
Best approach for self-taught developer looking for job? - stc
I have a degree in social sciences and after several years of unfullfilling employment at various jobs I started learning some programming and found I really enjoyed it. I taught myself some basic python and django and have been getting some freelance work to pay the bills however I would much rather get a full time programmer job. I have been applying but have not been having any success. I have a github account and developed a site however I do not seem to be gaining any traction. What technologies/skillset should I focus on to get an entry level job? What is the best way to demonstrate proficiency in a technology? Any help would be much appreciated.
======
grayrest
Pulled up your github account. Aside from you accidentally adding your home
directory, you're making good progress. If you're looking to get a job
quickly, I'd encourage you to focus on one area and I think your shortest path
is the front end technologies. Pretty much every firm I know of in NYC is
hiring front end developers and the main limitation is finding people who
actually know javascript.

If you know (not just read, know):

<http://bonsaiden.github.com/JavaScript-Garden/>

<http://eloquentjavascript.net/>

And you can demonstrate it by sticking something on github (fix a ticket on
stylus/express/some other node.js project, write a jquery plugin, help out
with the django admin) then go to some meetups in SF and talk to people who
say "we're hiring frontend developers" which is pretty much everybody. Being
able to design entire applications isn't generally required since what people
are usually looking for is someone they can say "go make this new dialog" and
you go do it using their established design patterns. It is crucially
important, however, that you can demonstrate knowledge since I have yet to
meet a developer who doesn't "know" javascript.

If you do this and want to work in NYC, shoot me an email. I'll at least give
you feedback and probably give you a referral for contract to hire. Nobody
cares about your education/work background as long as you can get the job
done.

This assumes, of course, that you actually like front end development since
quite a few people don't.

~~~
areyouhuman11
I'd be interested in shooting you an email (similar situation).

~~~
grayrest
Feel free to get in contact. I'm not too busy to help people out.

~~~
stc
The Eloquent Javascript book is excellent, thanks for the heads up. Definitely
helping to expand my mind as I work through it. For anyone else here trying to
learn I have also been using it conjunction with this tutorial here
<http://ejohn.org/apps/learn/> that has lots of interactive examples but not
so much on explanations.

------
AlexMcP
I was in the same boat. I graduated from a liberal arts college with a degree
that no one has ever asked about. After lots of non-profit work after school I
was tasked with 'updating the website' one day. Cut to 3 years and $100+ in
library fines later and I've been the lead developer on Fortune 50 websites
and now work for for a 'rent a Rails shop' company. Here's the advice:

Learn how to interview well. Knowing what github is, having actually launched
a site, and wrangling some freelance work together puts you ahead of 90% of
the people I worked with at my Big Co. job, you just need to be able to prove
it and convince people of it. The competition for most positions consists of
bored CS grads from Java schools who never learned how to use version control
and for whom programming is just a job. You have passion it appears, and that
can't be overrated.

I was willing to be aggressive with my first interview, noting that I would be
able to accept a lower-than-market rate if they would do a salary review
shortly after I started. Not everyone is in the position to do so, but I took
a 'whatever it takes' attitude to get started, with the confidence in myself
that once people saw how effective I could be, things would get better.
Programming is as close to a meritocratic profession as exists, so get in a
position to prove yourself.

~~~
stc
Thanks for the reply, always nice to hear about liberal arts majors that have
walked the road ahead of me. I think I need to improve on the confidence as I
feel less sure of myself now than I did six months ago, something of a more
you learn less you know scenario. I do have a ton of confidence in my
abilities to get a job done however so maybe I should tap that part of my
psyche during interviews.

~~~
jchrisa
I was a Philosophy major (yay Lewis, Kripke and Quine) and didn't really get
into programming until I wanted to build websites for my friends. Back then we
didn't have jQuery, so I learned PHP.

But I agree with this thread -- keep pushing on JavaScript. CouchApps are a
great way to learn front end while having the back end more or less taken care
of for you, but most apps are gonna require an extra degree of freedom on the
back end. You'll find that your JS skills travel well, especially now that
node.js is viable.

If you haven't read this article yet, read it an grok it:
<http://javascript.crockford.com/remedial.html>

If you know this stuff cold, then the only thing standing between you and a
well paying developer gig is personal networking and a bigger open-source
portfolio. Go to node.js and Couch meetups, they are vibrant welcoming
communities that value beginning coders as much as veterans.

------
andrew_k
Assuming that this project on GitHub is yours
<https://github.com/cirsteve/courseslate> and you show it to potential
employers, I would recommend you to learn pip/virtualenv, read about django
best practices, (<http://lincolnloop.com/django-best-practices/>) Also I would
recommend to cleanup your repository from files that are not completely
necessary (varios .tar.gz files, .ssh folder, .bash_history, etc.) Those
things give you away as a beginner.

