How Did You Start?

benracer

Hello,
I am now fifteen and was wondering if it normal to be web designing at my age?
What age did you all start and where would you recommend i go next to set myself for employment in later years?
Thanks 😉

http://btronics.co.uk

NogDog

Heh...when I was 15, there were no personal computers, not to mention web sites. All I was doing then (when not in school) was hanging out with my friends, waiting impatiently to turn 16 so I could get my driver's permit, and starting to think seriously about things like girls and what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. 🙂

I didn't really get into the computer business at all until I was about 28 or so, and that's an odd story I'll tell you some time if you're really bored.

benracer

Lol, im not a computer "geek" i still do all that stuff but this entertains me till bowt 3 in the morning on a weekend 🙂

rulian

Ha, I started when I was 15 by using Microsoft Image composer and frontpage express!!! Ohh the old days.
NogDog, I'm down for storytime around the campfire!

Is it normal to be a web designer at 15?
Sure, why not. When your 15 you have alot more free time then you imagine. Even with homework and extra curricular acitivies, haning out and what not, it still leaves the typical teenager alot of free time to do what ever you can. The question I think really becomes what do you fill that time with. Web design is as good as any to delve into, but I do think like I think was hinted at that you can spend some of that free time just enjoying yourself too. I dont mean partying, but web design can be fun but I it also a career oriented task. If I could go back I'd start playing guitar sooner (started at 20), taking more photography courses, just enjoying myself with the knowledge that when you graduate college and need to start paying bills, years becomes days because you'll spend much of your time just either getting to, being at, or coming from work or work related activites.

But what ever it is you choose. The IT industry is booming right now, with alot of working coming in from overseas the market is also rapidly changing. There is no way to tell how the market will be when you are ready to come into the scene profesionally, but I can pretty much say that there will at least BE a software industry, and the more you know about it the more chances you have of succedding. Be sure it's what you want to do if you are going to spend alot of your time doing this though. You'll be suprised how quickly you change your mind about what you want to do after a certain age.

Weedpacket

Sheesh, what was I doing when I was fifteen? That's difficult....
One thing's for sure, I wasn't fretting about a career, or even employment.

rulian wrote:
Be sure it's what you want to do if you are going to spend alot of your time doing this though. You'll be suprised how quickly you change your mind about what you want to do after a certain age.

It's amazing the number of people I've encountered who are utterly sick of the IT industry these days and are considering becoming lumberjacks. The turnover is immense.

benracer

For me im money mad, i never really get a fixed amount of money from my parents so i decided to try and earn it, i delivered newspapers. The physical side of that was too much and the thought of sitting at a desk and earning a lot more was a dream so i put it into practice and over a year i have built my site from scratch (with a lot of help from you guys 😉). I am currently revising/starting the site again with "clean" code as currently there is a lot of dreamweaver rubbish from the start of 2007. The buisness is run by myself and does fairly well. I now get 350 unique hits a week, not a lot but for the market im in thats higher than average. Enough about me any way, thanks for sharing. What other languages would be best to learn next?

Oh and weedpacket "turnover is immense" lol 😛

NogDog

Yummmm . . . turnovers! drool

Shrike

Hmm...

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while( $lumberjack->isOk() )
{
  try
  {
    $tree = TreeFinder::find( "ScotsPine" );
    $lumber = $lumberjack->sleepAllNightAndWorkAllDay( $tree );
  }
  catch( HighHeelsException $e )
  {
    $lumberjack->skipAndJump();
    return false;
  }
}

pohopo

benracer wrote:
Hello,
I am now fifteen and was wondering if it normal to be web designing at my age?
What age did you all start and where would you recommend i go next to set myself for employment in later years?
Thanks 😉

http://btronics.co.uk

Well, I started working on computers much younger then you so I would say you are not too young. As for the profession of a Web Designer I relate it to dancing. Many people think they can do it and will do it their whole lives, but very few are actually strong at it.

benracer

hi pohop, i have worked on computers from as young as i can remember but only really started webdesign in janurary 2007. Before this i could format using the commandprompt method, currently i am interested in this market and was wondering where to go next to ensure i can reach a professional web designer by 18 and to make it my full time job. Cheers 🙂

dougal85

I first started when I was about 15 or 16. Made a website for a friend of the family that was starting a business on a (very) tight budget. Back then the web was new and people were a bit cautious about throwing loads of money at it.

The earlier you start the better I say. I'm a fairly big computer geek, although, luckly I like to be social, travel and do other things. I've just always enjoyed programming. It makes it really easy to impress people if you've taught yourself loads at a young age.

"ensure i can reach a professional web designer by 18" - you want to be a designer or a programmer? or both?

benracer

At the moment i do the graphics myself though i am not really an artistic person, the coding intrests me more 😉

dougal85

Same here, well I say just learn as much as you can about programming (in multiple languages).

rulian

To be honest I am one of those people. Not anything against IT I just cant look at computers after a while. I had a construction job for a summer once, I actually enjoyed it alot! You go somewhere new, do new things and are always eating in new places, meeting new people, you sweat and break your back. You come home smelling like hog and feeling like you did a good days work!

Weedpacket

I spent a year working in a winery. That was nice. Every now and then I wonder why I'm not still there.

Have you ever seen what a container forklift can do to a row of loaded pallets? Hint: wholesale value was four hundred thousand dollars.

I just realised how that sounds. No, it wasn't me. I just heard it happen from the other end of the warehouse.

knowj

I started when I was about 12-13 (now 20-nearly 21).

My start was building web pages with homesteads free page maker swiftly moved onto and off front page and into dreamweaver 4, MX, MX2004.

At 14-15 I got into a game called neverwinter nights and started developing modules for it which required a bit of scripting/programming knowledge which I picked up and then moved onto PHP.

I have been at university for 3 (pointless) years and will hopefully getting a full time job in the next few months. I have been working freelance for about 2 years now.

The earlier you get in the better but don't learn bad techniques and methods I know I got stuck in this jam. University only taught us procedural programming/coding.

pohopo

benracer wrote:
hi pohop, i have worked on computers from as young as i can remember but only really started webdesign in janurary 2007. Before this i could format using the commandprompt method, currently i am interested in this market and was wondering where to go next to ensure i can reach a professional web designer by 18 and to make it my full time job. Cheers 🙂

My advice to you is don't try so hard to get into your 'full time job'. I dabbled into computers when I was young, but it was far from being my main thing in life. I recommend you get off WOW, go outside of the house, play some basketball with the friends, hit on girls, play pool, and get an uncle to buy your friends booze and get **** faced with the homies. You will have your ENTIRE life to work and if you start at 18 or 23 it really does not matter. What matters is when you are 40 and you look back at what you have achieved. What I remember is not how early I started my work, but all the crazy ass times I had with my friends. Some of which I can't believe I survived.

The-Master

I am 17, probably been programming since I was about 15 too. I just do it in my spare time. I am not really a computer geek. I still go out with friends a lot. Go to the pub to parties etc. I just programme for fun. Never learned it in school I just taught myself.

dougal85

The-Master wrote:
I am 17, probably been programming since I was about 15 too. I just do it in my spare time. I am not really a computer geek. I still go out with friends a lot. Go to the pub to parties etc. I just programme for fun. Never learned it in school I just taught myself.

Well you are scottish. It's almost the law for us to go to the pub. 😉

I started going to the pub the same age I started programming (late 15).

rulian

15? You can do that in scotland?
Are we p***ies for making it 21 in the states?