Not sure on my career path now - web design or programmer any one do those jobs?

[munz]

I want to go back to college ASAP really, and my local one is offering ocurses in the web designing but not sure which i'd rather go for.

what sort of qualifications do you need to have a job within that industry?

any advice/thoughts welcomed. thanks

ooh wow we hahve a new feature on MN! lol.

right ok, erm where do you find out about those types of things? I know v little on PHP (but v v basic which DH showed/taught me). will I have to do a uni corse or will the local college suffice?

god i'm going to be classed as a mature student! lol. a friend's sending me a disk which has dreamweaver and java on it I think which i'll have to have a look thru, but i'm dead keen on doing it - jsut not sure if to go for designing or programming.

OOh.. I don't know littlelapin! XML is very important

I am sort of involved in e-commerce and programming and use a lot of the things that ll mentions. What qualifications? I have a BA in archaeology and English but I don't neccessarily recommend such a roundabout route.

lol. good to know I don't nec need a related degree then. do either of you girls work form home at all? (i'd like to do something sort of PT at home and PT office or soemthing)

and do a course at the college. re art - well sort of, I did well in GCSE, and took 2d art at a level. (only did the a/s bit thou). I do like computers/seing the end result and am accurate - will that help? lol.

best get back to learning then!

LL- where do you do your online courses? and are the recognised in the work place still? i'm keen to have some quals which are recognised within the industry.

Yep. 2 days at home and 3 days in the office. Up till now it's been because I've had a pre-schooler to look after and it made it easier for me. Now he's gone to school so I am prepared to go in more often but hoping to be at home for the school hols. My manager is a lovely chap (mostly) so it quite amenable.

that's good. is most of the work london based or is there work for outside? I really don't want to commute up there for 2/3 days p/w. I know i'm fussy - but was thinking portsmouth is a big city someone might want some one here?

Gawd yes! I work for an end-user which is fortunate I suppose. I'm in the south-west. I live about 7 mins drive from work. However I don't earn as much as I could if I moved - probably 10-20% less than if I was in a city. But it's swings and roundabouts. I'm treated well and I have a good work-live balance. I should think Portsmouth would be a good place.

tbh i'm not fussed by mega bucks - i'd sooner have a better quality of life and be able to support DS and I than I would working in the city iycwim.

ponders it. def the way forward I think, will wait on the CD's and see if I can create my own website for DS.

I'm a programmer and work from home (for our own company). In fact I'm also an IT employer, and when we do get an office and employ people again, we'll be looking for:

HTML markup ability
and then
(for design job) v good photoshop skills, pref course in design (general design, not necessarily web) and pref HTML and CSS.

(for programming job)
maths GCSE grade B or above, pref AS
HTML
at least one of ASP (or ASP.net) PHP and javascript
XML etc would be an advantage I guess but it's not a core skill
a good memory.

I wouldn't really give any weight at all to an online course because it would be too easy to cheat (and we have been cheated by prospective employees in the past). maybe an online course with a proper assessment would be OK?

I imagine the course you're talking about focusses on design. you should ask how much photoshop training is included as it could be all dreamweaver (which is ok I spose, but not as sueful as photoshop).

ormIrain - and my degree is linguistics with social anthropology! but it is related really I think.

by photoshop do you mean the adobe programme (sorry XH had various programmes floating about but I only really looked into that one).

think it will be an actual college course then, if that is better for the end result as it were than online ones.

could be possible to combine a web based design course witha general design course then? will need to talk to the college advisor I think. what do you think of these learn direct courses - as an employer I mean.

The college based learn direct courses are fine (theyt're not very different from the vocational courses they replaced anyway I don't think).

yes, I mean Adobe Photoshop, and yes I guess you could combine two courses.

would you be looking for a job eventually or freelance work? becuasae if the latter, experience and contacts are important - volunteer to build as many small sites while you're training as you can!

ooh thanks girls that's even better still.

initally I think I will need to be employed - wiht a view for freelance work, but obviously I can't start off knowing no one and expect to be busy iycwim.

intresting about the online sites, must get off to southdowns this week - as the add I saw was in the evening news so need a full perspectous (sp).

ooh will actually need a computer won't I XH is taking our one as it's 'his' and he built it - bar humbug!

(hijacking...) DS (13) is learning Photoshop in Media Studies. He wants a copy at home, but £500 seems a bit steep. Do you know of any similar but far cheaper packages he could use for homework?

clerkKent - you'll be wanting the normal user's (as opposed to the high level graphic designer's) version: Photoshop elements - note the cheap used versions. I'd recommend this over other similar software because it's more similar to the professional version.

for programming I would recommend .NET - C# or VB.NET.
Also learn about architecture as well as syntax. I would think you'll also need to know about using databases - if you are staying on the MS path then SQL Server.

Thanks very much people. I am on the track of a bootleg full copy for £10.....