~~~
stc
Thanks Andrew, virtualenv is next on my list as my system is starting to get
mucked up with different packages and you are absolutely right that I need to
clean everything up. Thanks for the input.

------
llimllib
Go to conferences and meet people! Make a network in your city/closest metro
area and use it.

Having a github is a great start, that's one thing I want to see before I
bring you in for an interview. andrew_k has good advice as well.

------
devs1010
You'll probably need to start with a small company, bigger companies usually
aren't willing to give someone their first "big break". I started out just
doing my own projects and then did some work for relatives, etc, then, finally
I was able to find someone who was willing to hire me a few hours a week to do
remote development. From there I just kept incrementally jumping to the next
better opportunity I could find. Its not necessarily the smoothest path but
you can progress quickly if you keep pushing yourself. Basically, don't think
of anything as being beneath you as long as its related to development, take
the first job you can find with a company that will even give you half-time to
where you can go into an office each day and work. A lot of companies are
weary of letting people "short on years" work on development so its an uphill
battle, but even working in a QA position could lead to a solid developer job
as you usually can expose yourself to the application's code (some QA guys do
and want to become developers, some don't). If you're a QA guy who reads code
and finds bugs then... to the next job you apply to you can say you were a
junior developer, and so on

------
mark_story
I come from a similar situation. I graduated with a degree in commercial art
and illustration. After slinging coffee for a year, and trying to get
freelance work started unsuccessfully, I threw in the towel.

I went into programming, as it was a good fit for me. Since I too had no
formal experience, I got involved with open source as a way to gain experience
and learn from people who were more experienced and knowledgable. Getting
involved in open source, was probably the single best move for my career that
I ever made. It opened opportunities I would have probably never had, allowed
me to talk to really brilliant people, and gave me visible experience that has
helped me land all of my employment. I highly recommend contributing to an
open source project as a way to get experience and exposure.

~~~
stc
Thats a great idea. I am a big believer in/user of open source technologies
and would love to contribute.

------
thegorgon
I'm a self taught developer as well.

I started with the front end because I had a decent design sense and attention
to detail. If you can care about pixel perfection, I think it's a good route.
JavaScript, HTML, and CSS aren't the most difficult technologies to start
with, and you get a little more leeway to make mistakes or write sloppy code
in the beginning, learning as you go.

It's a good time to be doing this. There is need for developers enough that if
you can prove that you're smart, a mid-sized or smaller startup may take a
risk with you.

Try putting up a personal website. Set up your own server if you can, write
your own code, and get something up showing what you can do.

At this point, do whatever you can to show that you've taught yourself a
decent amount. You want to prove that you can learn, not so much that you're
already a pro.

------
TheRevoltingX
Well, I've been working as a full time dev for 3 years now and never went to
college.

What I did was start low as a jr. system admin for linux systems. I'm not very
social so I never made 'connections' so I hade to improve my skills. So from
jr I went to sr, and within a couple of years got my first job as a jr. dev
for a small company.

It's at these kinds of jobs that you will learn the essentials:

MVC Databases HTML/CSS/Javascript Message Queues

From here, it's up to you to keep improving your skills and building projects.
Managers don't like github profiles, so I highly recommend you have your own
app (not just a website.)

From there you can move on to things like: Mobile Apps Function Languages
Socket Servers Low Latency Systems

Of course, always make sure you study and learn the basics. Such as basic
sorting algorithms, working with bits/bytes, etc.

And so on.

------
phektus
Try <http://www.djangogigs.com>, I get contacted frequently through that site.
Also you may want to post you resume online, like <http://www.cvstash.com>.

The best way to demonstrate your python and django expertise is to create a
web app using that stack. Find some cheap hosting and you're set. Who knows,
your app might even be a hit and you can skip the job seeking routine
altogether.

------
FuzzyDunlop
Another self taught developer here who found work just after I started to take
it really seriously and let my ambition take hold.

You say you have been getting freelance work. Put all that on your CV if you
haven't already. And work on building a _proper_ online portfolio using your
current skillset. The benefits of doing this are thus:

1\. Professionalism. You're a bona-fide freelancer ostensibly running a
business under your own name. Taking advantage of this shows you _mean_
business.

2\. Publicity. Potential employers can find your website (after pimping it out
everywhere and making it known wherever you can) and have all the information
they need to consider you as a candidate right there. It also helps for
contracts until you find full-time employment.

Speaking of your site/portfolio, it's _dreadful_. Setting a proper site up for
yourself and identifying what makes a good portfolio would be a good thing to
do.

Finally, and being totally honest, the last thing I would do when looking to
hire a developer is trawl through a potential candidate's github account,
finding out what sort of contributions were made to the JS flavours of the
month. I'm not interested in seeing code samples right off the bat, I'm more
interested in seeing how you sell yourself - how your website and portfolio
and demonstrable skills* paint a picture of the sort of person you are - and
how enthusiastic you are about getting a job.

I'm interested in you, the person, and the specifics of your work (eg. the
code samples) and other contributions would come up later in interview.

I don't mean to be overly harsh but your online presence and how you present
yourself/your work are, in my opinion, key to better finding the work you
want.

*demonstrable skills not as in bug fixes on github but as in the work put into your website.

