OK, I have been doing web design for about 9 years -- by myself. I went to a 10 wk program that taught all Photoshop, Illustrator, desktop pub programs, and then an extra week (40 hrs) of web design, which... I had already taught myself HTML, but gave me a quickstart on graphic formats, compression, etc. so that was good..
I have basically taught myself everything since then -- CSS, Javascript, I was already an artist/designer -- Flash, I've even built an e-commerce online store from scratch... well, now my son is in college (I'm 50), and I want/need a job somewhere w/ benefits, etc. I live in central NH so web design/development jobs are fairly few & far between...
I'm finding I need more education, but I really don't want to go to school for 4 years in programming if I can help it -- most jobs want PHP, .ASP, .NET, Cold Fusion, database management, things like Ajax, LAMP, you know how it is, something new is always coming along...
What would you experienced people recommend I look for in training to GET a job in web design/development ??? I honestly don't know where to start, or what I need for prerequisites... I have books on PHP, XML, LAMP, etc. and am reading them and I am ready to try them all out -- but I am thinking that these companies want to see a degree or something -- does anyone have any helpful suggestions?
I'd really, really appreciate any help you can give me. WHAT is relevant to take now and in the future? Especially with what I already know, HTML, Dreamweaver, CSS, Javascript, and some Flash etc.. Thanks so much.
