squiblo Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 Hi all, I am currently at college doing courses that I really don't like, (Maths, Physics, P.E) but I LOVE computing, and web design/programming is what I want to do in the future and pursue it as a career in the future. Note - Sorry if I have posted in the wrong section of the forum. I am looking to drop out of college and pay for web design/programming courses, and I thought would be a great place to ask for advise. Where can I find a good course? Will the course be worth it? What can the course lead me onto in the future? Any other advise will be much appreciated. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squiblo Posted January 24, 2010 Author Share Posted January 24, 2010 What are your opinions on the following website... http://www.computeach.co.uk/web-design-courses Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamkelvl Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 Hey there! I'm currently a student at a College taking Web Design/Animation. Last year I took Computer Programming, in my second semester I had a class focused on web programming. That is where I fell in love and decided to switch to Web Design / Animation, to improve on the front-end look of my so-called web programs. That said, the program I am taking offers courses on web programming and relational databases as well as your typical web design / photography / photoshop classes. In my opinion, I suggest taking a look at programs some local colleges offer and make your decisions based on the the program that best suites you. As far as career options, you can work for yourself, free lance or get a full-time job as a web designer, information architect, programmer, and well.. the list goes on. I suggest taking the time to look at some occupational websites, and statistics for your state/province or country. Anyways, hope I could help! Good luck to you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squiblo Posted January 25, 2010 Author Share Posted January 25, 2010 Thank you for your input jamkelvl, please keep them coming, they will be very useful for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squiblo Posted January 25, 2010 Author Share Posted January 25, 2010 Also what qualifications are employers looking for...all I can find is: CIW (Certified Internet Webmaster) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnoTheDev Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 If you are interested in programming then I would certainly stick with your current maths qualification. Being good at maths does indeed help a programmer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinM1 Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 What is your major? Does your college have a computer science program you could enroll in? Here in the States, it's often a bad idea to trade a degree for a mere certification. So, stay in school, or transfer to another where you can at least get an associate's degree in something applicable to programming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnoTheDev Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Agreed. I wouldn't drop out if you are part way through a course. At least stick with maths as this is a good qualification to have. Your college should do HNC/HND courses, that is what you should look at. If you are interested in programming then you do not need to learn a web languauge as such. I did HND software engineering which covered C++ & Java, so moving onto languages for the web is a doddle. I found that students who I have interviewed for positions, that did web related degree courses were way behind in terms of the level of knowledge required to put together a live system for a client. So in my opinion forget the web courses, do software engineering or similar and teach yourself web technologies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akitchin Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 agreed - your best bet is to continue down your path (depending on how much time you have left in the degree) so that you have a very transferable qualification. a simple certification is often far less transferable and usually too focused to yield any major long-term competencies. web programming is something that is notoriously difficult to certify, and often your portfolio and knowledge are most considered when finding work. having a degree to back you up is a serious leg up, and the portfolio and knowledge are both things you can develop concurrently, without having to drop everything and pursue it full-time in a several-year program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squiblo Posted January 25, 2010 Author Share Posted January 25, 2010 Thanks to all those who have give me guidance, I will continue college and graduate and then decide where I want to go from there, but I know for sure that I want to go into web development. Please could you say how you got to where you are today and if there is anything you would change if you had the chance to go back in time. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roopurt18 Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 On average a person with a college degree is going to have more options than one without and make better pay. If you really enjoy programming and problem solving, I suggest (like others) you continue with college and obtain a degree in computer science and possibly even a math minor. Learning a programming language to write programs is the most basic task a programmer will face; any real programmer should be able to learn any language and solve problems with it. In other words, computer science courses are not there to teach you programming languages; you should be able to do that on your own. The courses are there to teach you how to solve complex problems. In addition, core computer science courses will give you a theoretical and scientific background to problem solving, rathr than teaching you how to use the latest technology fads (such as AJAX). However (and this is all on average), if you prefer to make less money, be less desirable in terms of credentials, want to limit your field of expertise, and want to update your certifications every few years, then by all means drop out of school and pursue courses that teach technologies rather than theories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinM1 Posted January 26, 2010 Share Posted January 26, 2010 Thanks to all those who have give me guidance, I will continue college and graduate and then decide where I want to go from there, but I know for sure that I want to go into web development. Please could you say how you got to where you are today and if there is anything you would change if you had the chance to go back in time. Thanks again! I'm mostly self-taught. The computer and math courses I took in college really helped me when I first started teaching myself web development. And, to be honest, a lot of web development is pretty easy. The nature of the HTTP request cycle really simplifies things. If you're ambitious and a hard worker, you can probably teach yourself most of what you need to know during summers and other breaks from class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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