
Justin Whedon
19,811 Points

Transitioning from designer to developer in the job market?

So, I love Treehouse and have been using it since 2014... recently got back on and have been learning & brushing up on my development chops... mainly focusing on Ruby, Python, and JavaScript. I'm already massively adept at HTML/CSS and have been mainly a web designer/graphic designer for over 20 years.

My question is that now that I want to move into the DEVELOPER market, where do I start? I have very little 'hands-on' experience with development besides HTML/CSS/JavaScript and minor PHP that I needed to learn to work deeper in WordPress.

I'm 45 years old and I feel that a lot of companies will not take me seriously if I'm trying to get a Junior developer position or something like that. Every time I've been put into a role I hadn't been in before or had to learn a new technology I knock it out of the park and am extremely fast at learning new positions. But how do I convince an employer?

I'd love anyone and everyone's ideas, tips, encouragement, anecdotes, etc. :)

Thanks in advance,

~ Justin