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Business

Chris Andruszko
Chris Andruszko
18,392 Points

Getting out of the warehouse...

I've been a member of Treehouse for a few months now, and it's one of the best investments I've ever made. My goal is to eventually try my hand at starting a business (I'm especially interested in accelerating small and independent businesses). That, of course, is quite a learning curve requiring lots of experience, knowledge, and money. So in the mean time I work at a warehouse to pay the bills. I'd like to have valuable work experiences through the next few years which may lead to useful knowledge when starting my own company someday. And quite honestly, I'm thoroughly exhausted from working in the warehouse (my blood pressure is high enough).

I'm looking for advice on how to change careers. I'd like to get into web design, but I've still got a lot to learn until I feel confident in applying for that sort of position. Until then, I'd like to have a desk job (or even remote job) where I can use the skills I have now. Currently, I feel comfortably proficient in a lot of Office applications (word, excel, powerpoint). I'm quite handy with Flash and Photoshop and adequate with a lot of Adobe software. I'm decent with HTML and CSS and I'm getting a good understanding of Quickbooks.

What positions should I be looking for right now? What software/skills should I be gaining? I don't have any university degrees or official certifications, so how can I prove to my potential employer that I can actually do what I say I can? And actually, just general advice about this decision is appreciated.

Thanks for any help!

1 Answer

Max Senden
Max Senden
23,177 Points

You have to show your employer what you can do. Certificates and degrees get you some praise but the thing anybody is really interested in is a professional portfolio. Somehow, you need to invest time, money and effort into this to realize it. Maybe you can create some projects for yourself, or fictional companies? But you need to be able to show projects.

To make a long story short: If you really want it, you need to work for it. Work during the night on your portfolio, find another job that's less demanding than the warehouse, do some online freelancing or try to find another solution.

If you're really interested in accelerating small and independent businesses you should learn javascript. It will make it so much easier to find a (freelance) job somewhere.