NDuggan

Hi all, Just a quick message to introduce myself to you all as the initial email suggested. My name is Niall, I am 20 and I am based in the Bedfordshire area. I am currently in my third and final year at University; I study Computer Science, Internet Computing and have passed the previous two years with flying colours (without blowing my own trumpet). I have a keen interest in Web Development and self-taught HTML/CSS/PHP/MySQL when I was around 14 years old. When I say self-taught I am referring to researching into the previously mentioned topics and learning the basics of them, such as: tags, file types, hosting on a localhost, and running PHPMyAdmin. I then went on to view other peoples website source (not for financial benefit) and dissect it to get an understanding of how things worked. Once I knew the flow of things and the basics I then started to modify code and try my own little things out, for example: to learn the behaviour of how things would act, like CSS positioning. After I finished school I went onto the local Barnfield College and enrolled on a Graphic & Web Development course; I completed the course two years later and then continued to where I am now (at University). I have had numerous part-time jobs throughout college and University, mainly at warehouses and wholesalers. I am currently unemployed through choice as my university work was getting on top of me. Although I have known enough to make websites for around 4 years, I only feel in the last year or two that I can provide a client with a project of a particular standard. By no means do I think I am a comfortable web developer, as I feel I have a lot more to learn and gain, which will come through experience. At this moment in time I would say I am fairly confident with xHTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL, and the latest I have been working with is jQuery; I also have the ability to produce via Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and very basic Abobe Flash. I no longer have a personal portfolio online as I did not have the time to keep it updated and my design was left half finished. I have since found myself more dedicated to my work and have more time for it, so will be creating a new online portfolio soon. My current reputable experience is as follows: - Website for Charity, HAVS (no longer their website) - Graphic Design for Fathers Company - Company Branding for my sisters business In progress: - Developing an e-commerce website for a local printing & embroidery company - Developing a travel kiosk with itinerary for University Project Hopefully this has filled in some of the gaps for people that might be interested. I look forward to sharing my work and trying to contribute towards the forum. Thanks, Niall