Web Developer question

[Ken "Skip" Hill]

I am curious if something like the certificate program listed below (cut and paste) from a local community college would allow me to do my own website work (and fully understand it) not only here at IM but also to do editting for online video and that sort of thing. If so, it may be worth the investment.


Web Developer

24 credits
(2 semesters)

This certificate program provides entry-level skills for web development, including PL/SQL, Javascript, PHP, Adobe Photoshop, HTML, cascading stylesheets, DHTML, JavaScripts, and CGI forms.


Skip

[moco]

I'm not a web dev, but am a Digital Analytics Consultant so I have a lot of exposure to web development. One of the primary ways we collect data on web properties is via JavaScript tags, and regarding Digital A/B testing we frequently use jQuery and CSS. I also started teaching myself HTML/CSS starting in Middle School and took an actual HTML/CSS class in college. That certainly helps when I'm working with Digital Marketers and Web Dev teams on debugging site issues, recommending measurement strategies, and making recommendations pertaining to site content.

That program certainly includes all of the skills you'd need to develop a good website. From there it would just be a matter of continued learning and honing your skills if you want to use more complex functionality. PHP, JavaScript, and DHTML would actually cover most complex use cases - another thing to look into would be Ajax, but that may be covered in the JavaScript class (it stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML). You could probably use your site to complete a lot of the assignments in that program as well - that way you're learning but also getting shit done at the same time.

Do you have any prior experience with any kind of computer programming?

Video editing would be a separate course or set or courses.

[Ken "Skip" Hill]

What would the video editing fall under for courses?

I do not have ANY background in computer programming, none.

Skip

[moco]

You'll probably find web development to be a pretty steep learning curve - you'll have to put in a fairly significant amount of time to get up to speed and start feeling comfortable with it. Just be prepared for that if you decide to do it. In my opinion, it'd probably be worth hiring somebody to do the work considering the cost for the education plus the time investment.

For video editing look for things like Video Production, Digital Video Editing, etc. In addition to looking at local community colleges, there are also web-based options:

http://www.lynda.com/Video-Editing-t...ials/82-0.html
https://www.udemy.com/videoediting/

Might want to look into this as well:
http://www.boulderdigitalarts.com/tr...p?offering=432

If there's particular software that you're working with then you can search for workshops that cater specifically to that software.

[Ken "Skip" Hill]

Good info - thank you.

I am looking at this not because it is a passion of mine but because it would really help down the road to be able to do my own work either on the website(s) or video production. I am leaning much more towards going a different route that isn't even bodybuilding or computer/online related.

Skip

[moco]

I forgot to mention a few great FREE resources for learning how to build websites. I love these because I learn by doing, and these tutorials are interactive - they walk you through the steps and you do the coding right in the browser. These would definitely be a good place to start:

https://dash.generalassembly.ly
http://www.codecademy.com/tracks/web
http://www.codecademy.com/skills/make-a-website
http://www.codecademy.com/skills/mak...active-website
http://www.codecademy.com/tracks/javascript

For anybody interested in analytics and data science they have some good ones for R and Python as well (check out codeschool and datacamp).

Can you share more about what you're leaning toward that's not bodybuilding related? You've got me curious!