<p>Have you looked into CityTech’s offerings? It’s right there in the city, it’d be rather cheap (1/10th of full sail), and, most importantly… it’s actually recognized.
Full sail isn’t recognized for CS (ie, web design). Its completion rate is abysmal (ie, they keep you paying through the nose but you don’t get a degree) and graduates can’t find jobs. Essentially they sell you something that’s worthless, because they’re not accredited regionally so you wouldn’t be able to use your credits for anything, even community college. You’d get into debt for <em>nothing</em>.
To study web design, you first need classes in computer science.
Most community colleges in the city offer classes. They’re also inexpensive but the quality of instruction is good and both community colleges and CityTech (but especially CityTech) are “hand-on”.
So you can get all the basic classes either at the CC closest to your home or online, then attend CityTech. Or you can attend CityTech as a freshman. CityTech is a little more expensive than community college but much less expensive than Full Sail.
Look at those links:
<a href=“http://www.citytech.cuny.edu/academics/deptsites/enttech/”>http://www.citytech.cuny.edu/academics/deptsites/enttech/</a>
<a href=“http://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/”>http://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/</a>
<a href=“http://www.citytech.cuny.edu/academics/deptsites/techdesign/cert_mediatech.html”>http://www.citytech.cuny.edu/academics/deptsites/techdesign/cert_mediatech.html</a>
Did you take the SAT? What’s your GPA?</p>
<p>thanks for your suggestion!
I looked into the school and it looks like a good school to me.
however I couldn’t find the information on web design for that school. can you link me please?</p>
<p>I didn’t take the SAT yet. My gpa is on the low 80s. :(</p>
<p>Do companies actually hire web designers as permanent employees? I feel like if a business needs a web designer they’ll just hire a freelancer to design a page. How many businesses keep web designers on staff? I feel like a traditional CS/IT degree will be much more employable. </p>
<p>Kind of off-topic but I’d be interested to hear about this.</p>
<p>^^
I agree. It’s probably a lot of free-lancing.</p>
<p>I think this student should just start at a CC, do all the lower-division classes needed for some kind of Graphic Design, Computer Science, or what-have-you. With just that it may be enough to be a free-lancer. </p>
<p>That said, I don’t know if it’s a good idea to have that be the only thing you’re trained for to earn a living. </p>
<p>At most reputable universities, you don’t major in “web design”. You major in Information Technology or Computer Science and take classes in web design (+ art). This way you can find a job more easily.</p>
<p>You get a web design job through experience and a portfolio. Doing projects and getting internships.</p>
<p>@Teenbodybuilder is right, web design has been oversaturated for a long time and it is a difficult area to make a living in.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids has the right idea, I think, you are looking at design and CS</p>
<p>Development or backend work is another story. You will want to know some of the core programming languages, like Java and Python. You will want to take database coursework, SQL is widely used. For web specific, you may or may not get that in school, like HTML, javascript, CSS, PHP, Cold Fusion, Ruby on Rails. It changes all the time, but if you are a CS person you can teach those things to yourself. So take CS if you can handle that level of work. Take a lighter weight web development otherwise. The ASU program looks solid, is a real degree program. </p>
<p>You will greatly increase your chance of actually learning better and finishing your degree if your enroll in an in person program. In person you will have the support of professors and peers. Completion rates for online programs are terrible, don’t become a statistic.</p>
<p>You definitely don’t need a web development degree to get into web design; I agree that it’s mostly freelancers who do that. When companies do have in-house support for their web products it’s usually an IT generalist who can do the web maintenance and the computer/systems maintenance, because paying a person full-time wages just to maintain the website would be ridiculously expensive. Once the website’s up, there’s not necessarily a whole lot extra to do - the administrative assistant in my department maintains our departmental website, and I’m the webmistress for the library program I work in.</p>
<p>Another thing you may want to work on is research skills…if you go to the website of City Tech you can look at all of their academic programs by click on “Academics.” You can find the website of City Tech simply by Googling “City Tech.” That’s how I found it. City Tech has associate’s program in art and advertising design, computer information systems, and graphic arts/advertising production management, and bachelor’s degrees in communication design, art & advertising design, and computer systems. You can also get a certificate in interactive media.</p>
