Advise on how to move from a .net developer role to a web developer role
- by dermd
I've been working primarily as a .net developer for the past 4 years for a financial services company. I've worked on .net 1.1, 2.0, 3.5 and have done the 3.5 enterprise app developer cert (not that that's worth a whole lot!). Before that I worked as a java developer with a bit of Flex thrown in for just over a year. My educational background is an Electronic and computer engineering degree, a higher diploma in systems analysis as well as one in web development (this was mainly java - JSP, Spring, etc) and a science masters in software design and development.
I really feel like a change and would like to move to a different field to experience something different. I've done some courses in RoR and played around with it a bit in my spare time. Similarly I've done various web and mobile courses and done up some mobile webapps along with android and ios equivalents (haven't tried pushing them up to the app stores yet but may be worth tidying them up and doing that). I currently work long enough hours so find it hard to find time to work on too many side projects to get a decent portfolio together. But when I do work on the web stuff I do find it really enjoyable so think it's something I'd like to do full time. However, since my experience is pretty much all .net and financial services I find it very hard to get my foot in the door anywhere or get past a phone screen unless their specifically looking for someone with .net knowledge.
What is the best way to move into a web development role without starting from scratch again. I do think a lot of the skills I have translate over but I seem to just get paired with .net jobs whenever I look around? Apart from js, jquery, html5, objective C are there any other technologies I should be looking into?
