lewro’s blog - 3.0 - studying web design and development

I have been studying web design for almost four years. I have said in here many times before, there is no way to stop studying if you want to be good and I do. Actually I do not want to be just good I want to be one of the best. That obviously means I need to get huge amount of knowledge to get there. It means studying almost daily but more importantly practicing and using the current knowledge and trying to improve your work in every new project.

One of the disadvantages of our industry is the fact that when you look at your previous work you will most likely be disappointed. Why? You always learn better ways how to do things. There are always better ways. If you are studying hard you will always find ways to simplify your code, make it more readable, faster, better… New  technologies and techniques comes almost every month. You have to choose which way to go. It is almost impossible to master all web technologies but a good package can make you good professional. As long as you are on the right truck everything is fine. If you want to get there you will. I have chosen my knowledge package about three years ago and have been trying to get all the required knowledge since then. Luckily I have chosen the right combination even I was not really aware of all the options at that time. I have decided to learn these languages: css, xhtml, javascript, flash, php, mysql and also these software Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Flash, Adobe Illustrator, Coda.

I came to the last phase of first circle (as I would like to call it). I am taking Illustrator course right now which is the last thing from the list I have not really touched a lot. What is going to be next circle? Improvements in all these fields and maybe something new. There are other interesting languages out there. Such as rubby on rails or python but I have not mastered php into the level I want yet so these new interesting languages will need to wait. There are also other interesting areas to be explored such as typography and art in general.

But all these studying cost money right?

It all comes to money at the end even I have not chosen to become web designer because of money. That said I do believe that all this hard work spent studying will pay off at the end. So how much does it cost to become web designer? Well in my case a lot. I started with CIW Web designer course which costs Â?1500. After that I took two php courses for about Â?300 each and Illustrator course I am taking right now for Â?250. I bought about 25 books. Average price of the book could be about Â?15. It comes all together close to Â?2800. I have not counted laptop and software I bought because I think that would not be fair to count. You obviously need computer by you do not need MAC Pro to start with but I think you can not start without Adobe Photoshop which is not cheap at all and I do not think there is a real cheap replacement. I bought one of the Adobe packages for student prices so it did not cost me leg. You also need editor for all your code. I went for Coda but I am sure that are some free options in this area and I do not mean stilling code from internet.

As you can see it was not cheep at all but it got me a job one and half year ago so I got the money back since then. Is it worth to pay for your studying? I am sure it is.  I could have done it all with self studying but it would take me a lot longer so at the end of the day it was more profitable this way even it was quite expensive to start with.

Feelings

I have worked in several different positions in different companies in my life but only after I have done all this studying I feel I am professional and I can do my work well. Can I do it better? Of course I can and I will try every day. I found the job I love.

How much did you pay for your studying?

Where did you study? How was it? How much was it? Are you currently studying? Tell me all about it.