career progression as a web developer/designer

7724

Hi Guys,

Wondering if you could offer some advice on my learning/career progression as a web developer/designer.

I’ve just completed a ‘HNC in Computing’ on a part-time basis while I’m working over the last 2-years. Now in the HNC I covered lots of ‘Internet based’ subjects – ie html, php, MySQL etc… and want to learn more.

Now the internet is where I want to be and I want to learn more ‘internet based’ subjects, but the ‘Bsc Computing’ (which would be the next logical step) is concerned pretty much with computing as a whole, with very little internet learning involved, which I figure will bore me over a 3-year period on a p/t basis.

So I just want to learn about the Internet. Sadly locally for me (I live in Windsor) there are no part-time degrees I can carry on with my study that involve the internet as a whole.

Can I ask your advice? I’ve looked for many short courses in things like Flash, Ajax, more database stuff, further PHP learning etc... but there are not even that many short courses around.

What would you guys suggest?

Could anyone recommend any Open Learning / University ‘internet based’ courses? or an alternative route?

What did you guys do?

I know a lot of you will probably recommend learning from books/online tutorials, but I’m one of those people who struggle learning from books and need someone physically in front of me explaining how to do things?

I’d really appreciate everyone’s advice on this.

Many Thanks

Chris

greenie2600

I can't recommend any specific online courses, but there are lots of them out there. Just Google on "PHP training" or something similar. These usually aren't accredited university courses - more like interactive seminars. Zend, an official entity of PHP, offers online training, for example.

A degree is entirely optional for a career in computers, at least here in the US. If you can demonstrate that you know what you're doing, most employers will be happy with that - in fact, being self-trained shows that you're motivated and genuinely interested in the work.

I've never had any formal education myself; I was fortunate enough to have an older brother who showed me the ropes, and I learned the rest on my own.

If that doesn't work for you, you might want to try finding some other people in your area who are in a similar situation. You can help each other with the areas that don't quite make sense to you.

Online communities like phpbuilder, of course, are an excellent resource. Feel free to ask questions here; someone will usually be able to help. Just make sure to read the article in my sig first 🙂

Smokey1959

I completed an HND bout 2 years ago.

My advise would be to get into a job ASAP and start earning and make sure that the employer will train you up. You will learn a lot of new stuff and you can decide if its what you want to do for the rest of your working days. The Internet is a large and diverse area and you may want to specilize in one specific sector say design (graphics frontend etc) or database or something.

Speaking for myself college was a two year holiday and I enjoyed it and made the most of it. Work is fun also 🙂

BTW the college should be helpful when it comes to career development - ask them also.

good luck