Photoshop etc...easy to learn??

Cheese Princess

Not sure if this is the right forum for this thread but.....
I have done a couple of interviews for a marketing executive role. I haven't worked in marketing before but have done some events and have a communications degree.
I've been asked about creative packages and whether I can use them or how fast I would pick them up.
I did a project in college using photoshop and one in Adobe pagemaker but this was about 8 years ago and I really don't remember anything about them.
Is Photoshop easy to pick up or can anyone recommend any intensive courses?

projectmayhem

photoshop 8 years ago is not photoshop now, but you can pick it up easily enough with a few internet tutorials etc.

it's one of those "easy to learn, difficult to master" type of things. do some tutorial type stuff that would be up your alley (i recommend pixel perfect on revision3). after you have some good knowledge you can judge for yourself if the job would require a night course or something to help you push your skill a bit further...

Cheese Princess

Sounds like good advice, thanks!
I'll have to wait and see if they're going to take me on first....they seem to want to cut down on designer costs by having their marketing exec be able to do most of the graphics.
Might be worth brushing up on photoshop anyway if I want to break into marketing.

heggie

not aiming this at you, but it's typical of some companies getting marketing to do graphics, it all ends up ****e and needing to be redone anyway

Deliverance

heggie wrote:

not aiming this at you, but it's typical of some companies getting marketing to do graphics, it all ends up ****e and needing to be redone anyway

Maybe a good alround alternative would be for the OP to learn the basics and be positive in the interview about photoshop usage etc.
Show the interviewers that you can do it, then contract individuals to do the design work in photoshop or other apps. If that is realistic money wise.

Personally, I think that if I was building a house I wouldn't ask the plumber to do the carpentry as well, would be a disaster. As mentioned by heggie I think.

heggie

yup, i'm only half complaining though as some of what I earn is fixing the artwork

I'd imagine that it's helpful to be able to do mockups in photoshop etc even if its not to a print ready standard, take a look and lynda.com tutorials, they can be quite good

Cheese Princess

You're absolutely right. I think they are just looking for someone who can do as much as possible of the artwork before having to hand it to a designer.
Having a look at lynda.com now, seems to be loads of courses there so thanks for that!

Potluck

photoshop is not easy to master but you can do alot if you know the basics. Depends what you'd be using it for. Coreldraw is very good. Theres plenty of good online tutorials for photoshop just search on google.

Deliverance

Cheese Princess wrote:

You're absolutely right. I think they are just looking for someone who can do as much as possible of the artwork before having to hand it to a designer.
Having a look at lynda.com now, seems to be loads of courses there so thanks for that!

Total training do some good stuff as well. Lynda.com is very good though.