<p>Or you can go to one of the CUNYs and learn how to program, then learn web development either through courses or by freelancing or working on a project yourself. Baruch College offers a major in computer information systems. City College is noted for good STEM programs and has a major in computer science. They also have a master’s program in digital art, so they may have strengths in that area. You could also go to Hunter, Lehman, Queens, or Brooklyn College very inexpensively and study computer science and learn to build webpages. If Long Island is also an option, there’s also SUNY Old Westbury and SUNY Stony Brook. Stony Brook has a minor in digital arts and a major in technological systems management.</p>
<p>Private school choices in the NYC area include the New School, which offers bachelor’s degrees in art, media and technology; design and technology; and communication design; and NYU-Poly, which has a major in integrated digital media as well as the more traditional computer science degree. Cooper Union also offers a BFA and is a school of art and engineering, so there may be some way to meld your interests together (although I’m not sure). NYU and Columbia both offer the more traditional computer science majors.</p>
<p>NYU Poly (Polytechnic Institute of New York University) is now completely merged into NYU proper, as NYU’s engineering division.</p>
<p>I’m interested in IT related jobs, and web development and software development both come down to being a programmer who uses codes.</p>
<p>web development programs in colleges teach coding so wouldn’t it be the right way for me to go?
or is there a better program in colleges that I can take for becoming a software developer?</p>
<p>Full Sail is not well regarded in most professional circles.</p>
<p>Majors common in reputable regionally accredited colleges include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Computer science (CS) and related majors (computer engineering, software engineering). These emphasize design and development of computers and their software.</li>
<li>Computer information systems (CIS), management and information systems (MIS), and related majors. These are more business oriented and emphasize management of computers and their software.</li>
</ul>
<p>CS majors will generally be well equipped to design and develop the “back end” of web pages that do things beyond displaying static content (e.g. accessing databases). CIS/MIS majors will handle the management of computers and networks on which the software developed by CS majors is deployed. The aesthetic aspects of the web pages will likely come from those with some artistic background, who may or may not be CS or CIS/MIS majors. A CS major with some art type electives, or an art major with some CS knowledge, may do a decent job with the aesthetic aspects of web pages.</p>
<p>Before you run out and spend money, spend time developing an understanding of these differences. </p>
<p>Someone mentioned the New School upthread so I thought I’d chime in. I went to the New School and the program you speak of is Parson’s Design and Technology. I know because I attended it: it has a undergraduate program and MFA equivalent (which I did) and it’s a merge of web, mobile, interactive design and motion graphics. I wouldn’t be so quick to argue that “web design” isn’t stable and over saturated as a field: sure it’s over-saturated but as a field it is stable, it’s just that employers are also looking for people who are also interested in designing for mobile interfaces, and that have knowledge of and interest in usability testing and wire-framing. A computer science education isn’t going to necessarily teach you all of that, and it’s especially not going to make you adaptable to handling the visual components needed to make a design concept or wireframe work in different resolutions. This is why people with graphic design experience are plucked by interactive firms to learn web and mobile. </p>
<p>Despite what’s been said, some companies do staff full-time web designers. It just depends on the company and how large they are and what kind of audience demand they have. And usually, they want these web designers to be also skilled and open to print design, motion graphics and other kinds of projects. They prefer having designers who are skilled in different areas and have well rounded educations. And just so you know, most design jobs out there have an expectancy of knowing the latest technology. With Adobe Creative Cloud developing for more prototyping software such as Edge Reflow, it’s becoming easier for designers to conceptualize without having to do too much code. That doesn’t mean designers don’t have to learn code, however, and they absolutely should. But that it’s become easier for them to design for different screen resolutions. </p>
<p>But you are right that there’s lots of freelance work in design. Which is fine: Design by nature is a field that’s largely populated by freelancers either way, and that doesn’t mean you can’t make a decent living doing freelance. I personally think Freelance is nice; way less stressful and demanding than some full-time jobs, and you’re guaranteed to be paid over-time. </p>