worried about my career

[ThorsMitersaw]

I am worried that my major and skill set is not advanced or focused denough to be of any use to either design or the development side of operations. My major is a BFA in Interactive Media Design. And the entire major focused mostly on the front end and introduced us to backend and I, in particular, wanted to work with and studied alot of flash aniomation and actionscript. However my experience in the few shorts years I have been in the industry has led me to these conclusions: that being between design and development with not enough computer science knowledge to do the later and not quite anough design experience or skill to do the former has made me usless. That flash jobs are few and far between and nearly nonexistant in this area of the country (DC metro area, include northern Virginia). And hence, that my major was a waste of time and money.

The skills I list on my resume include CSS, html, moderate knowledge of javascript, familiarity with php, I have worked in jsp somewhat on this job, flash is my ho', have worked with xml documents before, proficiency with illustrator and photoshop, familiarity with CMS systems and have edited some components of them before. I also did alot of this throughout high school and was intriduced to and worked with programming concepts from that time on.

I am thinking I need to do one of the following or be forever doomed to low pay and beng the first on the list who gets his head cut off in the event of a string of firings:
1 - go back to school for CS, which I cant do because I make **** for money
2 - teach myself more through books and online resources and online lectures for free. This is plausable but how much can one actually teach themselves?
3 - try to find a flash job that will take me on, even though I honestly would be so much better at flash if I had a better grasp of programming/CS. This does not seem feasible. Even though I can tactionscript circles around some people and certeinaly around all but one other guy I knew of at my college I graduated from, I am still far behind many others that I would imagine apply for these positions.
4 - give up. I dont really have any other skills other than illustration (far too competitive and over saturated market. pay is low. pay is not steady. hard to find jobs. screw this) and a beginners knowledge of various gun smithing tidbits, so this is the one I need to steer clear of I think.

I dunno. I just feel like I suck at what I do, wasted 4 years of my life, and am damned to abysmally low pay for a expensive area of the country. :-(

convince me not to quit, buy a speedboat, a AK, and start being a pirate on the carribean seas




*end depressed rant*

[dtm32236]

I learned next to nothing about web design/development in school.

When I graduated, I used recruiters / head hunters to find me short-term contract/freelance positions. I worked 4 separate jobs, each about 2 months long. Each job did something different. One was more focused on graphic design. One was all web design. Another was both. And at each place, I've learned so much from the people around me. Again, before I graduated, I had a very novice understanding of both web and graphic design.

Now, I'm working a full time, permanent position at a company doing web design, and I know now so much more than I've ever learned at school. A whole lot more.

You're going to learn most of what you're looking for at your job, not at school. Going through recruiters for contract positions was the best decision I've made.

Moral of the story - get out there, find jobs... take whatever is there. You'll learn so much more than you'd think. Build up your resume, have a nice portfolio to show, and soon you'll have a strong enough resume that college shouldn't matter.

[Animas3D]

Cheer up friend,

School is not the end, but the beginning. The next eight years are your real education. Poke your head around. You'll find your groove. Do not be impatient, there is plenty of work out there. Its a big country.

Cruising around the Caribbean does sound like fun however.

J.

[dtm32236]

PS - I spend a lot of time on this forum at work (don't tell anyone).

And I've learned an incredible amount posting questions I've had, and reading/trying to answer other's questions.

I've learned a whole lot on this site.

[jasonahoule]

I learned crap in school. I suggest reading as much as you can and take an internship if you can. It will suck for a little while having to work a second job along with the internship but you will learn a lot from it. Just make sure they don't have you running coffee.

[ThorsMitersaw]

double post

[ThorsMitersaw]

I learned next to nothing about web design/development in school.

When I graduated, I used recruiters / head hunters to find me short-term contract/freelance positions. I worked 4 separate jobs, each about 2 months long. Each job did something different. One was more focused on graphic design. One was all web design. Another was both. And at each place, I've learned so much from the people around me. Again, before I graduated, I had a very novice understanding of both web and graphic design.

Now, I'm working a full time, permanent position at a company doing web design, and I know now so much more than I've ever learned at school. A whole lot more.

