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Thoughts on Adobe Web Design Courses Examined


By Jason Kendall

If you're considering being a web designer, find a course in Adobe Dreamweaver. To facilitate Dreamweaver commercially in web design, an in-depth understanding of the whole Adobe Web Creative Suite (which includes Flash and Action Script) is without doubt a bonus. Having this knowledge will mean, you might lead on to becoming an ACP (Adobe Certified Professional) or an ACE (Adobe Certified Expert).

To establish yourself as a full web professional however, there is much more to consider. You'll need to study various programming essentials like HTML, PHP and database engines like MySQL. A good understanding of E-Commerce and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) will also improve your CV and employability.

Don't put too much store, as can often be the case, on the certification itself. Training is not an end in itself; you should be geared towards the actual job at the end of it. Stay focused on what it is you want to achieve. Students often train for a single year but end up doing the job for 20 years. Don't make the error of choosing what sounds like a program of interest to you only to spend 20 years doing a job you don't like!

You need to keep your eye on what you want to achieve, and create a learning-plan from that - don't do it back-to-front. Stay focused on the end-goal and study for an end-result that'll reward you for many long and fruitful years. Seek advice from a skilled professional, even if there's a fee involved - it's usually much cheaper and safer to investigate at the start if a chosen track will suit, instead of discovering after several years of study that you aren't going to enjoy the job you've chosen and have to start from the beginning again.

Many training companies will provide a useful Job Placement Assistance facility, to help you get your first job. Don't get overly impressed with this service - it's easy for companies marketing departments to overplay it. At the end of the day, the still growing need for IT personnel in the United Kingdom is what will make you attractive to employers.

Having said that, it's important to have help with your CV and interview techniques though; also we would encourage any student to work on polishing up their CV as soon as they start a course - don't procrastinate and leave it for when you're ready to start work. It's possible that you won't have even got to the exam time when you will be offered your first junior support role; but this can't and won't happen if interviewers don't get sight of your CV. Generally, you'll receive better results from a specialised and independent local recruitment service than any training company's national service, because they will understand the local industry and employment needs.

A slight aggravation for a number of training providers is how much men and women are prepared to study to get top marks in their exams, but how ill-prepared they are to market themselves for the position they have qualified for. Don't give up when the best is yet to come.

Any program that you're going to undertake has to build towards a fully recognised major accreditation at the end - definitely not some 'in-house' diploma - fit only for filing away and forgetting. All the major IT organisations like Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA or Adobe each have nationally recognised proficiency programs. Major-league companies like these will make sure you're employable.

It would be wonderful to believe that our careers will always be secure and our work futures are protected, but the growing reality for most jobs in the UK currently is that there is no security anymore. Of course, a quickly growing market-place, where staff are in constant demand (because of a big shortfall of commercially certified people), creates the conditions for proper job security.

Using the computer sector for instance, a recent e-Skills study brought to light a national skills shortage in the country of over 26 percent. So, for each 4 job positions available around the computer industry, employers can only find enough qualified individuals for three of the four. This single reality in itself underpins why the UK urgently requires considerably more trainees to enter the IT sector. In reality, acquiring professional IT skills during the coming years is likely the finest career direction you could choose.

What is the reason why traditional degrees are now falling behind more qualifications from the commercial sector? Key company training (as it's known in the industry) is far more specialised and product-specific. Industry has acknowledged that such specialised knowledge is what's needed to handle a technologically complex commercial environment. CISCO, Adobe, Microsoft and CompTIA are the key players in this arena. Of course, a certain amount of background detail has to be covered, but essential specifics in the required areas gives a commercially educated student a real head start.

Put yourself in the employer's position - and you required somebody who had very specific skills. Which is the most straightforward: Go through loads of academic qualifications from various applicants, asking for course details and which trade skills have been attained, or choose particular accreditations that perfectly fit your needs, and draw up from that who you want to speak to. You can then focus on how someone will fit into the team at interview - rather than on the depth of their technical knowledge.

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