Becoming Aware

I started this blog to exhibit my work as I continue to hone my web design skills, and to share my experiences along the way. Ironically, my motivation for creating this new extension of my personal brand (as "the self-taught professional") was my recent interest in pursuing an online bachelor degree in web design or visual communication.

Yes...me, the "self-taught professional", seeking formal education. Pretty ironic, right?! Well, my line of thought was that having a degree to show potential clients down the road, along with my portfolio of web work, would make me more desirable. I think I had grand dreams of being educated amidst skilled peers by experts in the field on the latest technologies, theories and concepts. This piqued my excitement initially, and got me really motivated to find the right online program that would afford such a reality.

Alas, this idea didn't have legs long enough to run around in my head for even a week. After doing some serious research into my options for online schools and programs, which I must say ran a huge gamut, I came to a solid conclusion--actually a few...

1. Whoa! Costs for these four year programs range from $30,000-90,000. The specifics of what relevant subjects these programs include varied about as much as their prices. The bottom line was that at least fifty percent of the courses in most of these programs are either gen-ed or stuff I already know well, so those costs are pretty hard for me to justify.
2. One of these degrees will NOT be the magical key I thought I needed to unlock the doorway to my future. These online schools aren't *that* well known in the world of web work, and many of their programs are in their infancy. (Example: Full Sail University - highly regarded in the film and music industries, but not much street cred in the web world.)
3. Most of the subjects I want to delve into with a professional educator aren't included. Topics like human-computer interaction (HCI), usability, interaction design, information architecture, and other UX theories and concepts may have been touched on briefly in some programs (based on my perusal of several course catalogs), but the majority of class time would focus on gen-end time wasters and really basic web and computer related courses. Really, most of those topics would be part of a graduate level program, at least for the depth I was seeking.

So, my conclusions led me to my new plan, which is to continue practicing my skills as I do now, learning from the vast wealth of web resources, and trying to integrate my interests into my work engagements more aggressively. I will continue building my personal brand of the self-taught professional, and grow my skillset to become marketable in these new areas of interest for me.


\Seth