Work from Home entry jobs?

rocherkiss

Attending online uni for an associates in CS then transferring to WGU for bachelors in Software Development. No formal experience or training previously - all self taught. Worked as tech support for a real estate agency, junkyard, and gas station and well as working at Staples from 2008-2009 as easytech associate with a few months as easy resident tech. Unfortunately I was in school at the time and unable to dedicate my time to the job as much as the end so I quit. My boss was extremely angry at me and whenever another employer called to verify my dates of employment he told them that I was unreliable. So I hesitate to use them as a reference due to this problem. I am totally unsure of what to do here. I am currently a co-webmaster for a gaming hub and am assisting in the development of a couple of games on Kongregate. I am also creating my own games to post on github and upload to Kongregate to help with my portfolio. I did host a Legend of the Green Dragon gaming site from 2007-2008 as owner & coder. I was also the admin/coder for a few other sites but none of them are active anymore and the positions were not paid. Could this even count as experience in PHP?

I need advice on this situation because I have nobody in my life that is able to offer my any sort of advice at all about this. I love developing programs (especially games) but honestly I love any sort of programming. I feel I could be happy working in any and all languages and am when not working my 13 hour shifts at the hospitals I am studying my coding courses or gaining a base in other languages from various websites.

I have no clue how to continue from here for experience on my resume. I am in dire need of assistance!

Thank you!!

rocherkiss

I forgot to add - would a remote help desk position be of any assistance in this matter or should I continue my game development and webmastering?

OctalDump

If you have a portfolio, can show working code, and know enough to be able to bash something together in a few days, then that should be enough to get a job.

There's also the freelancer type sites, where you can do some bits and pieces for cash and experience. I think if you bundle all that together, and instead of "positions" put "projects" on a resume, that could work.

thomas_

I remember hearing some where that an employer saying anything else about your employment with them except for your dates of employment is illegal. You might want to call him up and threaten legal action if he keeps on doing that, you can also threaten to report him to the Bureau of Labor. You always have the option of reporting him to corporate headquarters telling them that if they don't control this manager then those are the steps you are going to take against that manager and the corporate headquarters as well.

I think most applications ask if they can contact each previous employer, you can always select no and if they ask why you don't want them to contact them you can explain the situation.

scaredoftests

OR just have them contact Human Resources to verify that you worked there. I would also call former boss..real sour grapes on his part.

Pseudonym

I don't know whether it's the same in the US as it is here. Here, it's not technically illegal. It is though, illegal to discriminate against a particular employee. So basically if he just provides dates of employment for other past employees, but divulges more detailed information about one employee in particular that would be discriminatory. That's the way it works here anyway.

$bvb379

OP keep up the work with coding. Everyone needs programmers, especially start-ups. Not sure what area you are in but you might want to research the more "tech hub" areas. I have a close friend who graduated from Georgia Tech with a Bio Medical degree. He was pretty much a pill pusher for large pharm companies. He always coded C languages as a hobby and was tired of his job. He now works in Atlanta developing apps using Apple's newest language, swift. If you can prove you can code, you should be able to land a job somewhere.

Danielm7

Outside of the past boss drama, I don't know why you'd be looking at helpdesk jobs if you're a programmer. That's a fine path if you want to be a sysadmin or something. But, if you can code, have projects, can show it, you should be able to get a job as a programmer.

cyberguypr

IANAL but based on my research there is nothing in US law barring an employer from disclosing truthful and accurate information about an (ex)employee. The issue is when the employer misrepresents something or provides false information. Right then and there they open themselves up for a defamation lawsuit. It gets murky really quick from there on. As a result, most companies nowadays seem to be voluntarily adopting policies leaning towards providing specific limited information when verifying employment (employment date, title, salary). Very good CYA if you ask me.

I've never been in this situation where an ex-employer holds a grudge but if it ever happens I would make sure I select "do not contact employer" when applying. If asked why, go ahead an professionally explain.

Danielm7

I've known a few people to use questions like, "would you hire them again if they applied at your business?" I'm not sure of the legal side of just answering "no" without explaining why.

rocherkiss

Thank you for the advice! It takes a rather large amount of stress off of my shoulders knowing I don't need another job to keep up haha. I do believe it is illegal for him to say anything but that doesn't mean that he didn't say it. I worked any and every shift they needed me, only called out when I had the flu, and worked hard to keep customers happy, sell protection plans & tech services, stock inventory, and work on plan-o-gram changes as well as being a backup cashier - and the store was EXTREMELY busy at the time. I even went above and beyond to help prepare presentations and different packages for tech services/hardware for customers. It bothers me that even though I exceeded the monthly goals set for me by a good bit (as in 2-5 times the expected every month) he would do something like that to me.

I am glad to know I can focus on what I love and not work at a small job. Thank you for all the advice! Worst comes to worst I'll just have any future employers call the main HR instead of the store. I don't think that manager even works there any more so they shouldn't question that.

Thanks for the advice everyone!!