Hi

 

So far I have learned html, CSS, Flash by myself in books and online and I'm building a website to present my art work and one for my boss who wants to promote his property for hire in France. I quite enjoy these side projects and I am thinking about doing a proper training to work in web design.

 

I have already spent years at uni so I'm not too keen on going back. I have looked at degrees in graphic design including modules in webdesign but I already have a BA and an MA in visual communication and I have done an extra training course in graphic design so I think I would only need the technical part of the web training.

 

I have heard of CIW training and certification. Has anyone heard of that? is that good, recognised within the industry?

 

Any idea where I could look to find a good training course (either distance learning or part time in London?

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Steph

Myself and most people I know in the business either taught themselves, or learnt on the job - don't know of anyone with qualifications in web design. I think a passion for the work and an ability to do it well, as well as experience with clients/people/public is what you need. You show this through your portfolio of work - not a certificate. If you turned up at my door asking for a job with just a certificate but no examples of your work, I'd turn you away. But if you showed up with a portfolio of some really interesting projects or experiments and a passion for web design I'd invite you in for coffee and a chat whether you had a certificate or not.

 

Once I decided I wanted to do web design many moons ago when I was unemployed I managed to get onto one of those 6 month New Deal training schemes which gave me access to a computer, a trainer with some basic HTML knowledge and lots of time. I spend everyday learning stuff and experimenting and making mistakes etc. The last 3 months of the scheme you could spend doing a placement in a company if you were lucky to land one - so I got on the phone and phoned every company I could think of and offered my basic services for free for 3 months. I managed to get a placement and ended up getting employed at the end of it...and I learnt everything I need to know to run my own business at that job - all the web design stuff as well as budgetting, marketing, admin, client relations etc.

 

I've never heard of the CIW training and certification - what is that exactly - do you need to pay for it?

 

There are lots of training course out there and if you have the money you could go on one, but they really do cram a lot of information into a small space of time, so if you can get one that you can tailor make that would be ideal. I can recommend UBIQ in London for that kind of thing. I did a couple of flash course with them years ago and the second one, I asked to be tailor made to a specific project I had to do so I could learn the scripting I needed to implement. It was one to one and was very intensive but I got a lot out of it.

 

Also try and find out if there are any evening courses running - in Edinburgh up here in Scotland there are loads of evening classes you can do and they're set up by the council and run in conjunction with the univeristy/college timetables - so you may not find you can get onto anything now, but when the new term starts in September the evening classes start again. Phone up your local council and find out if there are any available. Most course run for about 10 weeks - 1 or 2 nights a week.

I think the best way to get into web design would be to start to teach yourself or with a friend then see if you can freelance for company's and then try and get employed some where.

 

I don't think that degrees and stuff will help you in web design i think its the amount of commitment and how much you know about web design that will get you into a job.

 

Read books on web design etc. I think its the knowledge that counts.

degrees will help defiantly, if you want to work for some 'big' company they want to see your degree etc, or your application will fly away to the bin.

 

Wildo

I disagree with that completely - I've worked for quite a few 'big' companies and it's your portfolio that counts everytime as well as your personality and attitude.

nothing will win over experience and an eye for design. An eye for design comes with experience. Its very easy for people to teach you HOW to code, but harder to teach you the principles of design, what works and wont e.t.c

 

However, if you want to leanr online, someone reccomended me to https://oreillyschool.com/courses/htmlcss/

 

I havent done it yet, as I am saving for a land rover

 

 

 

 

 

Its the schnizille.

online learning also at http://www.lynda.com/ - there are a few free tutorials, but it's best to pay for unlimited access. I was lucky to be able to access this site through a company I worked for and I just sat and watch video tutorial after video tutorial - it's great!

sweet carolina, looks very nice, I would join if they did Ajax, mySQL and PHP but they dont for some reason? Oh, I think they do software lol.

I am a little dumb lol.

 

Would love to start learning flash to really let my creative designs go loose

I disagree with that completely - I've worked for quite a few 'big' companies and it's your portfolio that counts everytime as well as your personality and attitude.

 

Can't second that enough!

online learning also at http://www.lynda.com/ - there are a few free tutorials, but it's best to pay for unlimited access. I was lucky to be able to access this site through a company I worked for and I just sat and watch video tutorial after video tutorial - it's great!

 

I used Lynda.com for my css learning.

Hi

 

Thanks everyone, this is very helpful. I'm going to visit the suggested links and carry on learning from books and tutorials. I'll post links to my sites when I'm done so you can give me your opinion.

 

And if anyone has more ideas about training...you're more than welcome.

 

Steph

*Drops 2 cents in the bucket*

 

I agree with others that, unlike most professions, you can be entirely self-taught and be a web designer. It's wonderful. Also, the possibilities for freelancing are better than most other professions (writing is also great for freelancing fwiw).

 

However, if you're wanting to get a job with a "real" company, a degree may help you get through the initial sifting stage. Some HR people really can't be arsed to look at portfolios and will sift you out based on your CV, especially when there are 100s of applicants.

 

(And this was my justification for getting my English degree when all I wanted to do was be a professional writer. You see where I am now... )

 

So you probably don't want to work there anyway.

Eskymo mentioned work placements, is it something that companies usually do over here?

I know it's quite easy in my country (France) to find one but does anyone knows if it's easy in London?

 

Thanks

 

Steph

Not sure. I found it quite hard to land a placement - despite offering my services for free for three months! And that was a long time ago - I have no idea what it's like now.