question about education.

[draconic]

in the field of web design, does one seriously need a college degree of some sort to be recognized or respected by an employer, or clients?

is there another way? microsoft certification for example. what would that do for me, as compared to a college degree?

and lastly, generally in web design, are people with degrees generally more successful than those without?


thanks,
gabriel.

[mg33]

The part about the Microsoft certification is a rhetorical question. What good would a certification have in terms of web design?

Well, you are getting this post from a college student, I am an Advertising senior/Architecture minor, focusing on graphic design and web design. I also work as a web/graphic designer for a software company, and I also handle Advertising and Marketing.
And I'm 50/50 on whether or not this post will erupt into one of younger people feeling they know everything and older people stressing what they know, because they are doing it right now. I am 22 by the way.
First off, talent is a neccesity, as is a desire, a motivation, a pride in what you are doing. Plenty of people are looking for ways to jump on the Internet bandwagon, complete with it's daily IPO's, lucrative earnings, stock options, occasional fame, great working envirnments. People in this category, people that decide they are going to get in computers because they hear there is money involved, well, they are in it for the money. On the other side of it, take a look at the design sites that are popular now, the designers that are making names for themselves and showing work and talent that leaves our jaws on the floor. These people had and have a desire to work hard at what they do, they have innovative styles, and people like their work.

So you are asking about degrees, if they are important. As I have said before, and as others have said before, it is starting to become harder and harder for people without degrees to get jobs. There may be the occasional person with talent of extraordinary limits, but that does not happen that often. A degree shows prospective employers that you have dedication, that you wanted to do what you did, and that you can stick with something. Trust me, 10 out of 10 times when employers are selecting employees for things like web design, they will pretty much always choose the person with the degee.
You say "in the field of web design" not in the field of web development, or backend, or coding, but design. To answer the question about MCSE, if you want to become a designer, graphically, I can't think of anything that an MCSE program is going to teach you about design. I also don't know what it teaches about the other stuff, the coding, the development, etc. I am pretty sure that program deals with technology aspects of computers, not graphic design. And I just pulled up some info about it, and I am right. With articles on joining the IT sector, catching the fast boat to hot money, and being an early 20's millionaire, I don't think there is anything in there about designing web sites, rather, that stuff is the technology of web applications, networks, servers, databases, etc.

So, to make my point in all this. Degrees are essential to getting jobs. What you learn in college, you don't get that anywhere else, not with design at least. I won't go into the motivation, talent, drive, and passion that is also pretty neccesary and very obvious in people's portfolios, becuase that could very well be 20 more pages if I tried hard enough. Just remember what I said about people getting the jobs. The people with degrees are more likely to get the jobs.

How old are you by the way?
Hope this helps out, and hope some more people share their thoughts.

Take care,

mg33

[SAM_I_AM]

You really can't lose with a degree... BUT the best learning resource for something specific like flash is resources like flashkit and the people whos work you admire. The internet is a wealth of knowledge and if you know what you want to do then I can understand why people say "Why spend years getting a degree when I can make $$$ AND learn at the same time???" Another issue is the lack of training in advanced internet technologies. The advances move so fast alot of schools just can't keep up to date. I guess it comes down to what you want to do. If your interested in graphic design take a course and see if it's something you want to do. Get as much info as you can.


sam

[mg33]

Another thing about education. I will finish my undergrad degree in May 2001, and this week I have spent alot of time thinking about persuing grad school. Many of the programs dealing with new media technologies are graduate programs.
It is just another way to give yourself an edge.

mg33

[draconic]

the reason i ask is that i am terrified of school. i have been diagnosed with a clinical phobia of it, and compiled with anxiety, panic attacks, and depression, i seriously have no desire whatsoever to go to school. things happened in grade/middle/high school that led me to such a place in my life. i dropped out, got my ged.

i am in therapy for it, but nothing seems to help, and i'm down to resorting to what i can do that basically no one else can do in this small town: rich multimedia design with flash, etc.

as for the msce thing, i have a habit to referring to web design when i mean the whole enchilada as coding, maintenance, setup, graphics, multimedia.

and i'm 18 as of may.

[mg33]

draconic, is that pronounced DRAY-CO-NIC, DRAK-ON-IC, or Dr. A. Conic, or Dr. Aconic? Just curious.

Well, if you really do have that condition, I wish you the best of luck. If that really is true, I can't imagine what it must be like to have a phobia of school, have all those side effects.

mg33

[draconic]

dra-cone-ic.

it's really a block to me. where my father lives in charlotte, you see these billboards that have two circles, one saying education, the other saying future, and an equals sign between them, and future having the universal symbol of no over it in red (as in the no smoking sign). kind of sucks to see even a billboard kicking you down.

i mean even now, after two years of not having touched a school, it's just as bad, if not worse.

i start classes august 15th, but the problem is, they're online. and yet i'm still terrified, and it's driving me insane, yet i don't know why.

so yeah, i'm kind of stuck.

[oz]

when i left school i knew dreamweaver photoshop and MS frontpage. (i had previously done a couple of web pages for some local businesses)

i got a job that paid $1000AU a week web designing.

HOWZAT!! what-a-catch! WHAT A CATCH!!!