SharePoint User Group UK

Hello all,

I've been working in a training and advisory role in a large bank in London for the past 3 years. 

The main part of my role is setting up sharepoint sites for users (customising the libraries, permissions, subsites, web parts etc) and amending the sites in frontpage to make them look all nice!

I'd like to make the jump to Sharepoint full time role, but each job I see refers to .net and C# which i've no experience of.

So my question is, with my experience would I be able to get a SharePoint contract role?

 

Thanks

 

 

Hi Ian,

 

We specialise with the provision of SharePoint resource to clients throughout Europe and currently have a couple of requirements which could be of interest to you.  Please contact me on the methods below for further details.

 

Best regards,

 

Dean Cassell

Synergy Recruitment

+44 (0)1483 861172

dcassell@synergyrecruitment.co.uk

 

I know exactly what you mean Ian.

I've been working on all versions of sharepoint since 2001 and most of my work has been on the frontend of the system.  So no .net coding to speak of.

I don't know if it's the same for you, but everything I've learnt has been self taught.  So I find it pretty hard to explain my actions in the correct termanology as I've never had to normally explain how I did something.  The clients were just happy that the final result was working.

Reading job specs always over whelms me when I see the .net and C# requirements.  I'm never too sure how much of the coding would be needed for some of the jobs.

I know sharepoint inside and out from the front end and designing master pages, but my skills are very limited when it comes to the coding aspects.

I've always wondered whether employees out there require the coding elements?

I'm still waiting for that job spec that says ".net coding not necessary" :-)

Cool, So its not just me then!

From looking at the questions that come up in the development / customisation forums none of them appear to mention coding, this seems out of place if coding makes up a large part of a sharepoint consultants role?

Have you applied for any of the roles which ask for .net or c# ? I'd be interested to hear the feedback you may have got.

Cheers

Ian

Sorry, I can't help you there.  As soon as I see the .net and c# words I tend to stop reading.

I have a fear that if they start asking questions, I wouldn't know what to say.  I wouldn't want to apply for a job for which I don't meet the full criteria.

I wonder if any of the recruiters on here that could shed some light on how much coding experience is required for some of the jobs advertised?

I'm in the same sort of position. I project manage the roll out of SharePoint within my organisation, but I'm not an IT qualified person. I have a lot of SP experience of setting up workspaces and advising people on how to use it, and I've delivered a lot of user training.

Where I've seen jobs that require coding experience, I also ignore them, because I'm fairly sure that the jobs that ask for it, do need it. There are a lot of jobs that require working with the back end of SP, and those jobs will need skills completely different to the ones that I, and other people on this thread, hold.

Any implementation of SharePoint is a huge project, and requires people with many different experience and skills. I hope you'll find something eventually which matches yours more closely.

Soozi 

Job roles can be miss leading, if you think you tick more boxes than not, it's always worth asking :), I started as mainly a developer in the early 90's and got stuck into ASP and Visual Studio from there very early days, I even now struggle sometimes with roles as over the years I've ended up doing everything from development, building servers and environments through to managing teams, so my roles have been varied and hands on and off.

If I'm given something to do I can do it, I may have to look something's up, but I know I can get it done, but  trying to relay this in interviews or roles where there asking specific questions or written/verbal exams is very hard.

I failed to get a contract a years ago at a place where 2 developers that use to work for me went to. Because I scored poorly in there entrance exam. Yet we had gotten rid of the 2 developers because they were not very good! Experience has a lot to offer, but is more and more overlooked.

Stick with it and keep looking, something will come up :)

---

Andrew Carter
.Net & SharePoint

My name ia Patrick Rennie. I am an IT Recruiter. I have a role in London for a client of mine that does not need you to have .Net and C# just to be able to class yourself as a sharepoint specialist.

Please call me on 02076002542 for more details or email me your CV to the address below:

patrick.rennie@oscar-associates.com  

Hi Guys,

I run a specilaist SharePoint resourcing agancy. www.aardvarkresourcing.co.uk

In terms of your query, I think this is really where you need to speak to a recruiter who specilaises in this technolgy and therefore has the contacts book to get you talking to relevant employers.

There ARE companies out there that actually look for MOSS / SharePoint Consultants (I know of 3 at the moment that are!) as they have identified that a consultant has a very different skills make up to what a developer has. No offence to Developers here, but the vast majority of Developers prefer to do just that, so the "people skills" compared to a consultant are often lacking.  Gross generalisation there I know but you get the point!!

Drop me a line on 0208 123 1423 if you want to chat further. I dont need your CV just yet..!!!!

Lee Stevens

I have found the same to be true, and as a consultant most of the work has disappeared because everyone wants a C# developer to do things in visual studio. I'm sure I could do it but I don't have any exposure to it at all.

There's a training boot camp in India in various locations. The fee for MCSD .Net C# Regular Track Boot Camp (group training) (total duration 40 days, total training days 32) in Goa is GBP 2,230 (in a Serviced Apartment, including all meals & taxes). - everything but the flight, calls and laundry.

The other cities are cheaper, about 1800 pounds, but stifling hot in the summer

Here's the link: http://www.koenig-solutions.com/training/boot_camp_calendar.asp?courseid=20&CityName 

Tim

I'd never thought of going abroad for training, have you done any of these courses?

 

Thanks

 

Ian

Hi Ian,

sorry for the delay in answering. No I am not going to India for the summer course. I'm looking at courses here in London. Have you heard of any or are you interested in doing it yourself?

I'm looking at some online or CD courses, but prefer to actually sit in a room with an instructor.

Apologies firstly for encrouching on your discussion guys.

Its strange that you're talking about the subject of coding and .NET/C# currently.  I can completely emphasis with you from another aspect.  Generally speaking C#/.NET will be required by any one of my clients looking for Sharepoint Developers/Architects/Designers etc purely from a communcations point of view as most / typical .NET Developers don't understand the complexity of Sharepoint.   So obviously its less risky for a client who probably has a tight budget to engage with a Sharepoint contractor who has the technical know how in .NET C#. 

In regards to, and I quote....

"I'm still waiting for that job spec that says ".net coding not necessary" :-)"

I'm looking for a Sharepoint professional, well in fact its a pure functional role, no coding required.  The system is in production already so its not green field either.  The dev team is strong so that area is covered but the issue is the functionality and performance.

Anyways if your interested, its a long term contract with competive rates in a corporate large scale environment.

Let me know if you or if you know of anyone else that might be interested in chatting further.

G.Craig
0207 9282525 / graemec@ravelloit.co.uk / Ravello IT