Hello....need help!

Hi everyone,

Great forum you have here! I found this through Google and decided to go ahead and register. Recently, i've had a serious change of heart in what I want to do with my life. I just graduated in August with an B.A. in English. (yay ) Unfortunately, it was a bad decision. I've decided that i want to seek a career in the web design field. Freelance web design seems really interesting although i'm not sure how stable that is as far as income goes.

My question is... what degree is best suited for this field? A B.A. in Computer Science... or something more specific? I realize that the CS degree would give me a solid foundation in programming for the web design, but the math prereq's at some accredited colleges seem a little beyond me.

HELP ME! What is the best path to go? I'm already 20,000 in debt from my past B.A., but at the same time I realize that I can't be a successful web designer w.o some accreddited degree. Which route would you go if you were me?

Any and all feedback is much appreciated. Merry Xmas!

Well Computer Science is the best way to go, but 20,000 in debt and you want to take up another one? are you mad?

You dont really need a degree in webdesign,. english is a good degree to start with, maybe you could become a content writer and work yourself up?

You don't need a degree to do freelance work. If you listen to me continue your first chosen career path. Webdesign is more of a hobby where you make money. I don't think you will be able to survive with webdesign as your main career.

If you already have some talent at designing on computers then I suggest you study B.Com & Admin...ie do a business degree. If you already have a degree then maybe you could do a simple 1 year diploma in business studies instead, to save some money?

If you don't have any design or coding skills then I suggest you study for a diploma in web design. You don't have to do full on computer science degrees unless you want to become a full on programmer.

To be a freelancer all you need is experience in your field, if you want to work for a company then you may or may not need degrees/diplomas. Experience and business skills is what counts, not a piece of paper signed by some university.

Julian hit the nail on the head with his last paragraph, really.

Don't be fooled into thinking you need a degree relating to whatever area/industry you are interested in going into.

I always think experience/talent is more important anyway, and the types of companies who simply refuse to interview you because you don't have a degree are not worth working for.

A degree or formal qualification in web design isn't always necessary to land a job in that field, especially not if you are considering doing freelancing. Your customers usually won't be interested in what sort of qualification(s) you have, they'll just be interested in knowing what you can do for them (and lets face it, university graduates aren't always more capable/talented anyway). I'd say a degree in English would still be quite useful anyway - at the very least you should have learned to make good use of the language and therefor be able to communicate clearly, professionally and efficiently with your clients. That can only be an advantage, no?

Well I agree very much so. To get a popular forum like this takes work.

Well computer science isn't the degree you would require anyway, that's more concerned with algorithms and how things work as opposed to the actual functional side such as programming/webdesign and such.

I'm finishing a three year degree based around webdesign/multimedia/programming and it's been pretty much a waste of time, I haven't learnt much and i'm not sure where it's going to take me!

To work from home requires no degree But a degree does guarantee you something to fall back on if everything goes belly up!

Most people who slate degrees are those who don't have them and never went to University!