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kgarner
Apr 27, 2004, 02:40 PM
I am thinking about getting serious with web design, but I am wondering if a degree is best or just experience? If a degree is the way to go, what do you think about the online courses? Are they okay or would you recommend a "real" college? Any input would be appreciated.


powerbook4me
Apr 27, 2004, 02:45 PM
Experience is everything when it comes to web design.

Personally though, I wouldn't go into this field if I were you.
kgarner
Apr 27, 2004, 02:53 PM
Experience is everything when it comes to web design.

Personally though, I wouldn't go into this field if I were you.

Okay...why?
powerbook4me
Apr 27, 2004, 02:57 PM
Okay...why?

It just isn't a great field to go into right now. Everyone and their mother pretty much knows how to design a webpage.
kgarner
Apr 27, 2004, 03:02 PM
True, but what if I was more interested in the development side of things. Databases and other back-end stuff. I am aware that anyone can fire up Dreamweaver and create a site, but not everyone can do the rest of the stuff. Design is mostly a secondary interest for me, but I like making it do cool stuff behind the scenes.
jeremy.king
Apr 27, 2004, 03:40 PM
A CS degree doesn't hurt. Also allows you to get into all kinds of "backend" development.

Also I would recommend aligning yourself with .NET or J2EE, as both platforms seem to be the most dominant in the corporate world. Even a cert or two may make you more marketable (although I completely disagree with this, its a fact that some employers like the degrees/certs more than the experience)
dswoodley
Apr 27, 2004, 03:55 PM
It just isn't a great field to go into right now. Everyone and their mother pretty much knows how to design a webpage.

Everyone and their mother might know how to do it, but there really aren't that many people who know how to do it well and make sites aesthetically pleasing ;)

Go for it, kgarner!
mnkeybsness
Apr 27, 2004, 04:07 PM
if you want to design sites (the look of them) you would want a graphic design degree.

all that other mojo: php, java, mysql, cgi, asp... i haven't really seen degrees which would specialize in it. you would probably be best starting with a computer science degree and learning all the web stuff in your spare time.
Rower_CPU
Apr 28, 2004, 12:57 AM
It just isn't a great field to go into right now. Everyone and their mother pretty much knows how to design a webpage.

There's a big difference between being able to use tools like Dreamweaver or Frontpage, and being conversant with the multitude of aspects of web design such as usability, accessibility, information architecture, layout, typography, web copy, web standards, web-programming, database queries, etc.

Many people here on MacRumors seem to be making decent livings (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=48098) in this field.