~~~
stc
Thanks for the feedback but perhaps you can give me more insight into what is
dreadful about my site/portfolio. When you say site/portfolio, which are you
referring to? Is it the design, usability you find dreadful or did it crash on
you? Developing a web application requires many different skills and this is
where I am trying to get some feedback on. I appreciate your feedback that it
is dreadful but perhaps a bit more insight into what would make it less
dreadful beyond improve it.

------
jeromegn
Don't focus on the end goal, focus on the journey. I'm a self-taught web
developer (used to be a self-taught designer) and I learned my way through
development by simply building stuff. I've had stable jobs for over 5 years
now.

Once you've built some useful projects (I built Backbone Todos amongst other
things), people are going to find you through them and contact you with
opportunities all the time.

You've already started putting your work out there on Github, now you just
need to market yourself a little better. a Github account isn't enough. Blog
about your experience, build a Twitter following and other promotion
techniques.

Maybe extract some smaller bits out of your bigger projects. Those are usually
more useful and get more popular quickly. Abstract some of that application-
specific code and release it. It's both an exercise in programming and
marketing.

------
SeoxyS
Why don't you come interview, we're hiring smart motivated people in San
Francisco. <http://chartboost.com/jobs>

As far as general advice, I'd say if your skills are not good enough to get
you a full developer's job right now, try to get hired as an intern, or as a
community manager or something that doesn't require coding, at a startup. Suck
up the bitch work for a while, try to automate a lot of your work using
scripts, learn as you go and make it clear your end goal is to move to
development—if you're smart, you'll be promoted in no time. I have some
friends who've come in knowing nothing about development, and been promoted to
junior developer within 6 months.

~~~
stc
That is definitely the type of role and organization I would like to join. I
am in NY right but will be back in the bay area soon and would be interested
in an interview. I am certainly open to an internship, do you know if
internship opportunities are paid?

~~~
SeoxyS
Yeah, internships are definitely paid. Shoot me an email,
kenneth@chartboost.com

------
teamgrep
Awesome! I think you're on the right track.

I'm a big believer in public portfolios. When I've been on the hiring side of
things that's the first place I look. Now it's just a question of improving
the both the quality and quantity of projects you're showing off.

How about getting a mentor to review your project(s)? You're not in an
organization yet, but you can pretend you are--request a code review from a
programmer you look up to.

Teaching others has helped me learn myself in the past. You didn't mention
activity on stack overflow--answering questions there can improve your skills
and visibility since SO is integrated with SO Careers as well.

Great luck to you!

------
angelbob
The github account is nice, but it requires effort to explore, and you're
trying for an entry-level position. You may need a better presentation of your
skills.

That probably means an online portfolio with tools, summaries and screenshots.
It's not hard to put one together, but here's a really simple "step-by-step"
one that you can push to Heroku within about 15 minutes:
<https://github.com/noahgibbs/bobfolio>

ETA: My own portfolio is here, for comparison: <http://angelbob.com/portfolio>

------
zeratul
I was in similar situation. I've learned most things on the job but it's good
to know some basics about hardware, operating systems, and the network.

