When it comes to employers do they short-list people with relevant qualifications such as a degree? or is it based mainly on what you can actually do? By this I mean, someone with no formal education within web development, would he/she even stand a chance against someone with a relevant degree? Also what direction is the industry actually heading in? a buddy of mine told me (whether true or not) that web dev is a dying industry over here (UK) as work is just being outsourced. One last question, if someone wanted to aim to get a job as a junior front-end web developer, where would that person start off in making this happen?

 

Many Thanks

Based primarily on what you can do, it's well known amongst employers that the vast majority of web-design degrees cover a lot of outdated stuff that is no longer used in the industry.

 

Employers will want to see a portfolio, if you are a developer they will want to see code examples up on GitHub.

 

The web is the total opposite of a dying industry, it's probably the strongest industry there is in terms of job positions and pay. The stuff that gets outsourced are the tiny budget kind of jobs that you probably wouldn't wanna work with anyway, sorry but your friend is greatly misinformed. I get emails every week of job offers and I don't have a degree in this field. Think about it, the world is becoming ever more reliant on technology, and a lot of tech is becoming more and more web based.. what kind of job market would that entail for developers?

 

Which ever path you go down though (Design or dev) be sure to study hard and learn what is required because the barrier to entry can be quite high.

 

In my experience I'd recommend you join CodeSchool and Treehouse, monthly fees are well worth it. I used these resources starting from scratch and got employed based on what I learnt from them. There's plenty of misinformation around so it pays to use trusted and high quality resources.

Edited May 25, 201511 yr by rbrtsmith

I worked at mc Donalds and a wood factory when I was offered my job, they hired me over several people who had degrees. A solid portfolio is much better then a bit of paper.

 

As for getting into the industry I would advise (if you can afford it) is to get apprenticeship. I really wish I would of when I left school.

Edited May 25, 201511 yr by D4Y0

I'd like to echo what these guys have said. In my last role, I was responsible for writing the job posts when we recruited designers and developers, and a degree wasn't on our list. A strong portfolio, and relevant experience (for more senior roles) were far more important.

 

If you don't have the experience, focus on a portfolio. Even speculative and sample work that you've not been paid for look good in your book, plus they'll form the basis of any marketing material you create for freelance work.

 

The industry isn't dying at all. Lower end stuff is being outsourced, then it comes back to established professionals when the $5 work delivers about $4.98 of value. If you want to get in to the industry, keep an eye on job forums, places like LinkedIn, and try for an apprenticeship.

 

Hope this helps.

I worked at mc Donalds and a wood factory when I was offered my job, they hired me over several people who had degrees. A solid portfolio is much better then a bit of paper.

 

As for getting into the industry I would advise (if you can afford it) is to get apprenticeship. I really wish I would of when I left school.

 

I also worked at McDonalds before I left the UK. Man I don't know how I'd cope if I had to work there again, learnt some good life lessons though it has to be said,

As for getting into the industry I would advise (if you can afford it) is to get apprenticeship. I really wish I would of when I left school.

 

Perhaps this is just my experience, but trying to get an apprenticeship has been a tremendous waste of time for me (not to mention depressing). Almost all the apprenticeships I found were basically businesses wanting a fully qualified web developer/designer + social media person + sometimes more for below minimum wage, with some third party training thrown in to satisfy requirements. The ones I applied for were shady/unreliable businesses/agencies who literally wasted weeks of my time. It could just be that I've been very unlucky. Have the people recommending web development/design apprenticeships had a good experience with them? (Not trying to be argumentative, honestly curious)

Well it is very important for you to earn some knowledge before entering in a particular industry. A good resume is matter a lot but apart from resume (just a piece of paper) it is very important to gain some professional knowledge about the industry and outside the industry which include latest trend, technology and much more.

hi friends how are you.......

 

 

Well it is very important for you to earn some knowledge before entering in a particular industry. A good resume is matter a lot but apart from resume (just a piece of paper) it is very important to gain some professional knowledge about the industry and outside the industry which include latest trend, technology and much more.

I think a good resume and recommendation letters are far more important than a degree per se is. You can have 5 degrees for that matter, but if you don't know how to do your job properly, they won't be much useful to you.

basically to start off its not about anyone else its about you and how you go forward, if for example things where at a end then this would be a good opprtunity for you to succeed, learning and progressing is important for you and your goals, what exactly do you want to do and want to achieve in this industry thats what counts, when you find that out you will have somthing to work with and start out on but basically anything websites, design, computer programming and everything regarding it then i can help you with the knowledge and experience i have, we are taking on developers but its people like you! people who want to learn and move forward so starting out as a junior developer in this case would be great for you to get the basic skills before you take on big projects. if you need any help or advice on a specific topic or you just want to ask me a question i will get back to you in a response to this topic, creating a new topic anywhere on the forun to get my attension just put @gwfmb anywhere in the post.