Web Design accreditation...

[triplefoxshez]

Hi everyone, I am and have been a graphic designer for nearly 20 years and would like to do an internationally recognised course in web design. Does anyone have any suggestions?

TIA!

Shez

[osgood_]

I don't think there is a recognised course in web design/development which anyone would take seriously to be honest. You get some underwhelming web-designer/developers who have taken some kind of course at college or university and some very good designers/developers that are self-taught.

What counts is a demonstration that you know what you are doing if you are going to be applying for a job and a good job interviewer will not employ you by looking at some silly piece of paper with an accreditation stamped on it by some dubious 'boot-camp' set up just to make money.

I guess the problem arises because how do you get your foot in the door - most interviews these days are set up by brain dead people in employment houses, taking a percenatge of the salary for placing the candidate. They of course are only interested in a bit of worthless, meaningless paper.

This is an industry where you need to demonstrate your skills to a potential employer, rather than the usual bullshite banter which get you into a lot of positions so I think this is a case of blood, sweat and tears and a great deal of luck getting a chance to demonstrate your skills.

[BenPleysier]

If you Bing: `internationally recognised course in web design`, you will get hundreds of results. Some of these are great courses, but may not be internationally recognised. I think that the important part is to impress a potential client with a name of a well known international institution.

[Nancy OShea]

Hi @triplefoxshez,

I wish all web developers were required to pass a standardized TEST to prove web literacy the way doctors and lawyers must pass board certification exams before practicing their professions.  However, no such exams exist for web developers. 

I understand the W3Schools offers paid courses with their own brand of "certification" tests now.  But I don't know how good their programs are or if they would benefit anyone professionally.   The web changes constantly so to have any real meaning, whichever certification tests you take today would have to be repeated again later...

Incidentally,  no client or employer has ever asked to see my "web credentials."  But they do ask to see examples of work from past projects and code examples.  So you need a good CV/résumé and web portfolio to prove you know what you're doing.  Also when starting out, you may need to provide pro bono services to non-profits and other worthy causes to gain some hands-on experience.