Hi Everybody [Hi Dr. Nick] :)
I have a question for those of you who have had or still run a drupal web development business.
At what level of experience would I need to [truthfully] start a drupal web development business? And if so, what costs would I be able to charge for my level of experience.
As a footnote, there are just no Drupal Design & Development Jobs in NZ [especially Wellington] at present. Let alone someone who would take on me at my level of experience.
I'm thinking of a Basic Drupal Service, upLoading & Configuring the core CMS, Modules and Themes.
I won't be offering a Hosting service [no funds for that].
Additionaly, offering Custom Theme builds
And, [if needed] Loading & Configuring mySQL
And, [if needed] Loading & Configuring PHP
And finally, [if needed] Loading & Configuring Apache Server
My experience so far is with Drupal v6.20
upLoad & Configure the core CMS
upLoad & Configure the "must have" modules
upLoad & Configure Themes
upLoad & Configure those modules for specific type sites ie: a Twitter Like site, a FaceBook Like site
I can covert Themes from say WordPress to Drupal
I can design and build custome Themes
I can build custom Modules [although very basic].
My PHP is rather basic at present but I don't see that as a barrier for what I want to do.
My CSS skills are quite good [but then I use Zen, what a life saver at 3am in the morning].
Look forward to any advice or worsd of wisdom.
Cheers
Comments
It's like you were inside my head.
At what point is your drupal/php skills enough to make a living at it. If one were to start learning php today and learned drupal code specifics, could they be employed and/or work for themselves in say 6 weeks or 1 year ?
This thread is a keeper, I think there are many others thinking the same and it would be beneficial to get some advice from current drupal developers.
I'm very interested to see
I'm very interested to see where this thread goes. While I don't intend to take on full time development work in the future, and don't really have the time right now to throw myself into the deep end learning everything there is too learn, which could take years, I'd love to hear from other people in the sector about what level of skills are required. I imagine if I have to ask that, then I don't have whats required lol. Still though...great to get some feedback on the OP's question.
I know a guy who does this
I know a guy who does this for Joomla Websites. He went to school for it at Vanderbilt. You charge based on how long you think it would take you to get the site finished. Be prepared for people to ask you a lot of questions, all of the time, support! So you need to know Drupal in and out, especially when it comes to dealing with all of the plugins and modules.
You seem ready to me.
I provide drupal development services and would say that if you can provide the services listed above then you are ready to go. I wouldnt say that you should take a full fledged Drupal Development Gig but doing small websites with Drupal should be easy for you.
Keep practicing and you will be able to handle bigger projects soon. You can always setup affiliate services for web hosting.
re: You seem ready to me
Hi ya,
Apologies for not replying to your post for some time, no excuses just alot of work for my ay job that makes the money.
I appreciate your post, from your comments I will definitely start looking for small Drupal driven Websites to work on.
I have started a small site to test theme ports to Drupal 6.x, its at Drupal Blog. Admittedly they are blog type theme ports, but it is definitely getting easier with each port. My favourite is Christmas Days which is a WordPress theme originally.
Thanks again for your post.
doing small websites with Drupal should be easy for you
I too am at this point. I have been refining my Drupal skills for a couple of years and would to like to eventually take on or join a full fledged Drupal Development Gig.
My trouble is finding the Gigs!!! Most of my contacts from my experience in business are big Business and Government. I have geographically relocated to a small community in Eastern Canada. There are plenty of SMBs but I don't know how to contact them or trickier yet show them why they need a CMS and Drupal is a great choice!!! :)
Maybe I should start a post asking this very question...
...and how to charge for the work?
Seems like we're at just about the same level. I'm looking to start building fairly simple Drupal sites -- I'm guessing the actual development will be somewhere between 20 and 40 hours, depending on the needs. I'd also like to do customized design/theming, which would probably double the time it takes to produce these sites. From what I've read here-and-there, $50/hour is somewhere near average... meaning that for a 60-hour site, I'd be charging clients $3,000. Does that seem reasonable? (Thanks to anyone who would be willing to share their experiences starting up, determining fair rates, estimating time, etc.)