Education: Diploma/Certificate progs vs. College degrees

[aWeeCurious]

I am investigating a web design education. I am an artist for years...have some college and much home PC experience, but am wondering what steps to take for education into this field. Am middle aged and would prefer to avoid required cirriculum of college degree programs to expedite learning the craft itself.

Does anyone here work in the field and have experience with Tech Institue or Continuing Edu certificate and diploma programs?

Are they adequate, cover enough contemporary technology?

Do employers respect these degrees?

How hard is it to make what Salary.com tells me is $42000 median income, in my area?

....and any other info, encouragement, suggestions or even discouragements? that you may wish to offer...thanks.

 

[aWeeCurious]

somebody please throw me a reply, here

Are my questions naive or insulting or just completely misinformed...?

I really am wondering about this edu stuff. Has anybody ever heard of AI Online WebDesign courses
A I Institute ? opinions....

I am gathering from some of what I've read that there is a lot of sales involved in your jobs, too?

What kind of educations do you have...self-taught? Degrees? Certificates?

 

[eagle12]

Hello,

I have a degree in programming, and work as a fulltime web developer. I am mostly self taught when it comes to design. I have been educated in programming, so I could adapt that to web technologies. Before you go out and spend the money to get a degree, be sure that this is what you want to do. Start learning on your own, then make the decision.

To be a successful developer, you really need to have a abilities in all areas. I am not sure if there is a course where you can get a rounded education on all facets of wed development.

If you are strictly basing your decision on money, then I would suggest not doing it. Money, for me any way, is a small part of making a career choice. You need to pick something you enjoy doing. I am not sure what it is like in the US, but in Canada it is not easy to get a job as a web developer making that kind of money. In order to make that kind of money off the bat, you would have to be working for the government. So I am going to have to say, a starting salary of 42,000 is a little off the mark.

In the end the decision is yours, but don't base it on money and job openings. They are very small parts of the decision process.

 

[Rowan W]

Basically, employers don't care about education. It's relatively easy to teach yourself web design by reading books and practicing.

I would strongly advise against taking part in any online courses. Instead, you might want to do a Multimedia course at College or something like that.

good luck

 

[will7]

Well, in my opinion, employers want results. If I was an employer (which I soon will be ) and some guy who has a load of degrees and tons of qualifications and a person who had a portfolio of work walked into my office, you know who I'd hire? The one with the portfolio!

I don't care if they have all these degrees and everything, in my company, I want to see results and, ultimately, make money. How is someone who has been at college / university for years going to get me those results if they have never worked in a business situation? Simple - they're not.

Whereas, the person with the portfolio, the person who has sat down with someone and talked about their site and has designed from a business perspective, would, most likely, know exactly what to say and what its like from that point of view.

You put the "degree guy" in a room with a client and I bet he wouldn't have the first clue how to find out what he really wants! Put the guy with the portfolio in the same situation, who's already been there, I bet he'd know exactly what to ask and exactly how to get the information and, most likely, build up a stronger relationship with the client.

I don't care if he has no qualifications whatsoever, if he can show me work he's done, show me that he really can get results, then he'll be the one I'll hire!

These are my views on this subject and, yes, maybe quite a lot of people at Namepros will disagree with me, but, its my opinion, like it or hate it!

P.S: Sorry for the long post

In short, Experience is better than Education.

Will.

 

[aWeeCurious]

Thanks for ALL the honest answers!

THIS is exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for!

More welcome, please, share your thoughts if you have a chance.

As someone with no more than a keen interest, so far, and some time on my hands....where would you begin to poke around to be self-taught...any tutorial recommendations?

Also, I am guessing that there has been no onlooker familiar with AI or online courses. I would think that since one would be USING the medium of internet to study, this may be ONE field that could actually be well applied to online courses, since the tools are the same as the work environment...? Yes, No...still strongly against?

I took the tutorial on the AI site and thought it seemed well put together...
Week in the Life of a Student
It requires a few minutes to brief through.

My draw to the course is that they promise some portfolio developement in the end result. I do agree that the interactive experience with a customer, would be invaluable...and, for the sake of beginning, I thought maybe the help with creating the portfolio would be good as well.

Above all, I don't want to waste money on fruitless pursuits. The enrollment counselors at almost any institution are also sales people. That's why I came HERE for some real feedback from you guys.

