Re: FN-FORUM: So, exactly what is web design? was: Full-time designer needed

date posted 1st March 2004 10:53

On Monday 01 March 2004 8:11 am, you wrote:
> Hi there,
>
> > the rest ie the technical side is born in my case from 'hacking' when=
i
>
> was
>
> > 12 yrs old
> > I bet most of the people here have hacked there way into it since it
> > began with the zx spectrum and bbc/amiga
> > with cracked illegal copies of software to learn programs to get a
> > job...thats how it all began with hacking geaks
> > but the principles and driving forces are still the same
>
> I built my first computer and helped develop the BBC Model B....but my
> programming I learnt from Zilog Manuals and reading other people's code=
as
> part of my first development job. Many people I worked with who did pi=
ck
> up their programming skills 'self taught', however, tended to produce
> pretty messy code which was difficult to maintain in a commercial
> environment. Indeed, my own code was crap until I was taken under the w=
ing
> of a couple of 'professional' (commercially experienced and disciplined=
,
> not degree level) developers.
>
> Joe


writing assembler taught me to comment my code,=20
writing c taught me to format code properly
writing c++ taught me to structure my (GUI) code
I lernt it all by debugging it. in the end there is always only your code=
and=20
you.=20

i did a psychology degree, then a post grad conversion course in=20
microprocessors and electronics. Strange I know. then I wrote communicati=
ons=20
software that fed data to the city, emmbedded systems mostly Z80 and 6800=
0,=20
but with a couple of PDP 11s and later vax es.
I lernt assembler, uninx VMS and communication protocols in the job,
moved up to c on 68000 processors - wrote the kernel in assembler though.=
It=20
had to be that fast . also lernt c on the job, self taught with the help=
of=20
the kernighn and richie book. I had to debug it in assembler though becau=
se=20
you couldn't get a data analyser pod that decompiled c at that point, wel=
l=20
not for a sensible amount of money.=20
Later after my son was born I went freelance, and did various communicati=
on=20
and commercial projects I did a course in C++ at Hull Uni - I week commer=
cial=20
- v expensive, but I did get a lot of value/work out of it.
being freelance you kind of absorb a lot of knowledge as you go along, bu=
t I=20
am more shakey in areas where I am wholly self taught. Last year I did th=
e=20
two linux LPI qualification courses nearly =A33K - but it has helped=20
tremendously, I had all the basics fro unix, but the web security stuff a=
nd=20
administrator stuff is all new. It took me about 6 months of self study w=
ith=20
two one week courses. (phew!) and I still consider myself to be very much=
a=20
newbie.

So thats my 2p it is worth investing serious cash in getting good traini=
ng.
but you will pick up adequate skills from self study, you can usually tel=
l who=20
has which skill by the extent and trashedness of their technical library.

Carrie=20
- still struggling with colour theory.