How to get a web development gig when my ASP.NET experience is a year and a half old?

Question

How to get a web development gig when for the past year and a half have been working on C# libraries and user control. I have lost a bit of touch with ASP.Net 2.0 and have been familair with the older version of ASP.NET.

Employers see this lack of web development in the past year as a big red 'NO' sign. I have been writing assemblies for other aspects of the web world, just not being hands on in the web world.

I am open to learn other languages, to make me sellable, yes a very cheap word. I am at present dabbling my hands on ruby.

Guess after 10 years I am looking to jump start my passion for coding.

Answer 1

Actually, now is a good time... MVC (for ASP.NET) is just around the corner; swot up on MVC (i.e. really get to grips with it) and you'll have a valuable skill. There is a lot of opinion that MVC will make a genuine change to how we code web pages, but it is a completely different approach to design. So not being 100% on web-forms is irrelevant.

Ideally, try to really know it - not just enough to bluff it... you might need to spend a few long evenings looking at it, but it should be worth it.

Also make sure you are familiar with the unit testing benefits (and how to do it) of MVC...

Answer 2

How about finding some open source or charity work in ASP.NET or Rails that you can use to brush up your skills? Find a local small business and offer to help develop a web site for them (really cheap) for the same reason. I personally wouldn't be scared off by not doing web development for the last year, if you had done it previously. Maybe you're just not looking in the right places or haven't looked long enough.

Answer 3

Given your past experience you might want to focus on ViewState and client-side interaction, as much has changed in that arena. Also take a look at jQuery, as MS is incorporating this into the development stack. Again, client-side focus.

Rick Strahl's blog would be a good place to get a jump start on JSON, .Net, and jQuery.

If you have good programming skill on the back end I don't think you'll have issues - the challenges should be fun. Good luck.

EDIT:

Here is a podcast with Rick and others who work with ASP.net and jQuery. Enjoy.

Answer 4

Face the truth: If you're looking for contracts you're screwed. NO ONE will hire you for an ASP.NET gig if you say you have no experience in 2.0.

If you have at least SOME experience and you study up you might be able to talk your way in. Another good way to get back in the loop is working on some project on your own (or open source projects with others etc,) so that you have something to sell (yes ... ) on your CV.

BUT, if you're looking for a perm position it shouldn't be so hard. If you have previous experience in something "similar" you should be able to easily work your way in with a reasonable rate and some sweet talking. This way you can get the experience you want and after that you're free to look for contracts.