Bedrich Aquino ⋅ Ann Arbor, MI Fictive Kin ⋅ 10 years experience

Hi Matthew,

I would suggest you create a Github https://github.com/ account and contribute to or develop your own Rails' projects. This will not only help you get some "real-world" experience, but also build a resume of sorts for potential employers.

Best of luck.

P.S. Trending Ruby repositories https://github.com/trending?l=ruby.

Matthew Day ⋅ Woodside, NY U.S. Marine Corps, Sergeant ⋅ 4 years served

Hello Mr. Cal, Mr. Finkler, and Mr. Rios:

Thank you very much for taking the time and providing me with very thoughtful suggestions. I took your advice into consideration and ended up buying and creating a basic website as a first step towards my journey to becoming a professional web developer: http://unlimitedday.com . I plan on incorporating a blog that I have built into my site and there are some business ideas I have in mind which are still in the "idea" stages.... I am now halfway into my Ruby on Rails intensive and I ended up taking a night class in Angular JS in the hopes of becoming more marketable. With my limited time I just wanted to make sure that I am on the right course. I graduated with a degree in Finance and Economics in 2010 and was never able to ever utilize it. I just don't want to be in the same situation upon completion of this program as well......

Tom Cal, CFA ⋅ San Francisco, CA Army Veteran, Investment Manager ⋅ 25 years experience

Matthew Day,
* Follow the excellent advice above re: GitHub.

* Consider if you wan to start a firm now. If not now, when? You can enroll in courses now, earn BAH for E5 with dependents, conduct business analysis and write a business plan, and take advantage of Veterans entrepreneurship programs and bootcmaps, etc.

* If you want to further explore the startup route, start a new discussion and share your ideas and questions. (Also try score.org, and various Veterans and training opportunities. e.g. IVMF, etc.)

* You can be your first client. Develop a business plan, and then create and implement a comprehensive marketing and sales strategy, including online and offline initiatives.

Come back and post a link to your "strategy" - GitHub, company portfolio, company web-site, company LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. pages, Pinterest, Twitter, DemandForce, Android and iOS apps, etc ....

Edward Finkler ⋅ West Lafayette, IN Fictive Kin ⋅ 15 years experience

I second Bedrich's suggestion of creating a Github account and showing your work. My experience in both hiring and getting hired is that a GH account is one of the things potential employers want to see, to get a feel for your skills and your passion for the work.

In addition to Bedrich's suggestions, if you can think of a personal project to build in Rails, definitely do it, and have the code available on Github. Also, helping out local non-profits is a good way to build your portfolio.

Matthew Day ⋅ Woodside, NY U.S. Marine Corps, Sergeant ⋅ 4 years served

Hello Mr. Cal,

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my question. I am in the process of creating an online portfolio to show case current and previous work. I never thought of myself as a business entity and I whole heartedly agree with your value added approach. Thank you very much for all of the above links and I hope to be more informed as well as have a viable product for my brand by the end of the week!

Tom Cal, CFA ⋅ San Francisco, CA Army Veteran, Investment Manager ⋅ 25 years experience

* Do you have an online portfolio that showcases your web-development work and projects, and markets and "sells" you and your skills as a web-designer?

* Can you expand your portfolio by building a few web sites for free or at a very low cost, perhaps for a non-profit or a business with which you identify?

also see:
https://www.google.com/search?q=web+developer+portfolio#!

http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?856822-How-to-get-a-job-in-web-development-with-no-experience#!

* What do you think about freelancing or starting you own firm?

* How can you differentiate your services from others?

- Understand the underlying business problems you are helping to solve, rather than merely "building a web-site".

- Offer a broad range of services, some of which may include business analysis, mind-mapping, and including user-interface and user-experience, flow-charts, wireframes, mock-ups, web-design and implementation, app design and implementation (Android, iOS) databases, follow-on adjustments, etc.

see:
https://www.google.com/search?q=web+development+and+"business+analysis"#!

https://www.google.com/search?q=web+development+and+mindmapping#!
etc.