Future Plans Bachelors Degree Web Design

IWannaBeInABand.com · #1 (**permalink**) 11-02-2009, 07:55 AM

Ever since I joined this forum, I've been amazed at the amount of support I've received and all the helpful people that take their own time to help others out. I had a question about what you guys would recommend for schooling for a bachelors degree in web design?

Heres a little background on me:
I'm 21, almost 22. I went to the University of South Carolina for 2 years as a full time student (my 2nd semester of my sophmore yr i was in the buisness school but I had an awful semester because i was stupidly trying to work 2 jobs and go to school full time), after losing my scholarship because of this pitfall, I went to Midlands Technical College in hopes of being a radiologic technologist. After the 1st semester of taking some science and medical courses, I realized that the waiting lists on all of their health programs were just ridiculous (5+ years) and they were just leading many people on for the money. I then decided to obtain an Associate In Arts Degree from Tech at the end of the summer and then I took this fall semester off.

Back In August I discovered Lisa on youtube and started teaching myself html, etc., and I've discovered I really love learning how to do stuff with web design, it's so much fun and I'd like to make it a career. I'm thinking of getting a bachelors degree in web design and I'm curious if you guys think thats a good idea, what school would you recommend considering my location (or online because I have to maintain a full time job that I work fri-sun), and if you don't mind give a little background about yourself, where you work, your education, etc. THNX! :0

West · #2 (**permalink**) 11-02-2009, 09:30 AM

It sounds like you are really excited about web design, and passion is a key factor in deciding what your major will be. I think you should maybe take a few continuing ed classes in that area to get a feel for it. Then, if you are still just as enthusiastic about it, then go for it. As far as what schools to attend, you can research that online. I don't know how credible it is, but I found this site via google: http://www.webdesignschoolsguide.com/

A little about me: I just turned 29 on 10/21 ( I can't believe I'm almost 30!!). I graduated from Penn State with a BA in Spanish, minor in English. I taught for 1 year in the Phila. school district but I did not have a good experience. I started out as a substitute and eventually got my own classroom for about 6 months. But, since I did not study education in college, I was just thrown into the situation with no prior experience. There was such a shortage of teachers in Phila. at the time, so all you needed was a bachelor's degree to teach, not a certification. I eventually got too frustrated and made a career change to the Human Resources field.

But now, I'm thinking about going back to school for a Master's degree in Education, specializing in Teaching English as a Second Language. The more and more I think about it, I feel like I belong in the classroom rather than in corporate America.

MJK · #3 (**permalink**) 11-02-2009, 09:47 AM

There's an online school a few people in my family are in (I come from a bunch of nerds). It's called Full Sail University. I don't know if you want to do online schooling but you didn't so no so. But they have a really great program (& a new Mac Book Pro + Software included in tuition). I went to a community college for Graphic Design. For me it was a waste since I was self taught for 2 years prior to going. So I recommend taking advanced courses if you think you've learned a lot of the basics.

Pretzel · #4 (**permalink**) 11-02-2009, 01:06 PM

The first thing I've noticed when I read your background is that you started out three different career paths during the last couple of years, but didn't go through with them. I do understand that you might have had good reasons for that, but did you try to stop a minute and think about the not-so-obvious reasons behind those.

Just keep asking yourself 'why' there were pitfalls everytime and see if you come up with a reason other than environmental factors, something more within yourself.

I realise web design is exciting. You've only discovered it three months ago. I would may be take a little more time to make a decision about a degree if I were you. Just to be sure that it's the right decision. The great thing about web design is that you can learn a whole lot on your own.

The reason why I am advising you on the cautious side of things is that I went through about the same thought process at the begining of the year. I really wanted to start studying again and I wasn't sure whether to go for a masters degree in psychology or a web design certificate. The psychology side is where I got my degree so that would have been an obvious choice, but I would have to do it online, and I guess it scared me a bit. I had just discovered web design and like you was completely enthousiastic about it. I've always loved anything computer related and I always wanted to do something like that. So I nearly decided to go for it.

Somebody helped me in making my choice though, by asking me the right questions. So here are some things to think about before you make your choice:
- What do you value the most in your life (time, family, money, etc...) and how would a job in web design fit in with those?
- How do you picture yourself in 10 yrs time?
- Do you need people most or can you be quite happy in front of a computer all day?
- What is your support structure like? I mean how are the people close to you going to react, will they support you or not?
- What assets do you have that will allow you to succeed in this field.

After debating for an hour on the subject, I finally changed my mind and decided to go for the masters degree. (Now I need to find the money for it, but that's another issue).

