

Ask HN: Is it okay to accept work in a language you haven't done before - shire

What do you when your clients ask you do work you haven&#x27;t done before, for example I can program in Javascript but not familiar with WordPress or PHP and MySQL, I have clients willing to pay to do WordPress sites and theme customization. I can do this with some time of learning but never done it to be honest. as a programmer I should be comfortable adapting to different languages though.<p>Is it my job as a freelancer to accept this and learn as I go with my career freelancing or happily decline? or what about if you get a job offer which the technology is something you haven&#x27;t worked with what do you do in those situations? please inform me HackerNews.
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sker
If you decline, you would be making the same mistake some companies do by only
hiring developers with previous experience in a very specific set of
technologies.

Every developer who works with WordPress/PHP/MySQL, or any other technology,
at some point didn't have experience with them. Everyone has to start
somewhere or there would be no developers at all.

Whether you disclose your lack of experience to the client depends on the
nature of the job. If they only need a basic installation with some plugins
and theme customization, take it. Give a reasonable time frame for delivery
and deliver it.

If on the other hand, they need you to scale their multi-million page views
network of blogs, or develop a mission-critical super-complex plugin in a
short time frame, then you might want to tell them you haven't done this
before, but are willing to work with them to help them achieve their goals.

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lchski
You actually allude to the answer in your question.

When you say that "as a programmer I should be comfortable adapting to
different languages" you expose the key concept that will help you to make the
decision.

You should do what you're comfortable with.

In theory, you're in this field because it's what you love to do. You enjoy
it, and we're usually comfortable with doing things that we enjoy.

It follows, then, that you should progress when and only when you feel
comfortable with making that progression. If you don't feel comfortable and
confident in telling your clients that you'll do WordPress work for them, you
should not tell them that.

Do what you're comfortable with. It's guaranteed to be better for both parties
in the end, because you don't end up working on something you don't want to or
aren't able to do, and your client doesn't end up with something that is built
by someone not confident with the technology they used.

However, doing what you're comfortable with comes with one important caveat.
You should never be too comfortable with what you're doing... that's a sign of
stagnation, something which is sure to be deadly to your career.

In your role as a freelancer, it's not your job to accept a position which
you're uncomfortable with. However, it is your job as a freelancer to keep
learning, to stave off that stagnation.

Keep improving your skillset. Always be learning. Be comfortable, but don't
stagnate.

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alternize
IMO, a large part of being a successful programmer is to know how / with what
patterns to approach the problem at hand (in your case: the goal set by the
client). the actual language most the time is just the means and quickly
learned. that said, when it comes to actual code quality, experience is
important too: each language or framework has its irks and special feature.

i have taken on freelancing work in languages and/or frameworks unfamiliar to
me, but spent 1-2 weeks beforehand learning the basic stuff on my own time. if
you feel unsure whether to take on the job or not it's probably best to be
honest to the customer - let them know that it is your first project with
language x or framework y, but that you'll be willing to invest in it and
provide them with a good solution.

and last but not least there's the saying "learning by doing" :)

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dangrossman
Download WordPress and build something with it, on your own time. You'll spend
your morning figuring out how to download everything and set up a development
environment, and your afternoon seeing how plugins and themes work. 24 hours
invested in yourself and now you will know what the client is asking for when
they ask about WordPress work. Your freelancing career will "happily decline"
if you don't make self-education one of your priorities between jobs. All
professionals have to work to keep their skills current -- teachers have to
take classes regularly, plumbers have to learn about new materials and
building codes, lawyers have to keep on top of new laws and decisions relevant
to their specialty -- software developers are no different.

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viennacoder
Sure, as long as you can deliver a quality product within the timeframe
expected of the client. That's the way you learn.

It would also help to build up a network of devs with a variety of expertise,
so that you can ask for help/tips/review as you take on new stuff.

I think it also depends on how big a step the new project is for you.
Wordpress sites, fine. Build me a new operating system? Probably not :)

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kdforf
Wordpress is really straightforward and easy to use but it depends on the
project that you are taking. If you had any problem with WordPress development
you could always use Stackoverflow or feel free to email me at kpourdeilami
[at] gmail [dot] com :)

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devb0x
Take the gig, get the specs, make it happen.

Else you will not grow brother.

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shire
All very helpful comments, thanks a lot everyone appreciate it.

