Web Design Course

[dannoble82]

I have recently been made redundant as the company i worked for has gone into liquidation, So i am now at a point where i need to find new work and now i have a chance to do something i would like to persue.

I would be very interested in becomming a web designer but i do not have any computer background on my cv etc.

I was thinking about going on a web design course, I have looked around and the average price is around £900 quid or so.

The thing i wanted to know is .... are there certain qualifications out there which to the employer dont mean shit or is there a certain qualification that i MUST get to enable me to get work afterwards? Or Is there any companies who would send you on a course to learn and then you pay it back afterwards (im assuming the latter one is unrealistic but i know in other fields employers do this)

So basically im after any info / advise that you guys may be able to offer me,

Thanks in advance....

[Eazi]

I would recommend learning c++. This is the most widely used programming language. this can yhen be used as a .NET language or iphone, or android.

Its actually what most other languages are written in / based on

[AspectUK]

I think qualifications mean very little really unless it is something like a degree.

A good understanding of the skills you need and a good portfolio or examples of your work speak much more than a certificate to say you've been on a course.

When you say Web Designer do you mean as in artistic design?
As if it's coding your interested in (re: above post suggesting C++) - then that is normally classed as Web Development.

Designer: Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, HTML, CSS, Flash
Developer: PHP or C#, MySQL or MSSQL, Java, Actionscript

If you'd rather save your pennies I'm sure there are 1000's of ebooks/video training courses on the usual torrent sites.

[DejaVu]

The internet is such a great resource. If you have patience and determination, it has the torrents! PMSL!

I wonder if the same goes for a Medical Degree for Dummies Torrent?!

[BBK]

As someone who recruits people into the web design industry (as an employer not a recruitment agency) I would say the most important thing is being able to display some kind of portfolio of your work. I will look at that first and foremost, so rather than spending weeks learning and having a qualification, my personal recommendation would be to spend weeks sitting at home working on a project. It doesn't have to be super advanced, or even a client, just create a website on something that interests you. In all seriousness, its unlikely that you will be able to learn .NET web coding unless you spend several thousands on the right course and get MS certified, which is a risk if you don't have the cash to do it it can easily be wasted as .NET IMO takes a special type of brain.

Much of it depends on what your expectations are though. If you're looking for circa £20k you should be ok with a basic level of understanding of any programming language for the web, just make sure you know your basics of HTML, javascript (jquery is BIG these days) and probably the fundamentals of a scripting language such as php or .NET. PHP is more digital agency type work, more fun (IMO), and you can grab WAMP now and start learning. If you're looking for a higher salary, I would seriously give this a good think. Remember, recruiters do take experience into account, I saw a CV on Friday of a .NET guy with 9 years experience looking for only £30k (and a visa), and if you're looking for higher salaries this will come into it, and for .NET I would be looking for a degree. I guess in a roundabout way my recommendation would be to look into php, set yourself up a server, set up some simple php websites (natively, don't use joomla or drupal quite yet) to understand how html and php work, setup a wordpress blog, then have a go at joomla and maybe try an ecommerce site. Don't have unrealistic salary expectations.

[stixson]

http://www.w3schools.com is a great place to start.