You're going to learn most of what you're looking for at your job, not at school. Going through recruiters for contract positions was the best decision I've made.

Moral of the story - get out there, find jobs... take whatever is there. You'll learn so much more than you'd think. Build up your resume, have a nice portfolio to show, and soon you'll have a strong enough resume that college shouldn't matter.

I feel like I am just the junk feed where I work. The garbage man. They hand me all the garbage they dont want to waste a real programmers time on. This is usually baby javascript, html, and I do all of the css/visual-style debugging. I sometimes have a chance to reach into something more involved and challenging but not usually as we are on tight deadlines and they dont have time for Mr.Worthless to do the same job in twice the time asking tons of questions throughout. :rolleyes:

*cleans AK reciever...*

[dtm32236]

When did you graduate? And what number job is this since you've graduated?

This is my 5th, and first permanent job since graduation last year. My second one sounds very much like your job now, except I was doing the garbage graphic design work. It was terrible. But at the same time, I learned so much there, and a whole lot of what I've learned I use at my job today.

That's why I was happy with the decision of doing short-term contract work for a while. I was at several crappy places doing crappy work. But, it was only for a month or two, and within that month or two, I learned so much stuff that I use every day here.

That's what you have to do. Learn. Keep learning. Keep getting better at what you do. And in no time, you'll be able to create an impressive resume and get a job you actually like (and one that you're good at).

I know that it has is drawbacks (no benefits, etc)... but if you're really unhappy with your job, look into a recruiting firm. I don't know what's around you, but here in NJ, Aquent and ________... I forget the name of the other [better] one, but if you're interested I'll get it for you.

You go to their office, fill out a form and take a test (of your choice: html, javascript, .net, etc...) and they find you short term positions in that field. And they find them pretty quickly. It worked out really well for me.

[KDLA]

Crap jobs are only crap jobs if you see them as crap jobs. Instead, do the stuff you hate quickly, then spend the rest of your working day reading up on programming and such that you have no experience doing. Play around, create "fake" sites on your computer, do stuff that stimulates your mind and your skill set.

Also, at work, don't wait for people to give you an "opportunity." Instead, find things that YOU think need fixing, and silently begin to come up with alternatives that could be used to fix the problem (but on your own test site). Then, present these to your boss, and show him/her that this could help.

Your opportunities are only limited by your amount of initiative; know what you don't know and proceed from there. I have two college degrees, studying to be a concert pianist/conductor, and graduated with honors. I only took one computer course in college, got a "C-" (but really a "B" once the bell curve set in because half the football team was in my class ;)). Yet, NOW I'm in a webmaster job, making good money. I learned it all by studying books and websites during work hours (working crap jobs), as well as asking stupid questions in this forum. Yes, you'll have to be embarrassed and ask stupid questions; but, that's the only way you'll learn something.

KDLA

[toicontien]

Maybe they view you as more of a front end developer than a programmer or designer. I fell into just this position at my job, and once you realize that every web shop needs a programmer, a designer, AND a front end developer who handles all the HTML, CSS and JavaScript, you've found a real niche that makes you invaluable to an employer. Instead of feeling down, really get to know HTML, CSS, JavaScript and how browsers break. You'll become an integral part of the team. This doesn't sound like a problem. It sounds like an opportunity.

[NogDog]

...I have two college degrees, studying to be a concert pianist/conductor, and graduated with honors....
Now I know why I like you. My degree was a bachelor of fine arts in music eductaion. :)

[WebJoel]

Now I know why I like you. My degree was a bachelor of fine arts in music eductaion. :) Does this including spelling? :D (Sorry... -I couldn't resist). :D

I feel the plight of OP. What saddens me more, is not my lack of upstream skills, it is employers that have 'required skillsets' for hirees that include Dreamweaver, etc... IMHO, that is akin to stepping backwards..

[NogDog]

Does this including spelling? :D (Sorry... -I couldn't resist). :D
...
That's not spelling, that's just fat-fingering. After all, I have a degree from a well-respected liberal arts university, so of course I know it's spelled edjumacation.

[WebJoel]

Hahahaha! :D Yeah, -we work & play well together, don't we?