[Web4lib] Seeking Advice: Switching Career Paths

[Carol Bean]

On Aug 30, 2007, at 10:18 AM, Rachel Davis wrote:

> "David Kemper" <siansleep at gmail.com> writes:
>> Your input and advice would be much appreciated. Feel free to  
>> email me
>> off the list at siansleep at gmail.com
>
> Please reply on the list, please!  I'm in the same boat!
>
> Rachel
>
> Rachel Q. Davis
> Children's Librarian
> Thomas Memorial Library
> 6 Scott Dyer Road
> Cape Elizabeth, ME  04107
> 207-799-1720

FWIW, my reply to David's post:

Have you tried "just doing it," as in have something akin to a  
portfolio to show prospective employers?  I would suggest, rather  
than investing in more courses (unless you need them to do the next  
steps), purchase space on a webserver (or webhost), set up a site for  
something you like or are interested in (archiving issues?) using a  
CMS (content management system), and start filling it with content.   
You might want to play around with the site before taking it "live"  
to show others.  You might even want to consider two sites - one as a  
playground, the other live.  Some webhosts will give you an option  
for more than one site in their plan.  Different webhosts have  
different CMS's available (like Mambo, Joomla, or Plone), but I don't  
think any particular one is more useful/important than another:  just  
being able to use a CMS is important.

Another aspect of gaining real experience to show others is being  
able to use some of the scripting languages, such as python, perl,  
ruby, to interact with a database backend such as MySQL.  If the  
webhost has ruby for rails on their platform, consider setting up a  
site with rails.  Don't get sidetracked into this, however.  The most  
important thing is to just do it:  produce something that  
demonstrates your knowledge and abilities (which, in the case of web  
design/management can include content as well as  design).

Carol Bean
beanworks at gmail.com