You might work as a programmer and do only that but software development is
much more than just programming. There are framework, libraries, and
architectures. Not just fancy words but ways to do more in less time. And of
course: testing, debugging, and rewriting. The last three make good programmer
great.

I come for humanities and I can say that programming is not much different
than writing a book: read a lot and write a lot ... I think Stephen King said
that.

------
cypherpunks01
Help us build the Permabank project for #occupywallstreet!
<https://github.com/FLOSolutions/permabank>

It's a Django gifting platform that will be pretty well-trafficked once we
launch it in a couple weeks, that we hope to turn into a full-blown
alternative economy platform one day soon. We could use dev help and have lots
of people down here who could offer pointers for dev job opportunities to good
coders. We're on irc.freenode.net #nycga-iwg. Best of luck!

------
algorithms
Same here. I'm really trying hard to get into freelancing but since I'm not
really good in networking I haven't come around to get a decent project yet.
My current plan is building a strong online portfolio, which is hard to do
without find any gigs.

If anyone is looking for a jr. front-end Dev., Wordpress Dev. or beginning
Rails Dev. drop me a line. I'd appreciate it :) Languages: JS, Python, Ruby,
PHP

------
nickpyett
Learning front end languages is essential as an employer wants to know that
you can get a site live when the ____hits the fan. If you can't slice up a PSD
and build a basic site there MIGHT come a point when you're useless to them.

I'm self-taught and found learning HTML, CSS, JS and a bit of PHP and MySQL
was more than enough to get a job in the UK.

Build some sites, get some experience.

------
SeanNieuwoudt
In a previous experience, I found that companies hired me without even
glancing at my CV or portfolio after I started my development company.

There was some level of pre-created trust purely because I had a business
operating in the field.

It's not hard to put a nice looking website together, choose a business name
and start operating on the side.

It might make it easier for you too.

Goodluck!

------
jfeldstein2
Use the same approach that works well for classically trained engineers:

Make something good, keep learning. Then show you are doing both of these.

Hired.

------
dzderic
I'm in the same boat as the OP except I'm just about to finish high school
with 2 years of part-time experience in a web dev shop.

The main problem I'm having is not even being able to land an interview. Where
should I look for a dev job in Australia?

~~~
chubs
Meetups: eg roro, cocoaheads, sydjs, etc...

------
andrewljohnson
Make an iPhone app, make some money, and never get a job.

I would recommend you either make a Bible app, or a Menstruation Calendar app.
Those would both not require any server-side programming, and they are proven
ways to make money.

~~~
chc
I see so many people suggesting this, and I just don't get it. A very small
percentage of iPhone apps even get into the high four-figures. That's not even
quit-your-side-job money, much less quit-your-day-job.

~~~
andrewljohnson
Most people don't try and build apps that they know will suit an audience, and
most people don't try for long enough (as with anything).

I believe that anyone who works on an iPhone app in their spare time for a
year, and who picks a known winner category (GPS tracking, bible app, free
book downloader, offline city maps, etc.) can make a living.

Remember - most people who try at everything fail. Right now, the mobile
market is red-hot, and it's a good way to make a living. It's got to be the
easiest way to sell software and make money, with a much higher success rate
than making a website or a Facebook app.

Moreover, you can command ridiculous rates as a contractor right now for iOS
expertise - much better than for JavaScript programming on average.

~~~
chc
I don't mean to be argumentative, but I still think you're making it sound a
lot easier than it is. For example, I know more about iPhone dev than most
people who aren't full-time iPhone devs, but I have no idea what is a "known
winner" category or even how I'd go about guessing. AFAIK, Apple doesn't
release the kind of numbers I'd need to figure out what categories are
profitable. With a web app, we can use analytics, keyword tools, A/B testing,
etc.

This feeling — that releasing for the iPhone is a crapshoot and that anything
I release would probably be crowded out by the absolute flood of junk in the
App Store — is why I've never bothered with the iPhone, despite having done
Cocoa development since the early days of OS X.

------
jph
I'm hiring developers for handl.it and I look for a concise summary of your
objectives and skills.

Feel free to send me a message with this info and I'm happy to give you
feedback. Good luck to you!

