Hello and Help me please!!!!!

Hey Martyn,

Welcome to the site!

I was in pretty much the same position as you about 7 years ago. Was in a permie job (Customer services) and wanted to get into web design. In my spare time I did tutorials (.Net magazine is great! as well as lots of online resources these days) and learnt how to use Dreamweaver and Photoshop to make simple sites.

Once I could do that I helped out mates with their sites to get a portfolio. At this time I took voluntary redundancy and paid for a couple of courses (Dreamweaver and Photoshop) at a hundred quid or so each, just one day ones, to give me some almost formal qualifications.

These and a couple of portfolio sites for mates gave me enough to get a foot in the door. Once you are in you learn at a much faster pace!

I took a really low paid job to start with (about 15k per year) and then extended this to 17k after trial period and worked my way up to 30k within 5 years so was not bad going I guess. Then took pay cut again to go freelancing and although the money may be a bit less the ease of life working from home is a worth a little less in the pocket.

I have rambled a bit and probably gone off topic a bit but what I am trying to say is sod paying for training initially!

Get yourself a PC and the required software (Photoshop and Dreamweaver) you can get 30 day trial versions of these as the costs are probably prohibitive to start with, also if you know what you are doing you might find ways of "extending" these trials while you are learning.

Then follow tutorial sites to make a few little sites, or buy some cheap books or training DVDs from Ebay etc. Once you are sure you like it and are sure this is the job for you then I would try and get a few little sites done for friends and family, then apply for jobs. If no joy on initial applications build the portfolio a bit and then take some courses to add to the CV to show how serious you are about it and give you something more to talk about at interview and then try again.

You should not really need to pay for courses in my opinion, your work should speak for yourself and you should be able to land a junior job without a huge amount of experience, a small portfolio and a shed load of enthusiasm will get you there!

Thanks for the feedback it is much appreciated. It is nice to see that these goals are achievable by seeing that you have made the change from Customer Services to do something you probably love and enjoy.

I will take your advice on board and start looking into the things you have suggested, my only problem I guess that is going to be a difficult factor is that I currently earn over £30k in my job, but that is what it is just a job, so even though I know I am going to be on less money to start with I know I have to do it in order to get what I want.

Cheers!
Martyn

You don't want to take too much of a drop in cash when you switch so maybe go for something more technical?

Learn database and programming on top of the design and build stuff. You need to know a certain amount of HTML and CSS etc to be able to be a good programmer in my experience so learn how to make sites well and then start on a programming language, .Net or PHP would be my suggestion. Plus a database system, MySQL or MSSQL. Databases and programming are a lot harder than site design and build but the same applies, lots of tutorials about so get stuck in!

cheers, that is something I will take a look at, because the mortgage and the wife won't apprecite too much of a drop, mind you I could handle the mortgage it is the wife that scares me:laugh2

Yeah mate, behind every successful man is a bitch with a baseball bat :rollin

Its easy any joker can do it

gilly, post: 1512 a écrit : Hi,

My name is Martyn and I am new to the site so please go easy on me.

The reason for me posting is I am currently stuck in a Recruitment job that I would like to leave, but I want to re-train myself and join the world of web design and was looking for some good advice where to start.

I left school at GCSE level and have being working in a commercial business environment since, but now I want to gain the formal qualifications and training I need to be able to persue a career within web design and eventually be freelance.

I have looked at different ways of getting the training I need, but obviously these companies are focused on selling me the training, so i would like some impartial advice and to be told straight.

The route I am looking at is the CIW route, taking the CIW Foundation course and exam to give me the grounding, is this going to be the best route for me or can anyone shed any light on the best way for me to get the right training and qualifications I need to make this career change.

Your help and adivce will be greatly appreciated

Try the OU, they do have good web course which you can then turn into degrees.

But I wouldnt wait for a course, just get out their and do it. Are you a member of any club or do any family members have their own business. See if you can doo some freebies to get your feet wet.

Another good route, is to do general design work, because you will find a lot of rules that work in graphic design work just as well for the web.

Finally dont go down the route of templates and packages like front page, net objects or cms's until you know what you are doing .

Hope this help

gilly, post: 1520 a écrit : cheers, that is something I will take a look at, because the mortgage and the wife won't apprecite too much of a drop, mind you I could handle the mortgage it is the wife that scares me:laugh2

Unless you're prepared to initially take a big pay-cut maybe you should consider doing this in your spare time until you have developed the skills and confidence to move into full-time or freelance work.

I'm with smithy.....'part-time it' until you've developed the semblance of a client base...........once you've got that, then plan your path to world domination. :happy

Good luck

Wow, wish I was on £30k - you did that having left school with only GCSEs - makes me feel like art school was a complete waste of time (and student loans!!) Good on ya!

My advice would be whatever you decide to do, make sure you have your family behind you and they realise that thing may be tighter financially than before.

Best of luck :bye