Go to college OR self-teach?

[mVaillette]

I have the opportunity to go to college for almost free. I might have to pay for books. It'd be for an associates degree in web design, and take probably 2 years to complete. It looks like a decent program.

Of course the other option is to teach myself, at home. I assume I'll be doing lots of that even if I go to college.


What did you do? Any advice? How worthwhile is a college education in this field (especially if one plans to freelance)?

Thanks

 

[amorrisweb]

I'm actually working toward my associate's right now at a community college so I know that the information is useful. It is definitely something you can teach yourself however having a degree to back up your skills will never hurt. Everything I've learned in class I learned before outside of class however methods taught in classes are best practice methods and usually more efficient. To each their own though =]

 

[Coffee Freak]

I would personally do a combination of both. The nice thing about a classroom setting is that you get face to face interaction with other students and teachers that have different levels of skill. Doing it yourself, it's easy to do something "wrong" and never know it because you may not know any better. Easy to fall into traps that way and learn bad habits.

Free tuition rocks. I don't care what the degree is for.

 

[Absolution]

When I went to community college I took some web design courses, but they weren't too good so I pretty much taught myself. I think its hit or miss with college, but having a degree will give you an advantage with employers than those who do not.

 

[mVaillette]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I think I'll give it a try.

Free tuition does rock... regardless of the degree! I was going to go for art, for fun, because I couldn't find any compatible jobs/degrees/careers/etc (I'm disabled) but I think web design will be good. =)

 

[computerGeek]

go to school.. an earned degree can get you farther... if you have problems getting books, you can borrow or download ebooks off the internet. your resources are abundant, you just need to look for them.

 

[ronaldroe]

The problem with going to school is that the schools are so far behind on web design. So many times, on this forum and others, people have posted class work they needed help with, and the code they were taught by the school looked like something from 1999. That, or they had no idea how to code whatsoever, because all they had been taught is Dreamweaver Design View. Not saying the school option is bad. Often, a degree is the deciding factor between job applicants. However, as Coffee Freak said above, do both. Get the degree so you can add it to your resume, and have at least a foundation, but self teach at the very least so you can keep up with design trends and modern coding techniques.

Me? Entirely self-taught. I think it's going really well, but it took a lot of non-stop effort to learn it the right way.

 

[mVaillette]

Thanks people! =) You are all very helpful.

It's a graphic design degree, with an emphasis on web design, so I feel like even if the web design classes aren't too helpful, I will find the graphic design classes helpful. I find teaching yourself html/css to be way easy and teaching yourself art & design is a bit more difficult.

At least they teach the latest versions of XHTML/HTML/CSS/etc?

We'll see.

 

[ronaldroe]

At least they teach the latest versions of XHTML/HTML/CSS/etc?

Most of what I've seen has been old school HTML with font tags, inline styles and tables. I've seen some who were using XHTML with CSS. Maybe you can just check the curriculum ahead of time. Or at least go in there knowing their techniques may be outdated and you just need to pass the class and move on.

 

[ausweb]

Having that degree is important because it is required if you want to work in company unless you're going to create your own business. Though you should still need to help yourself by self studying. I didn't also finished my computer science degree, and I ended SEOing website. The reason is financial problem and I'm only independent. If only there's a 48hours a day, I want to go school while working..

 

[Absolution]

That, or they had no idea how to code whatsoever, because all they had been taught is Dreamweaver Design View.

My experience was they only taught in Dreamweaver. And I was the only one in class who didn't have a problem with coding tags. This was the "web languages" course, which is after the intro web design, where we were supposed to learn PHP, Javascript, Perl stuff and such. So it was very bizarre for me. Luckily I have had practice with the C programming language, so I was able to teach myself PHP and Javascript after I passed the course with an A lol.

 

[Edge]

My vote is do both. You can get a mixture of skills within University lecturers - I cam across a great guy who's Flash was top notch and others who don't really now anything about programming and just point you in the right direction and leave you to it. Have to say the latter is the usual though. Try and get a course which has a placement scheme because as an employer I would be much more likely to take someone who had that 1 year of work experience as part of the degree.

 

[Pheno]

Self teach. The vast majority of teachers of high tech subjects are teaching out of date information.

 

[mackonline]

having to masters' degrees, and numerous courses, i can tell you there is no substance to an on-the-job-training. YET, formal studies open doors!!!!
they make you further away if you know everything but want to get SOMEWHERE..
so i advise you take it, grind your teeth and do this. maybe you will learn something on the way to )
good luck!

 

[jumpingspider]

Learning is never ending thus,having both would really make a big difference! Lucky you,if you don't have to pay for a tuition,it rocks indeed! Good Luck on your school!