Go back to school for web development?

A degree in English will suit you just fine for doing a masters degree in Information Science, Information Management, or Library and Information Systems. One of those degrees at a university will cost you significantly more than doing an associates degree at a community college but will be well worth it.

I took a few credits at a community college before transferring to a major university. In my general education classes many of the people were planning to get a web development degrees there, but I took a few of the classes and I was really disappointed. The basic PHP course I could have learned by picking up a book and working through it in a few days. All I learned was a very small part of the how and a none of the why.

I recommend doing either a masters degree or working on your own. Once you learn some of the basics just start working on projects and you will quickly gain the portfolio, experience, and taking points you need for an interview. Start with HTML and CSS and work on a website for yourself, friends, or local non profit / volunteer positions. Then you can quickly move onto learning how to setup lightweight content management systems and do templates, then actually using PHP or .NET with SQL databases. There is plenty of info out there to get started that if you were motivated enough you can learn how to do it while you are still working.
 
GJSNeptune said:
Masters is out of the question. I'm already drowning in student loan debt.
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Are you sure you can't get scholarships and stuff? As long as you had good grades in undergrad you should have all sort of opportunities available. I'm paying next to nothing right now for my Master's. Information fields are rich with scholarships because so much of the work overlaps with library science, and library-related organizations have a ton of money to award.
 
Online Education is another option to progress academically. Being a fresher in computers field you can opt for Associate degree in I.T or Web Development. It would help you learn all the skills and basics of computers. Focusing on networking and programming would help to start up your career with I.T firms.

You can opt for computer related degrees via this helpful link:
http://www.thedegreeexperts.com/dg-computers-and-i.t-131.aspx
The names of various universities and colleges offering this degree are also specified. All the institutes mentioned on the website are accredited ones and even recognized by USDLA.
 
God you have got me thinking now. I just checked out the continuing education section of University of Phoenix and they have some good web development classes that they offer. My wife is gonna kill me but thinking I might try to get my work to try and pay for it.
 
Whatever you end up doing make sure you get co-ops or internships!!!!!!!

They will be the best thing you can do with any degree you are looking to get. Specially if you are switching gears 100%.
 
gregnash said:
God you have got me thinking now. I just checked out the continuing education section of University of Phoenix and they have some good web development classes that they offer. My wife is gonna kill me but thinking I might try to get my work to try and pay for it.
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I'd strongly recommend AGAINST going with UoP. I just dropped out of there after a series of costly problems.

I lost a letter grade when work I submitted disappeared. Tech supports response: "we don't see where you posted it." Well duh, neither do I, but I had the screenshot to prove it *was* there (another student had complained that they'd lost work, so I got in the habit of taking shots of every submission). They weren't interested in pursuing the matter and trying to figure out what happened. The next block, I had to retake a class because they dropped me for attendance in the last week,even though I had an A and had posted all my assignments and made attendance postings as required. Once again, tech support had absolutely no interest in helping me. On retaking that course a month later, the syllabus and curriculum had completely changed to a much less informative class. To top it off, my academic counsellor *insisted* that there had been no changes to the class, right up until I e-mailed her copies of the syllabus from both classes. And there's other stuff, but I'm not going to get into all of it.

I'm going to be a year or two paying off the loans for the classes I took, but I'm glad I'm out of it now rather than paying for 3-4 years of UoP for a degree that's looking increasingly useless.

It's a shame there aren't some better universities offering CompSci degrees online. I couldn't even find one locally that I could do it via night classes; you have to be a full-time student. So I'm back to self-teaching and taking what I learn into my current job so that I can put it on a resume.
 
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GJSNeptune said:
I've ordered books with the intention to go through them, but it doesn't work. I get A.D.D. There's no pressure to focus. I have a weak will. :D :(
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I've found that the best approach to self teaching is start with a goal in mind. I'm teaching myself VBScript right now (not for webdev, but for Windows scripting) by starting with small projects I want to accomplish and then expanding until I get to a point that I understand the subject enough that reading a book simply fills in holes and teaches best practices. Then the reading is a lot less work.

ps I'm stuck on variable handling right now, someone needs to read the thread I posted last week and help me out :)
 
PopeKevinI said:
I'd strongly recommend AGAINST going with UoP. I just dropped out of there after a series of costly problems.

I lost a letter grade when work I submitted disappeared. Tech supports response: "we don't see where you posted it." Well duh, neither do I, but I had the screenshot to prove it *was* there (another student had complained that they'd lost work, so I got in the habit of taking shots of every submission). They weren't interested in pursuing the matter and trying to figure out what happened. The next block, I had to retake a class because they dropped me for attendance in the last week,even though I had an A and had posted all my assignments and made attendance postings as required. Once again, tech support had absolutely no interest in helping me. On retaking that course a month later, the syllabus and curriculum had completely changed to a much less informative class. To top it off, my academic counsellor *insisted* that there had been no changes to the class, right up until I e-mailed her copies of the syllabus from both classes. And there's other stuff, but I'm not going to get into all of it.

I'm going to be a year or two paying off the loans for the classes I took, but I'm glad I'm out of it now rather than paying for 3-4 years of UoP for a degree that's looking increasingly useless.

It's a shame there aren't some better universities offering CompSci degrees online. I couldn't even find one locally that I could do it via night classes; you have to be a full-time student. So I'm back to self-teaching and taking what I learn into my current job so that I can put it on a resume.
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Yeah I do have to agree with you. I have both my Bachelors and Masters from UoPhx and have found in job interviews that no one really views it as an accredited college. While I do believe in the structure and "spirit" of UoPhx I am now beginning to believe that the university as a whole has a lot of growing to do. I had similar situations, well actually arguments with a faculty member, that almost resulted in my expulsion from the MBA program. Too many times I have heard of situations like this that really make me second guess my the type of education they provide, let alone I have received.:confused:
 
I don't buy into the online thing. I'm not going back to school only to acquire new skills. I want the college experience again. :D
 
are there even a reasonable amount of "entry level" web design jobs out there? I thought most places will just hire an experienced web designer.
atleast with a 4 year CS degree you can still have a chance of grabbing an entry level development job
 
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