Hi guys,

 

I'm looking to enhance my Web Design/Development skills in order to gain the experience and confidence to look for employment, or possibly set up a small business.

 

I'm 31, and up to now have learned the basics in a few Uni modules, this involved creating a website using HTML, and another using Dreamweaver.

 

At the moment I do not have the skills or confidence needed to apply for work, and the way I see it I have two options...

 

1. Self teach - I started with HTML Dog last year which I found useful. I could design a few sites of my own and try to build my skill set to a reasonable level. There are plenty of useful sites like this one to help keep me right The only problem with this option is the lack of qualification.

 

2. There is a tempting course starting soon at a local college. FdSc Web Design. The course is provided by our local Uni. As far as I can see, the course appears to provide everything I need. A few downsides however, its a 3 year course (Part Time), and its not cheap. Its a foundation degree though, and IF I got through it ok, it should provide me with the skills and experience i'm after. Please have a look at the course modules on the right hand side of this page http://www.tees.ac.uk/parttime_courses/Web_&_Multimedia/FdSc_Web_Design.cfm , as i'd be interested in any thoughts on whether the course would be ideal.

 

I would be grateful of any advice on which route (if either!) I should go down.

 

Many thanks in advance

Edited August 24, 201115 yr by GregF

Personally i'd be weary of a uni course for the sole reason that they tend to be very outdated. Also this course is three years long. Imagine the changes that will happen in the next three years, they either have the course worked out now, then it will be out of date almost as soon as you're learning, or they'll be winging it and you'd be better off learning on your own.

 

What it really comes down to in the end is how you feel you learn better and go with that option.

If you can teach yourself - do it

 

Only retards cannot sit there and learn something.

On the other hand Uni was the best thing I did/do.

Firstly it gave me more confidence in myself and my abilities, the people you meet and contacts you make are priceless and a degree means something in the real world even if it shouldn't.

 

I was always turned away because I didn't have a degree. Technologies and procedures do change but the biggest thing you learn from uni is how to really learn for yourself and more importantly you show others you can.

Unfortuantely i've just been informed that the course I was interested has not generated enough interest and probably won't be going ahead. There is however a general computing foundation degree, which entails mainly web-related stuff.

 

Thanks for your posts so far. Please keep them coming though... the more opinions and ideas the better

 

The situation is, although I work full time, a lot of that time is spent in front of the computer to do what I want with, so I have the option of learning online. At the moment i'm leaning towards this idea, rather than going through a college course that i'm not entirely sure about.

IMO if you going to do anything at uni, make it something that will be useful alongside web designing/development such as how to manage a business or book keeping. All things that a extremely importnant if you're going to go it alone in the web industry. Of course if you're going to try and work with an agency then i guess you could scrap it.

When I was in uni we where shown how to use director to create animated content online when flash had been the main stream for the past 3-4 years at least...

I started off with an apprenticeship and at 31 that might be hard to come across. I was 19 at the time and lost the job after a few months. I then started self teaching whilst taking on small projects to build a client list and gain some valuable experience working closely with real people.

 

I'm nearly 22 now and I have to say the journey is slower than heading to uni as there is so much I don't know yet but I'm having a great time building up client relations whilst valeting cars during the day to make money for rent and bills etc.

 

No matter what path you decide to take, if your passionate enough about it there is nothing you cannot achieve

Based on my own experiences I'd say teach yourself. I've got a few friends at Uni or College doing "digital media" and "web design" etc and they're quite behind on technologies and very poor tutors.

 

Very poor experience of a tutor at South Lanarkshire College who was teaching his students to build an online contact form, but had absolutely no idea that you had to put some kind of script behind it to make it work. In fact the same student friend of mine is learning HTML including tables, and they do absolutely no CSS.

 

I've found that I'm always reading up and learning, technologies for web change and update quickly and there's so much to learn. The internet is the best free learning resource. You just need to have the drive to sit down and work away at it, and make sure that everytime you learn something, put it into practice over and over.

 

I downloaded loads of material and actually found lots of useful stuff was from Lynda.com, subscription isn't expensive and there's tons to wade through. Photoshop, Flash and Fireworks were invaluable and moved onto Illustrator and InDesign and so much more. They've got great material on HTML5, CSS3 and all the latest technologies. There's probably something just as good but I liked the videos and found them easy to watch and they held my attention.

 

I've got a ton of resources that I can put on disc for you if you need it. Good luck!

Edited August 24, 201115 yr by Garyw24

Anyone going to uni should invest some time into finding out about the modules and what they will get from the experience. Any good degree should keep up to date with the technologies, not only because it's what students should be looking for but lecturers are funded to research and they should be at the epicentre of any developments.

 

There is no one correct way of doing things and for anyone to write off either way is short sighted. I've done both and didn't go to uni till the I was 26.

Yeah, I think you're definitely right about that, studying yourself is a pretty lonely existence, I can imagine doing a Uni course and having people to work with and bounce ideas off would be so much better.

 

I've always chosen the route of going solo, work for myself and based at home, it's a pretty lonely existence work wise.

 

If you can find the right course and with the right training, definitely worth considering!!

Is there a course that focuses on app development or anything else apart from web? If you want to learn anything through uni either go down the BSc route and cover some coding or focus on a particular language and learn as much as you can from now until you retire

Based on my own experiences I'd say teach yourself. I've got a few friends at Uni or College doing "digital media" and "web design" etc and they're quite behind on technologies and very poor tutors.

 

Very poor experience of a tutor at South Lanarkshire College who was teaching his students to build an online contact form, but had absolutely no idea that you had to put some kind of script behind it to make it work. In fact the same student friend of mine is learning HTML including tables, and they do absolutely no CSS.

 

I've found that I'm always reading up and learning, technologies for web change and update quickly and there's so much to learn. The internet is the best free learning resource. You just need to have the drive to sit down and work away at it, and make sure that everytime you learn something, put it into practice over and over.

 

I downloaded loads of material and actually found lots of useful stuff was from Lynda.com, subscription isn't expensive and there's tons to wade through. Photoshop, Flash and Fireworks were invaluable and moved onto Illustrator and InDesign and so much more. They've got great material on HTML5, CSS3 and all the latest technologies. There's probably something just as good but I liked the videos and found them easy to watch and they held my attention.

 

I've got a ton of resources that I can put on disc for you if you need it. Good luck!

 

Hello Gary,

 

Many thanks for your reply. Apologies for the delay, but i've been on holiday etc and not had chance to come online.

 

I've decided not to bother with a Uni course. I have done a few part time modules at Uni, and I agree with what you said - the tutors werent too good, and the courses were quite basic. I'm sure the Foundation course would cover more, but just decided to learn from the web in my own time.

 

I'll definately check out Lynda.com - sounds like as good a place as any to get started. Have you used HTML Dog? I may go back to this, although im concerned that the tutorials may be out of date since I last had a go.

 

Many thanks for the offer of putting the resources on to disc for me, if its still ok i'd like to take you up on that. I tried PM'ing you, but am not allowed until i've posted 25 times.

 

Thanks again !

Greg

Edited September 15, 201115 yr by GregF

HTML dog is very good. Much better than w3schools

Thanks Mike, i'll start there then.

 

Is there anything I should be wary of about w3schools ? I was planning on using that site, due to many recommendations here.

 

Thanks

iI'd avoid.

I'll let this site do the talking http://w3fools.com/