How long to be qualified enough?

Stephenius

How long would it take to become qualified enough in HTML (4 & 5),
CSS (etc), Javascript (etc), PHP and mySQL to get a freelance paid job?
[All learning from home -- say an average of 25 hours per week]
[Presume the person has the ability for technical aspects at least]

And what would be the best way to acquire the first one or two jobs?
[a site which would require PHP]

off.the.walls

Once you can code fluently you know your there and I would suggest doing a course to get official qualifications once you know code

Stephenius

off.the.walls wrote: »

Once you can code fluently you know your there and I would suggest doing a course to get official qualifications once you know code

I suppose official qualifications are helpful but in this case, I have opted to self-train.
Also, any thoughts on how long as a minimum -- say 6 months?

off.the.walls

Took me 6 weeks to learn html and css, at the moment teaching myself php started two weeks ago and am still learning.

Moving onto jquery next and javascript so i'd say around 3-4 months

Stephenius

Hi,
I've just finished basic HTML and CSS.
I'm just moving onto Javascript now -- I have to say it is much more difficult. After this I think I'll go back and have a look at HTML5 and CSS3.
I'll probably move onto PhP after that.
Did you include HTML5 and CSS3?
Good luck with it.

Deliverance XXV

Don't worry too much about HTML5 and CSS3 just yet. They will be important down the line but at the moment focus on getting a website completed with some very important components:

• Valid and clean XHTML/CSS
• Built with a solid, modern design - research the project and its competitors. See what's needed.
• Good focus on usability/navigation
• Good SEO implementation
• Cross browser/device compatibility
• Good content, grammar, spelling, etc.

Qualifications are important in some jobs, not in others - depends on the company. In my current position my employer didn't give a hoot about my degree or my adobe associate certs - just my portfolio and whether I could do the job.

I could go on for ages about PHP, JavaScript, SQL, Wordpress etc., but try focus on the basic foundations first.

KonFusion

Stephenius wrote: »

How long would it take to become qualified enough in HTML (4 & 5),
CSS (etc), Javascript (etc), PHP and mySQL to get a freelance paid job?

This question is somewhat akin to "how long is a piece of string". There is no definitive answer.

It's like going over to the martial arts forum and asking "How long until I get a black belt" or heading over to to the music forum and saying "I've just learned to play the guitar: How long until I get famous".

I in no way intend to belittle your question, just to point out it's subjective. Also be wary. You will find some people in this profession who may take great offence to that type of question, or just brush you off completely.

The short answer is: To be honest you can get a freelance paid job without ever knowing any of the above. I know people who do (Cowboys ted!), and they just bang the job up on elance and charge the client double whatever the elance-er is charging.

You don't want to be one of these people.

Having said that, I also know people who went to college for 4 years, are great at what they do, and still struggle to find work.

For my long answer: I'm going to assume you're asking more along the lines of "How long did it take you to establish a career in Web Design/Development, and what path did you take to get there" or maybe "What steps do I complete to help establish a career in web design/dev"). Because let's face it, a few freelance jobs here and there is great, but it's no solid income and won't pay a mortgage.

To give you perspective on how I got to where I am: I went to college for 3 years studying Computer Science. When I left I immediately got an internship with a design firm. I already had a basis from college in HTML, CSS, PHP, JS, JQuery and SQL (and Java, C and C# but I haven't used them in yonks) so that allowed me to get my foot in the door.

I then started using Compass, a CSS Authoring Framework, and with that I also learned Sass/SCSS (an extension of CSS3), which I feel greatly expanded my opportunities, and gave me much more confidence in my own skills.

After 6 month of the internship, I got my first full-time paying job in web design where I'm not only pushing myself to continuously update my skill-set, but I'm also being pushed to learn new things, keep up to date with the latest trends and technology, refresh skills I've learned previously, and craft the best websites I possibly can.

And now I'm still working full time and I'm back in college part time, trying to expand my knowledge once more, so obviously I'd say I still don't know enough.

I don't think you can ever know "enough", and I think if you adopt that mentality it's going to seriously limit your opportunities.

If you're looking to get set up in web design as quick as possible but don't want to pay for a college course, check out the new boston for tutorial videos, Treehouse and Lynda.

Show (or ideally: have) a genuine interest in the field you're trying to break into. Set up a github account. Contribute to open-source projects. Get some personal projects going. Get your own website and apply for work experience and internships. Listen and get advice from your peers, and show respect for the discipline you're trying to learn.

And if/when you get that first job, if you feel you can do it, great! But don't take on any job you don't think you can adequately do just for the sake of having it on your portfolio. Not only does word travel fast, but having no site in your portfolio is better than a sh*t site.

off.the.walls

KonFusion what does that compass software do write your css for you?

KonFusion

off.the.walls wrote: »

KonFusion what does that compass software do write your css for you?

In a way. It's more like a compiler. I write up in SCSS instead of CSS, and compass compiles it into working CSS.

It does a lot more than that though.

Check out http://compass-style.org/reference/compass/

Edit: This might explain it better.

Stephenius

Thanks for your reply Konfusion.
Part-time Freelance would be okay with me (at least to get started).
So If I am allowed to draw any conclusion from your post -- it is years rather than months.

KonFusion

Stephenius wrote: »

So If I am allowed to draw any conclusion from your post -- it is years rather than months.

That wouldn't be a completely inaccurate conclusion .

More "It's continuous". As usually by the time you feel you fully understand something(if there ever is that time), it changes, or there's something completely new you have to learn :pac:

And besides, knowing how to code is just a piece of the pie.

However if that's disheartening, don't fret. Learning new stuff is half the fun.

Anyway that's just my take on it. There's billions of other opinions out there.

My main advice would be to learn as much as you can, heed the advice of your peers and be ethical in how you conduct business. There's a world of people out there calling themselves "web designers" who'll be happy to take as much money as they can from a client and give them a sub-standard product, and actually be happy to do that. Those people rarely go far.

Stephenius

I knew already it is continuous -- as I have read this in many posts during my research --- HTML5, CSS3 & who knows what next.

But really what my post is asking is how long does it take to reach that minimum threshold to be competently able to take on a project for pay.

All factors being average. (person's ability, project difficulty, etc).

KonFusion

Stephenius wrote: »

But really what my post is asking is how long does it take to reach that minimum threshold to be competently able to take on a project for pay.

All factors being average. (person's ability, project difficulty, etc).

I'm afraid I can't answer that any better than I already have.

Head over to jobs.ie or the like, and search for "web designer" and read the requirements for each job. That'll give you somewhat of a more solid answer I guess.

Stephenius

KonFusion wrote: »

I'm afraid I can't answer that any better than I already have.

Head over to jobs.ie or the like, and search for "web designer" and read the requirements for each job. That'll give you somewhat of a more solid answer I guess.

3 years + is quite common on the jobs ads alright.