[mojo_]

Trying to get into the webdesign industry, So I signed up for this course a while ago, put off doing it for a long time but recently as the deadline to finish it is near I have started doing it again. The course is for the CIW certification (certified internet web professional.) They made it sound to me like the course was the best way to find employment in this field,as its supposedly the most recognized cert and employers will want to see it on your CV. Also promise to help you find employment upon completing the course. Sounds great, but recently I googled around about this cert (think I really should have done this beforehand) and alot of webdesigners say they have never even heard of it. And that the best way to get started in this industry is by building a decent portfolio. I can't help but feel that maybe this is true, and alot of the course has me thinking 'will I ever even need to know this stuff?', things like advanced networking jargon....

I have 6 months to complete this course now, which is easily do-able, but I'm wondering is my time better
spent mastering XHTML,Dreamweaver,CSS,Flash,photoshop etc and building up a portfolio. Looking around on
employment sites like monster, it seems that is what employers are looking for, and not a CIW cert. Kind of sucks that I spent 3grand on the course, but I think its going to suck more and take me longer to re-coop my lose loses by working my butt off for the next 6months to get the ciw cert and have limited practical design experience and a not very impressive portfolio.

[Rja]

Now you've spent money on the course I think it would be better to do that and bag yourself an extra qualification. While your portfolio and knowledge is what matters the most, a qualification can't hurt when you're putting yourself as a candidate for a job.

[empek]

Instead of spending money on (in most cases) outdated, unnecessary web philosophy theories, you could have (still can) just look around on the web for some tutorials.

You could create a portfolio (even if its full of websites for companies that don't exist, like Burger Donald's), and then start locally. What I mean by that is visit some local stores, maybe call some relatives, and see if they're looking to build a website. You could try to convince them by telling them it's a great way to establish presence, and advertise your company for free (etc).

Please take a look through these sites. You could learn to design and develop websites, just by reading some of these:

W3 Schools

Net Tuts+

There are tons more of free tutorial websites!

Click here for a complete list!

Cheers!

[Rja]

Yet another good site is htmldog (for CSS and HTML).

[Sinero Web Design]

Learning stuff like this in a classroom can be a waste of time and one of the reasons many developers in this industry are self taught is because having the will learn and understand code and designing at your own will is stronger than listening to a overweight professor who wrote a few c++ programs back in 1970.

You should be thinking about more about freelance than working for an employer , if you have a strong design and good portfollio at hand you will always get business , all what a employer will do is get the work for you and pay you a percentage of the work done...if you are money dependant you might need to work part time but this is the joy of freelance you are your own boss !

[tbomedia]

Build a portfolio of website work. Vitally important and over looked.

[Allstar]

I'm self taught web developer / graphic designer, I would happily have a qualification in addition to my portfolio so stick with your course to the very end!

Towards the end of your course the work might be acceptable to put in your portfolio so again stick with it.

Also, something someone who had done a course before told be that your can do "study cases" which is using a logo, usually a famous brand in a professional mockup. As long and you clearly label the work in the portfolio as such its permitted to do so. Worth it if you can show an established brand in a new good/pleasing way, disastrous if you do it objectionable by the average person.

• Right now my priority would be course then (free) work.
  
• Then portfolio with paid work still you get steady work (job or incoming)
  
• The paid work with optional portfolio work if needed (nothing worse coming back to a portfolio of old work after 5 years!)