I'm not sure if this is the place for it, but I wanted to toss out a question to those of you who do this for a living - did take extensive classes in it, or did you learn on your own? Do you have degrees in Computer Engineering or something similiar?

You will find all sorts of different types of FM users on here. Some have been self taught, some formal training, others through tutors. etc. Also some have prior experience with IT and other that do not.

How about a poll?

I jumped in at the deep end, paid a pro developer for the very tricky bits, and bought a book the rest of my knowledge is from this forum

thanks

Edited April 27, 200718 yr by Guest

It seems as though almost everyone is self taught and no one is really formally trained... :B

Edited April 29, 200718 yr by Guest
Reworded

Obviously Robert didn't vote.

If I were starting again and knew that I was planning to make a living with FileMaker, I'd seek out training from as many sources as possible.

I started dabbling with FileMaker back in the late 80s, more as a curiosity at the time rather than as a way to make a living. At the time I was making a living solely as a studio musician, so programming was just a hobby; these days I split my time pretty evenly between programming and playing, and almost all my consulting work is either in developing FileMaker databases or designing web applications using FileMaker and PHP.

There's always room for another really sharp programmer; good luck to you!

Bob Patin

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Edited May 3, 200718 yr by Guest

I started out out as an OS X tech, no training in that and my clients had Fm. So I learned it. My first DB had no relations and you needed to add items in a notes field. Now I have a few big companies under my belt. Not one person ever ask for certification. I am very articulate and I am a salesperson. That is my strength. I may get certified, but I have found I am not so goo at tests, I am more of an intuitive.

It was basically thrown into my lap... In August 2003 I recieved a phone call from a man whos existance I had no knowledge of.

A gal I went to church with at the time was an employee at his wifes Photography studio and she told him that I was a 'computer guy'. At that point I had never really done anything programming related, I had always dealt with physical computer work.

Anyhow - having never met me and having never spoken to me before - he offers to PAY me $300 a week for 8 weeks to spend at least 250 hours learning FMP. After this time period, if I felt I was capable, he would then pay me to develop a solution for this photography studio that his wife ran...

Having been in a financial slump at the time, and a first child on the way, I took him up on it. Mid 2004 we went live with a solution for that Photography Studio. They are still using it to my knowledge (though it needs to be rebuilt from the ground up IMHO, I knew nothing back then).