webmaster

[wentwood]

I am thinking of spending �4k plus on a Certified Internet Webmaster learning programme. I understand the prospects of securing a job with a �25-�30 salary are good at the end of the 2 year course. Has anyone done a similar course or know about job prospects at the end of the course?

[WoWo]

"I understand the prospects of securing a job with a �25-�30 salary are good at the end of the 2 year course"

Who told you that? Total waste of money if you ask me, employers want real world skills (experience) which with all the best will in the world a course will never teach you.

Have a look on some of the IT Job websites (CWJobs.co.uk is a good one) and see what they are asking for in terms of experience, no offence but it isn't this type of course.

[vehelpfulguy]

Have to agree with WoWo, the people telling you that you can earn �25-�30 are probably the people who are trying to sell you the course.

If you want to learn web design I would say:

Buy your own domain and get someone to host it for a year. This will cost you less than �100.

Search the web for HTML tutorials, or buy a book such as Web Design for Dummies, and "practice" on your own web site.

Then offer your services for free to a local charity or small company to help design and maintain their web site.

This will give you "real world" skills.

After doing this for a while try to find a company who will pay you to look after their web site (or set yourself up as a company offering web design skills).

[vehelpfulguy]

One more thing.

A few years ago you could design a web site by just knowing some simple HTML.

But the world has moved on.

HTML is no longer enough, you need to know JavaScript, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), XHTML and XML.

You also need a whole range of skills such as proper web design skills, knowledge of e-commerce, of working with relational databases, and technologies such as ASP and Java.

If I was you I would "self learn" by buying books and searching the web, there are loads of sites on the web to help you with web design.

[WoWo]

I'm glad vehelpfulguy agrees because I felt my first reply may have been overly negative. It just that I don't like to see these companies saying you can just get a job just like that at the end as it's simply not true (or at best very misleading).

vehelpfulguy advice is good, personally I think rather than spending money and 2 years on a course it would better to start at the bottom somewhere and work your way up.

Just to clarify you can get a domain and hosting for much less than �25 a year for example

http://www.wiserhosting.com/

Offer pretty much everything you need for �25 a year, I run a very successfull site (thousands of hits a day) on that plan.

[OBonio]

Been in the industry 7 years now. I started on �12k. After 4 years I managed to creep into the �25k bracket but that was with learning technical back end stuff.

What qualification do you get at the end of it? I've never heard of 'Certified Internet Webmaster'. You'd be better investing in a Computer Science degree from the Open University. Your 4k would go a lot further too.

Have a look here for an idea on salaries :

http://www.reed.co.uk/JobSearchResults.aspx?Se archType=Simple&SearchRoute=20&JobSect or=902

The competition is quite fierce as computers are now considered 'trendy'.

Good luck in whatever you choose to do!