Comments on: Think Vitamin Radio: Episode #4

By: Mike Aparicio

Mike Aparicio — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:05:16 +0000

Hey guys, @peruvianidol here. I really enjoyed the podcast. To elaborate more on my situation, I’ve actually been doing web design/development now for about 15 years. I work as the “web guy” for a medical association but I’m interested in eventually working with a team of people with complementary skills (I am stronger at development than design). I’m taking advantage of my company’s tuition reimbursement to get a degree in computer science, but I don’t see how a lot of the classes relate to what I do.

I’m currently taking a Java class which is relatively easy, given my PHP background, as well as a introductory web design class, which is absolutely terrible. The teacher seems to have not learned anything since 1998 and gives assignments that require students to use frames(!), Dreamweaver layers, image maps and other mostly obsolete techniques. Her own pages don’t come close to validating and use tables for layout.

This class has frustrated me to the point where I’m not sure if it’s worth it to continue. I’m not so much bothered by the fact that this class is so basic, but that this teacher is teaching students the absolute wrong way to make websites. I feel like I’m experienced enough that I don’t particularly need a degree, unless I wanted to teach.

My other question, which you didn’t get to, was about the sad state of web education. I know about WaSP’s curriculum, but it seems very few schools have caught on yet. Web design seems largely taught by self-taught individuals with varying degrees of skill and interest in keeping up with modern standards. Is there any hope for future students?

Thanks guys. Looking forward to more podcasts.

By: defifee

defifee — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:55:34 +0000

I liked the podcast and the transcript is really useful for all the links.
The self marketing and cv/resume discussion confused me a little. I’m a design student from Germany who’s looking for a web design internship but I’m really bad at “selling” myself. I know some people (me too) think
you should list relevant facts as clear as possible while others say if you’re a designer you should impress and surprise the employer with crazy ideas. I guess in the end it’s just a matter of luck and personal contacts?

By: Ryan Carson

Ryan Carson — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:47:59 +0000

Hey Michael – thanks for the suggestion. I’m sure @keirwhitaker can do that for you in the future.

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:51:20 +0000

Thanks for posting the podcast. By the way, in the future, it would be quite handy for news feed addicts like myself if the RSS news feed entry contained a link to “Download the MP3″.