Advice?

Hi everyone,
My 1st post here.
Years of experience in graphics, but wanting to become more “marketable” in the world of web development.
Getting to know html and css pretty well, but would like to know what those in the business look for when considering adding someone to their team.
I imagine employers will look at your code for example, but not sure what they will be looking for.
Can I move up to a web design position without knowing script or is that something I need to learn as well?
Any information to help with creating a portfolio of work, would be appreciated.
I hope I can contribute input to this site as well in the future.

Whats your design experience in currently? Do you mean you have previously designed for print media?

Thanks for replying,

Yes, I work for publications and they are actively moving towards an on-line presence which is good, but as you can imagine I would like to keep up with the exciting new transitions. I am very familiar with many of the major graphics software, and deal a lot with Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign, and I feel that I can create and code visually appealing web page layouts, it’s just that I am uncertain as to what those who make hiring decisions look for when they look at your coding.

So I am trying to build a portfolio and am trying to keep my coding as “attractive” to the powers that be as possible.

I am comfortable writing code with text editors such as notepad, and thinking that something done in, say DW, would not be as appealing to those making hiring decisions.

Not too good with Java or PHP yet, I have been experimenting with templates for slideshows and image galleries but I stay away from jquery and plug ins.

It seems as though “responsive” layouts will soon become the norm and would think that would be important to show as well.

I guess I kinda feel like an awkward guest at a party that doesn’t quite feel like he fits in yet and doesn’t quite know the “lingo” or the accepted “norms”, if you get my drift.

I have most people on here to be quite friendly with perhaps the odd exception. I think you are always going to strike people that will try to make you feel awkward to cover up their own lack of knowledge but I haven’t struck it here yet. One person bit my head off because I tried to help them and they really only wanted help from one person but that’s the only incident I’ve had here so far. Yeah, I know the “awkward” feeling but I sometimes feel that when I start a new job and need to learn what the acceptable ways of doing things in a new company.

I guess one way of seeing what is popular in terms of design is to google something like ‘themeforest’. They have a website where people can sell their web designs and you can search their site for most popular templates so you can see what is selling.

Anyway I hope you enjoy your stay here.

You’re at the right place. :slight_smile:

My advice would be to make sure that your HTML and CSS are solid and that you have at least an intermediate understanding of Javascript. Make sure you don’t rely on Dreamweaver for your coding (that won’t go down well with most employers). Knowing your way around a responsive framework or two (maybe Bootstrap and Foundation) would definitely be a help.

I’m actually in the process of setting up a Talk with the Experts session on exactly this subject – what skills you need to get your foot in the door as a front-end dev and setting up a portfolio. Keep your eye on the schedule here. The sessions are free.

If you are serious about doing some up-skilling, I strongly recommend joining Learnable, which is our online learning resource. I’ll let you in on a secret. Our Xmas sale is about to start and we’re doing a great deal on membership. You can check out the details here. Apologies if this has come across as a bit of a marketing pitch, it’s not my intention. :slight_smile:

Best of luck. Feel free to come back with more questions if you have them.

Thanks,I hope I my comment about not fitting in didn’t get taken the wrong way, I was referring to the web industry as a whole and not so much the contributors here.

Doing more research and participating here will help with that no doubt. Will definitely check out your suggestions!

Nope, not at all. :slight_smile:

Wow, that is a very good deal. :slight_smile:

And don’t you think that it is i-deal? :stuck_out_tongue:

Off Topic:

Ok, ok. I’ll keep my mouth shut. It is just when they start with this type of things I just can’t resist myself but I know we can go forever so…

[ot]

:lol:

Please don’t - it wouldn’t be the same around here without your sense of humour. :([/ot]