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I'm a computer science major and I'm looking into learning/programming/installing Joomla sites, templates, and extensions. I have a few questions for anyone who has experience with freelance programming for Joomla.

How much demand is there for installing sites and designing custom templates and extensions?
How much do people usually pay for your services vs. difficulty and time? Is it lucrative?
What types of sites do people usually pay to get going, alter, or maintain?
How did you learn to use Jooma? What are some good resources for a beginner?
Would it be advantageous to learn SQL, XML, PHP or any other languages?
How long did it take you before you started making money? What's the learning curve?
Have any other advice?

I'd really appreciate any and all feedback. I'm hoping this will be helpful for anyone looking into programming for Joomla.

~ Ian

iandigges wrote:I'm a computer science major and I'm looking into learning/programming/installing Joomla sites, templates, and extensions. I have a few questions for anyone who has experience with freelance programming for Joomla.

How much demand is there for installing sites and designing custom templates and extensions?
How much do people usually pay for your services vs. difficulty and time? Is it lucrative?
What types of sites do people usually pay to get going, alter, or maintain?
How did you learn to use Jooma? What are some good resources for a beginner?
Would it be advantageous to learn SQL, XML, PHP or any other languages?
How long did it take you before you started making money? What's the learning curve?
Have any other advice?

I'd really appreciate any and all feedback. I'm hoping this will be helpful for anyone looking into programming for Joomla.

~ Ian

I've been programming for about 26 years and for the Internet about 10 years so I have some experience in this area. You're asking all the right questions. In the end it comes down to how strong the market is. I'm also a marketing practicioner and one of the keys I've learned is be a specialist in a niche market. AKA be a big fish in a small pond.

I could talk for days on target marketing so if you want to talk more IM me.

In summation people pay for results and benefits, not how much you think you should make. e.g. If someone thinks they have a million dollar idea it's quite easy to justify spending $5K to get to the $1M, does that make sense?

If you're going to be a consultant, contractor or business owner there's some steps you can take to make it easier and your post is a great start.

I highly recommend you study direct marketing. You'll save yourself a decade or more in learning. A good marketing plan and acceptable skills beats expert skills and no marketing any day.

I realize I didn't answer all your questions but you're asking questions that would take a lot of time explaining and you'll get different opinions. My main point is learn marketing, specifically how to target a market. You'll be so happy you did. If you want more explanation let me know and I'll go more in-depth because I think about this stuff 24/7. I wish you the best.

iandigges wrote:

I'm a computer science major and I'm looking into learning/programming/installing Joomla sites, templates, and extensions. I have a few questions for anyone who has experience with freelance programming for Joomla.

How much demand is there for installing sites and designing custom templates and extensions?
How much do people usually pay for your services vs. difficulty and time? Is it lucrative?
What types of sites do people usually pay to get going, alter, or maintain?
How did you learn to use Jooma? What are some good resources for a beginner?
Would it be advantageous to learn SQL, XML, PHP or any other languages?
How long did it take you before you started making money? What's the learning curve?
Have any other advice?

I'd really appreciate any and all feedback. I'm hoping this will be helpful for anyone looking into programming for Joomla.

~ Ian

The answer to your questions is 'yes' 

Joomla! as a system is pretty easy to pick up. If you know of a non-profit or a friend who needs a website, that would be a good way of trying it out.

Also, I found that just following the journey of a request through Joomla! was helpful in understanding how it works. All requests go through index.php, start there and make notes.

Kawika is bang on about marketing. A big part of that is how you communicate with your clients. See if your school has a Business Communication or Business Writing course. I took one and it ended up being immediately useful when I started work. Worth an entire year of tuition, IMO.

There's also a huge list of blogs of people who write about coders in business. Joel on Software, Signal vs. Noise, etc... they're worth reading.