I posted this on the Only $0.001 per Line story, and wanted some more opinions from you guys. Seems like there are a lot of people who have been in the programming industry a while around here.
Guys, this kind of brings up a side question I have. What is the best way to get into a real PHP programmer job? I'm 20, in college, and been freelancing on these crappy job portal sites for a while now. I get outbid by programmers like this, and I know I'm not working for near the amount I should be.
I don't profess to be a PHP guru, but I certainly write better code than this slop. Even if it was just an entry level programming job, anything beats the slave wage work you find on some of the sites out there. Any job I've applied at in the area, I don't hear anything back. Maybe it's because I'm a "freelancer", maybe it's because I don't have an official CS degree, maybe it's my age, maybe it's something else. Is there any way for someone who's self taught to earn a fair wage programming in a situation like mine?
//PS: I'm majoring in Engineering at the moment, but seriously considering switching to computer science, going major/minor, etc.