What do web design companies expect you to know to work for them?

College Majors Math/Computer Science Majors
1

<p>I am considering getting a technical certificate from my college at FSCJ to get a job in web design. Here is the certificate…</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.fscj.edu/catalogs/2007_2008/data/6954.html”>http://www.fscj.edu/catalogs/2007_2008/data/6954.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Here are the classes that it offers…</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Will this be enough to get me a entry level web design job or do I need to know additional things as well such as Adobe Photoshop? </p>

2

<p>Depending on where you want to work at. Some companies require a degree, some don’t. Knowing Photoshop and possibly some Illustrator is essential to success as a web designer. Knowing web technologies is fun, but reading a textbook about it is as practical as reading a manual on how to build an engine. You NEED TO KNOW how to use web technologies, in case that’s one of those flipping-a-book-get-an-A classes. </p>

<p>Internet programming usually emphasizes Ruby and/or PHP. Knowing some PHP is very helpful, even though you may or may not have to do anything with it, depending on how sloppy the company’s web developer is and how much the company values code quality and organization. Usually web designers shouldn’t see more than a few lines of PHP in a file they’re responsible for. </p>

<p>SQL is probably the least important course and least useful to you as a web designer, unless you want to go into software engineering / web development, especially with PHP. </p>

<p>Knowing algorithms is very useful for software engineers, but not web designers. I’m not sure what the course description is, but you may even buy yourself a book or read through some common algorithms in computer science / used in software engineering. Hint: Common sense and mathematical knowledge is very practical here.</p>

<p>To answer your question: It is enough, and yes, you need to know Photoshop.</p>

3

<p>@econcalc</p>

<p>Thanks for the info. Also, would any of these classes cover photoshop? </p>

4

<p>CGS 2820 Web Site Design and Development may cover Photoshop, but you have the course description. If not, email the instructor. YouTube and the internet helped me a out a lot with Photoshop, so that’s something else to consider.</p>