------
synnik
Get a helpdesk job at a company with an internal helpdesk. (NOT a call
center). Those jobs truly are entry level, and will hire people without
experience. Once you are there, start building tools on the side to help your
department. If you do well, they'll see the value and give you more
programming work. If not, at least you now can put real IT experience,
including programming on your resume.

Admittedly, this is not an exciting path, nor a fast one. But it is an
effective one.

~~~
mattdeboard
Please, take this advice under no circumstances. This might well be the worst
career advice for programmers I've ever seen.

~~~
synnik
...says the student to the 20 year veteran who lived this path.

If all you care about is startup work, yes this is bad advice. If you want a
solid career in technology, this is a viable path. You don't have to agree,
and I don't expect anyone to like it, but denying its viability is just short-
sighted.

------
codeslush
Where are you geographically located now? From your prior comments, I've seen
NY and SFO.

~~~
stc
Thats where I spend most of my time. NY right now for the holidays.

~~~
codeslush
I'm curious if you've considered work that isn't 100% dev focused, but a
combination of tech/people focused. e.g. systems/sales consultant? Do you like
to travel? Can you talk to people? Do you desire to be deep in dev, or more
surface level?

~~~
stc
Funny you should ask. I come from a sales/marketing background and can talk to
people. I do not need a 100% dev role but also do not really like sales
however something that included consulting and really providing value I could
be interested in.

~~~
codeslush
You can be very technical and still involved in the sales process and add
value! In fact, the combination of people skills and tech skills is very rare
and commands a pretty good salary. If you're totally turned off by the sales
process, you can go into professional services and be much more technically
involved, but still work with people. Professional services requires almost
100% travel, and isn't for everyone. Let me know if you're interested in
either of these and I'll reach out to you.

------
dirtyhand
Contact the people you have interviewed with and ask for their feedback.

------
kgc
Work for $10/hr.

------
t4nkd
Hopefully Im not rehashing a bunch of the information people have already
tried to give you here, but I happen to be a self-educated programmer with
zero college, now going on two years experience, and my third opportunity at
promotion (read: third new job) in that timeframe(never been fired). This
time, it's for a highly successful software engineering company, so I like to
think I'm making the right choices.

Step one is getting grounded, for me, that was understanding the basics of web
development, how web pages work, and how to get them onto the web. Full stack
development even with static sites can be very valuable: know how to bootstrap
a brand new project, add it to version control, set up a production stack(e.g.
Apache/passenger), have a basic workflow set up for yourself, do diverse
things and solve stupid problems you're having for yourself. Got freelance
clients? Give an invoicing app or client portal a go, it won't hurt for people
to see you fix problems and don't dally with newnew technologies for now.

Try to stand out, for me, a lot of developers I meet don't grok photoshop and
basic UI/UX, so I made it a months long focus to be able to design static
mocks and live sites from scratch, and trying to make them as elegant and
experience friendly as possible. Knowing HTML and CSS extremely well also has
helped, for every programmer I meet who is a DOM wizard with JS, they don't
understand modern HTML standards or how to write elegant CSS. I also
understand photoshop as well as most graduates from Ringling(I know, I'm
marrying one) and took serious time to grow my tool set(like using bash and
vim effectively). Make yourself stand out, grok shit engineers aren't
interested in or don't have the desire to fully learn(JavaScript is a fair
example) you'll be thankful for it come interview time.

Finally, be modest. Once you have a professional looking online presence,
you've done all you really can to make a good first impression. The rest is
all desire to make shit work, to do something you've never, ever done before.
Don't act like you can be put in over your head, know that the nights and
weekends for many young people in technology are when you catch up to senoir
peers.

I tend to agree somewhat with the 'get Into the community' observations people
have made, but am employer has never asked me 'which meetups do you enjoy?' or
'what kind of open source things have you contributed?' - they honestly
largely do not care in my experience, it can help you get a strong
recommendation from someone inside the company, but this is unusual so don't
lean on it, look at it as a badge or ribbon to accent your developer coat.

