Career Advice

[BxPrince24]

I'm 20, dropped outta college in January or rather, kicked out because I couldn't afford the tuition. I was majoring in Computer Art, which mainly consisted of Traditional Animation, Video Editing, Storyboarding, Visual Effects, and some 3D Modeling before I got dropped. Since I don't have a job and I have no money to get back in school, I've decided I'm going to try to teach myself things to hopefully get a good job. I'm in NY by the way, been trying to get a job that pays around 25k and up lately but most, if not everything is asking for a degree w/experience. Now my question is, if I were to teach myself all these things and learn at least the basics of them, added with what I already know, is it safe to believe that I can cop a job paying at least 40k starting?

What I can do:
-Build, upgrade, and repair computers.
-Create/Design websites, fliers, posters, and logos.
-Retouch, edit, and alter photos.
-Edit video and audio, along with making video effects.
-Draw/Design tattoos, illustrations, and comics/characters.

Programs I know:
-Photoshop - Intermediate/Pro
-Illustrator - Intermediate
-InDesign - Intermediate
-Premiere - Intermediate
-Audition - Intermediate
-After Effects - Beginner/Intermediate
-Final Cut Pro - Intermediate
-Dreamweaver - Beginner/Intermediate
-Quark Xpress - Beginner/Intermediate
-Maya - Beginner
-Excel - Beginner/Intermediate
-PowerPoint - Intermediate

Programs I am currently learning:
Dreamweaver - CSS, XHTML/DHTML, Javascript
Flash

Programs/Scripting that I plan on learning:
-PHP
-Java
-MySQL
-Apache
-DOM
-Microsoft Access
-Oracle
-CCIE
-Cisco
-Perl
-CGI

 

[backbreaker]

fvcking working for someone...if you are proficent in all thoose areas you can write your own check freelancing

 

[Bible_Belt]

talk to backbreaker

edit: ok, you just did

 

[BxPrince24]

fvcking working for someone...if you are proficent in all thoose areas you can write your own check freelancing

I've thought about making a website that offers website design/creation services but I don't know if it's worth it considering there are so many web design sites out there already and most of them know how to create sites with flash, which is the next thing i'm learning after dreamweaver.

Other than that, I don't know what else I could do on my own, there's like 3 computer repair stores within 5 blocks of where I live, so i won't be getting much business if I were to dwell into that. I don't know what services I can offer as far as video editing and such... I'm drawing blanks and I need to start making money soon.

 

[BxPrince24]

Here's an example of some of the things I can do:

 

[Michele l'Arcangelo]

not that i know much about this, but aren't most of those easily learned? and no offense also.

and your demo sites... i agree that you should work on flash, those bubbly demos you made aren't THAT appealing and quite simple to make, right? flash makes things so much better.

and sites with patterned backgrounds are super annoying... for example... MYSPACE!

 

[backbreaker]

you are gonna have to step your graphic game up... no offense but there are 15 year olds on the net better than that. really no offense, but that's what ou are up against. go to warez-bb.org and look in the graphics section.

 

[ChapStick]

Your web design layouts could use more practice and ideas. They lack that professional appeal. I used to be into web development (wish I still had some samples of my work before)...

Anyways, here is an excellent website that you should go to if you want to improve in that aspect!

http://www.bluesfear.com

They have a large forum... Go to it! Many great designers on there whose work you can learn from!

One thing I stress you should learn is Macromedia Flash! I learned it and actually was pretty good with it, but I don't do any web development anymore...

Best of luck! Hope the link I provided will help you!

 

[backbreaker]

lol, fvck that.. just use template monster.. most customers won't know the difference anyway. design is the least of your concerns, it's functionality

 

[backbreaker]

don't spend your time and money learning something that doesn't need to be learned because it's readily available on the net for free. spend your time learning something that can't be downloaded, can't be copyied, and you will be rolling in the dough.

go to scriptlance and look at the guys whoring each other out of graphic work.. then look at the jobs on say, odesk where you are paying for proramming...3-4k a job.

 

[BxPrince24]

not that i know much about this, but aren't most of those easily learned? and no offense also.

and your demo sites... i agree that you should work on flash, those bubbly demos you made aren't THAT appealing and quite simple to make, right? flash makes things so much better.

and sites with patterned backgrounds are super annoying... for example... MYSPACE!

photoshop, illustrator, and indesign aren't hard at all, it's after effects, maya, and the coding/scripting that takes a while to learn.

Yea, the demo sites I made both in about a half an hour, didn't really put much work into it, I was just looking to show off what I could do. But as I can see, if I were to hand that in as a portfolio it would be unsatisfactory, thanks for the tips.

 

[BxPrince24]

you are gonna have to step your graphic game up... no offense but there are 15 year olds on the net better than that. really no offense, but that's what ou are up against. go to warez-bb.org and look in the graphics section.

I take no offense at all, I'd rather hear all the criticism possible to better myself than to be fluffed around. thanks for the links and the advice.

 

[backbreaker]

become friends with Ajax (the new in laugnage.. people want it and don't even know what it is), joomla, dotnetnuke and ASP/NET

 

[BxPrince24]

Your web design layouts could use more practice and ideas. They lack that professional appeal. I used to be into web development (wish I still had some samples of my work before)...

Anyways, here is an excellent website that you should go to if you want to improve in that aspect!

http://www.bluesfear.com

They have a large forum... Go to it! Many great designers on there whose work you can learn from!

One thing I stress you should learn is Macromedia Flash! I learned it and actually was pretty good with it, but I don't do any web development anymore...

Best of luck! Hope the link I provided will help you!

great site. I've been using Lynda.com Dreamweaver tutorials and I'm about to start on the Flash tutorials, I also have some e-books to read. So hopefully within a week or so I'll have an intermediate understanding of it.

 

[BxPrince24]

After viewing some of the layouts from that site, i decided to try one of the ideas for a web layout on there. Tell me what you think... better?

Also I know there's some jaggies around the corners of the frame, i forgot to add an inner shadow to smooth it out/blend it into the background.