"I want to be a web designer"

Posted: 16 April 2009

I was recently involved in a panel discussion where a questioner asked what they should do to become a web designer, and what certification courses they should take.

The consensus on our panel was that certificates in this sector are worthless: employers don't trust them, and are more interested in seeing a real-world portfolio showing experience. Which is, of course, a bit of a catch-22 for someone getting started. We suggested they should start by finding local not-for-profit organizations and offering to assist with their websites, and build up a portfolio that way. This also has the benefit of providing a local contact-base which could lead on to some paid contracts.

The other point we made on the panel was the distinction between a web 'designer' and a web 'developer'. Web designers are primarily focussed on the graphics and the look of a site, whereas developers are more concerned with the underlying mechanisms: databases, user permissions, security, ecommerce, etc. Most people want to concentrate on the graphics, and are thwarted by the need to program to do the other aspects. Naturally this is where neatComponents comes to the rescue, as it provides all these technical elements without the need to learn any programming languages - and of course there is a free license designed to enable aspiring web designers to get started with the minimum outlay.