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to discourage you. If that's really what you feel you should be doing, by all means go for it. After only a couple of months, your website really looks promissing, so you got the potential.

All I'm saying is take your time. It is an important decision, and with some thought, it will be the right one.

Sorry! I realise I've been rambling on... Enough now and best of luck!

sequencehosting · #5 (**permalink**) 11-02-2009, 01:42 PM

I am also thinking hard about doing a course in web design. I certainly think you should weigh it up like everyone else said. My only worry about doing a web design course is what they teach. One of my friends has finished a web design course at college and he said his teacher printed of the html on sheets and the class just typed it out to learn. I think I would properly leave if I were in that class.

Look into the courses and make sure it's right for you. I will be doing the same

jaressloo · #6 (**permalink**) 11-02-2009, 02:10 PM

I think that what Pretzel said is very good advice.

I, too, will err on the side of caution.

There are a few things to keep in mind when considering a degree of this type.

First of all, maybe people think that web design is just one degree and that you can will be able to build any website you want with a web design certificate. This is not the case - by far.

There are TWO main "tracks" for website building:

1) Web Design
2) Web DEVELOPMENT

Many people don't realize that these are two completely different things.

Web Design
Web Design is using Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, XHTML, CSS, etc. to DESIGN good looking sites. You are the front end / UI (User Interface) / GUI (Graphical User Interface) designer. You have nothing to do how the website will work and what the website will be able to do.

A web designer is similar to an interior designer in the construction market. The interior designer has NO IDEA how the house was built. They're job is just to make it look god. Similarly - a web designer's job is just to make the website look good. Nothing more.

A Web Designer will never be able to create dynamic websites like Facebook, Myspace, this forum, etc. A web designer is limited to the creative aspect of website creation and will only create layouts and templates that are pleasing to the eye.

Web Development
Web Development is the complete opposite side of the coin. Web Development doesn't have very much to do with making the website look good. They're job is to make it WORK! Your web developers are your programmers and database people. These are the people that fix the errors on the pages when a user hits it. They turn a nice soft blue looking design into a "Facebook" web application.

Web Developers need to know languages like Javascript, ASP.NET, PHP, Perl, Cold Fusion, Ruby on Rails, SQL, Classic ASP, etc. However, they also need to know HTML and CSS very well too.

The Web Developers will probably not have Photoshop or Illustrator on their computers - as they do not know how to use them.

Hopefully this little write up will help you see that you are going to need to pick a track that you would like to follow. Just for the record, I don't know of any jobs you can get with ONLY HTML and CSS knowledge. You NEED to go one way OR the other and learn Photoshop OR programming. Solely having HTML and CSS knowledge, in my mind, unless you're working for yourself, is not very useful.

Lisa is more of a web designer than developer and I'm sure she makes pretty good money doing it as she works from home!

Markus Frind is a web developer who built PlentyOfFish.com (the first FREE dating site). He makes somewhere around $450,000 / month working from home.

Web Developers / Programmers are going to make more money than a web designer, but you have to do what you love! I don't think Lisa is very interested in learning programming or databases, etc. So, she's doing what she loves, gets to work from home, and spend time with her family! Nothing beats that!

So...the choice is obviously yours. Just make sure that you're very well informed before picking a path. Neither are easy. I'm sure Lisa had to practice for YEARS at Photoshop before becoming proficient at it.

Hope that helps!

IWannaBeInABand.com · #7 (**permalink**) 11-02-2009, 04:49 PM

lovin the feedback keep it coming! The reason why im interested in a bachelors degree is im sitting with a useless associate in arts degree (essentially a general studies degree), as for the web design web devolopment, i definently am more intrigued by the design aspect, i'm a very organized person that loves graphic arts and such, and I like creating things that are visually appealing.

florestime8 · #8 (**permalink**) Today, 12:35 PM

Hi,

I am currently enrolled in the Associate's of Arts in Information Technology/Visual Communications, which I will be done with that in January 2010. Now I am in the process of enrolling into the Bachelors program for Web development, thinking is the same degree as my associates. As I am reading some posts here I realize there are not, even thou it sounds very interesting to be in these fields I am a little intrigue and confused. Ok so what will I be doing with an Associate's degree in Information Technology/Visual Communications. I was told by my academic counselor at time of registration that this was the same thing as Web design degree, so I went for it, since that is what I was looking to get into. Now they said the continuation of this program at a Bachelors level is the Web Development program, so now I'm confused. I have been reading about the Web Development program and it sounds great, I will still pursue it, but I just want to know what is my Associates degree worth and for what. I would love feed back on this please thanks.

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