Again, thanks for so far.

 

[skrilla]

Hello,

I have a degree in programming, and work as a fulltime web developer. I am mostly self taught when it comes to design. I have been educated in programming, so I could adapt that to web technologies. Before you go out and spend the money to get a degree, be sure that this is what you want to do. Start learning on your own, then make the decision.

To be a successful developer, you really need to have a abilities in all areas. I am not sure if there is a course where you can get a rounded education on all facets of wed development.

If you are strictly basing your decision on money, then I would suggest not doing it. Money, for me any way, is a small part of making a career choice. You need to pick something you enjoy doing. I am not sure what it is like in the US, but in Canada it is not easy to get a job as a web developer making that kind of money. In order to make that kind of money off the bat, you would have to be working for the government. So I am going to have to say, a starting salary of 42,000 is a little off the mark.

In the end the decision is yours, but don't base it on money and job openings. They are very small parts of the decision process.

I agree with everything you have said here. But as far as a wel rounded course, it really depends on your teacher i believe. I just finished an IT WEB course and i feel it was ver well rounded. The only problem with a very well rounded course is that you never have the chance to sit down and concentrate on one area until you are finished with the course. which is what im doing now that i have finished the course. One must specialize but NOT limit themselves to too few areas of expertise.

 

[KidVeeDublu]

I encountered a similar dilemma when i first began..the problem with obtaining a credited degree is there are so many different facets within the industry no program could possibly focus on all of them thouroghly. I suggest (you say your an artist begin in photoshop and illustrator since it sounds you are more interested in specializing in front end dev more.I myself am self taught and i now have a huge arsenal of software knowlege as well as direction in the industry which is ultimatley very important.It takes alot of self dicipline and motivation to be successful. A good motivational factor that helps me is knowing 2 out of 3 of the BEST are all self taught..Billy Bussey,Shane Mielke to name a few. There are loads of great books available at any bookstore, i suggest looking through them first hand to see which ones will best help your personal style of learning....i can tell you which ones helped me the most but they may not nessicarilly be the best for you....good luck hope this helps

 

[aWeeCurious]

software program recommendations?

I suggest (you say your an artist begin in photoshop and illustrator since it sounds you are more interested in specializing in front end dev more.I myself am self taught and i now have a huge arsenal of software knowlege as well as direction in the industry which is ultimatley very important.

so what's the favs and the best software for an arsenal?

Are we talking like Photoshop Pro, Corel draw, what....?

I'm gathering that my passion lies in the design of tags and avatars and graphics and animations, these are just like play and pratice and fanciful formats...but I don't think you could likely feed yourself on just these, huh? Any opinions on what kind of rounding it would take to get on a web design team or firm position....short of owner/operator. I am not looking to go try to be an entrepenure before I even become a decent craftsman with some software.

You say there the industry is so many areas of craft. Do these hobby type things that I mention seem to pigeon-hole me into an area? ...do I still sound like front end developement?

What does an entry level job entail? All ad agency and temp stuff...

I'm sorry if these questions sound very wet-behind-the-ears, THEY ARE! I am trying to get a clue.
Thanks for your patience.

ALL of you guys are helping...pros and cons...both welcome. I actually like opinions that show aspect. the more varied the better. thanks.

 

[will7]

First off, don't worry about asking new questions, we all had to learn somewhere!

Second, here is my "arsenal" of graphic design programs:

CorelDraw Graphics Suite 12
Xara X1
Macromedia Fireworks MX
Macromedia Flash MX
Adobe Illustrator CS
Adobe Photoshop CS
Adobe Imageready CS
Paintshop Pro 8.0

That serves me very well. I can do vector illustrations, but high-quality bitmaps too. But took a long time to build up!

 

[aWeeCurious]

Well, I'm in now.

Poked by to feedback a bit...

Decided to go with online college degree in Web Design....heading for Animation and Game Art. Love it so far.

Learning alot from fellow classmates....got a guy who has worked for Warner Bros. and E! entertainment, a guy who has 3 registered virtual reality games on the market, and 2 current employees in the Interactive Media business in my class....to name a few.

Picking all their brains clean.

Thanks for the feedback during decision process....love what I am doing.


Just aWeeCurious.