When did it become a career? How did you get there?

KonFusion

Hey folks,

In light of the usual "how to become a web designer/developer" etc. threads that often pop up, I thought it might be a good idea to have a thread where people could tell their story of how it went from doing the odd freelance job here and there, to being employed full time, and being able to pay the mortgage/bills etc (essentially: a proper job).

So, how did you start out?

What was the turning point in your career?

Is there any one thing you could attribute to your success? (apart from coffee, fabulous, out of this world, godlike design, and coding skills).

And what one tip would you have for someone hoping to follow in your footsteps and make a career for themselves?

And other questions of similar nature :pac:

Hoping for this to be an interesting one

Please feel free to contribute regardless of whether you call yourself a web designer, developer, programmer, graphic designer, front end web developer, UX designer, UI developer, or whatever the latest popular job title is.

red_ice

Ill answer these as a list of questions :pac:

KonFusion wrote: »

So, how did you start out?

Got my first computer about 16/17 years ago and did MS Paint drawings as a hobby. I got my hands on Photoshop for my birthday in 1998(I think) and simply could not get off the application. Absolutely rinsing every single layer effect that came in the package at the time, and going to town on family photos scanning them and restoring them. Around 99(I think) I got my hands on flash, didn't know about vectors, but liked drawing in the application and creating simple animations. I was in a counterstrike team(a computer game) and the team needed a website, so a day or so later I made a site for the team. This was my first website. Within a few weeks, I learned how to embed HTML into flash sites via a text file, this was my first HTML experience where actual code was needed. I still have that site on a hard drive somewhere and I think its a great little site for its time. I then started doing html/css tutorials, and around 2001 I started in computer science where I learned a few languages, the one which had the most profound affect on me was Java as it opened up PHP for me.

KonFusion wrote: »

What was the turning point in your career?

This is two fold, the first was being in computer science and realizing that I wasn't learning how to make websites, I was learning how to make applications. So I finished up and moved into digital media. Before this point I was simply building up a portfolio of work and doing bits and bobs for people here and there. I did a couple of small websites for different people for cash in hand (I knew no better). It was when I did a site for a big pizza company that I had to write my first invoice. From then on work started to trickle in, the sites became more intensive and demanding of different skill sets, and before I knew it people were pulling out of me to be their 'go to guy' for when they need a site or be their sub contract guy. I'm finally at a point where saying no to work is possible and I can work on projects which interest me. Being honest, its only in the last couple of years that I've really started to pull my act together and brand myself.

KonFusion wrote: »

Is there any one thing you could attribute to your success? (apart from coffee, fabulous, out of this world, godlike design, and coding skills).

An understanding GF, good friends who understand my love for my work, Smoking, tea and the OCD within me to not let something be. If I see something I like regardless of what it is, I simply must replicate it or try do it better. Even if its something stupid, I'll need to know how it works. This is handy as knowing bits and bobs about different things enabled me to hold conversations with people who may specialize in that area, which is to me a good asset for networking. On that note, networking helps...

KonFusion wrote: »

And what one tip would you have for someone hoping to follow in your footsteps and make a career for themselves?

My advise would be to get into the industry if you know its something you want to dedicate your life to doing and you know that its something you can see yourself doing for the rest of your life, not just because you think there's money in it. You should also have a need to learn new things. If you do something you love, you'll never work a day in your life etc...

KonFusion wrote: »

And other questions of similar nature :pac:

Atari Jaguar.

The Corinthian

KonFusion wrote: »

So, how did you start out?

I started programming on the ZX Spectrum, back when I was 12 - got pretty good at it and even managed to win a category prize in the Young Scientists, back in the day.

However, I was young and stupid and wanted to go into finance, so I did my degree in that, rather than CS, only to find that I wasn't very good at it and enjoyed it less. I continued coding as a hobby.

Towards the latter half of the nineties, I saw an advert in the paper looking to hire someone as a BASIC programmer, and suddenly it occurred to me that I knew this and one could actually get paid to do their hobby - it was a revelation. Also the dotcom frenzy was beginning to hot up and this too attracted me.

So I did a six month VB course, and quickly got a job thereafter. And the rest is history.

What was the turning point in your career?

I don't think there has been any single turning point.

Is there any one thing you could attribute to your success? (apart from coffee, fabulous, out of this world, godlike design, and coding skills).

My more business/finance background (although utterly irrelevant at this stage) grounded me with a practical, business mentality, while all along I was a closet nerd had an empathy for computers and could lose himself in code, forgetting literally to eat or drink until the hunger pains would get too difficult to ignore.

Being both a 'suit' and a 'techie' has often given me an edge over others who are only one or the other.

And what one tip would you have for someone hoping to follow in your footsteps and make a career for themselves?

Set yourself five year plans, at the end of which you've reached a (realistic) career goal or level, plot out roughly what you need to do to get there and then stick to it.

And always keep learning new technologies, upgrading your skills, keeping your eye on trends, occasionally getting stuck into what might (or might not) be the 'next big thing'. Remember; if a shark stops swimming, it dies.