Which leads me to my last point, my best opportunities so far have come from
very strong software engineers who appreciate my attitude, attention, and
willingness to ask Smart questions while trying to explain what I do
understand. They go to bat for me when they have an opening in the company,
and that's huge for me. Something insane like 80% of professionals received a
recommendation from family or a friend to land their position; in fact just a
few weeks ago there was a forrst post from a UK kid who needed a rails job, he
had a so-so online presence, but a bunch of people went to bat for him, saying
that he showed real competience and that someone should really give him a
chance; within the same day as the original post, he was employed( p.s. he had
a compsci degree).

The market is starving for competent developers, I must get 5-10 hits every
month from recruiters for all kinds of positions in San Fran and NY, so
there's hundreds of people looking for new talent. Ask yourself why they
haven't called you for an interview yet, and take example from the people you
admire who are getting those calls.

Addendum: Just for the sake of clarity; these tips aren't necessarily the way
to get into an entrepreneurial company, or one that's particularly very small.
A lot of those opportunities, in my experience, come from open source
visibility. Engine yard really nailed it
here([http://www.engineyard.com/blog/2011/the-number-one-trait-
of-...](http://www.engineyard.com/blog/2011/the-number-one-trait-of-a-great-
developer/)) -- but some companies _want_ a Jack; decide which one fits you
better, though, because it's difficult(impossible?) to be both.

~~~
t4nkd
Just to elaborate after looking for you on Google; I'm assuming this is you:
<http://ropeadopeandwink.com/>

The comments below are pretty accurate, this is kind've a terrible (mostly
design) site. If you're not a retarded strong developer(read: compiler
tweaking or core lib contributions, etc.), this kind of lapse in design and
usability really stands out. Do you know enough about CSS to remove the
underlined text decoration property from an anchor wrapped in H1? Why didn't
you? Lets take a look at a pretty strong vanity domain for a developer (who
needs to update their shit, but that I follow on Tumblr) not seeking
employment: <http://matthewmachuga.com/>

Did you notice some instant difference? Did you notice his site design is a
template from Tumblr? Was it easy to read and scan for information? Check out
<http://www.tumblr.com/spotlight/developers> for some more examples of easy,
but strong, blog examples. Detest the idea of using a service for this kind of
thing? How about <http://zachholman.com/about> \-- pretty strong site,
compared to yours, don't you think? This kind of stuff is /just/ intended to
get you in the door, to show that you're serious and that you're not coding
only for a job, you're coding because you have a passion for the
web/mobile/whatever-device-your-potential-employer-is-producing. Don't over
think it, but don't produce design like <http://ropeadopeandwink.com/steven-
ciraolo/> or <http://courseslate.com/> \-- it's hideous, hard to scan, and
people will have an extraordinarily hard time getting over those facts to try
and give you a chance(especially if they need their developers to wear UX/UI
or design hats from time to time). If you need to use things like Twitter-
Bootstrap, do it, but don't be a capable coder who does not understand shit
about design or user experience; like I said above -- stand out.

~~~
stc
Thanks for the insight. I agree ropeadopeandwink.com is an ugly design I will
go in and clean it up shortly, font sizes especially need help. Comparing it
to the blogs you suggested I honestly do not think my design is that far off
from those but definitely needs improvement.

------
billpatrianakos
I was in the same boat as you for a while. The short answer is, don't look for
a job, make one. In my case I'm in a CIS college program with a concentration
in web development but I'm not too far in and so far have taught myself more
than the classes aside from the C++ I was taught there. While you build your
skills there's a huge market for local businesses that need some cheap web dev
stuff done and you can make a great living off it. In my case I've increased
my income tenfold. Of course my first job was free and the second was o ly
$400 but the work comes in consistently with a minimum of 2 jobs a month and
an average of a 2 month turnaround per job. It's not much to start but you can
build it and I really encourage it to anyone so long as you don't set the
client's expectations higher than what you can achieve.

You say you learned Python and Django and I think that's a great place to
start. Add on to that with a solid font end knowledge and you're good to go
until you get hired.

If you're in the Chicago area you should get in touch with me as I'm looking
for help as we speak.

~~~
einhverfr
Absolutely agree. Find customers, not a job. It may lead to a job, or you may
fall in love with the freedom if being able to fire your boss (namely your
customer) and make it a permanent lifestyle.

It's what I did and I never looked back.

Oh, and don't worry. If you go this route you will find a niche which will
challenge you, stretch your skills, and so forth. I never knew when I started
that I'd become the primary developer for an open source accounting package
(LedgerSMB).

Happy hunting, and may fortune smile upon you!

