Newbie Web Designer - 33 & starting from scratch - Need Advice

[joemc]

Just had a read through this thread mug2k and I've got to say it's lovely to read how well you've been doing! As someone who is looking to get in to web design it's quite inspirational

Can I just ask what program have you been using to design the websites?

 

[antijoke]

Great thread. Wish you all the best for the future, hard work does pay off, must be a nice confidence boost to have people contacting you about jobs.

 

[mug2k]

Just had a read through this thread mug2k and I've got to say it's lovely to read how well you've been doing! As someone who is looking to get in to web design it's quite inspirational

Can I just ask what program have you been using to design the websites?

Hi Mate, it's called Sketch (Mac only) and it's really a dream to work with compared with Photoshop, once you know your way around and some short-cuts it can be really fast and efficient.

http://bohemiancoding.com/sketch/

Great thread. Wish you all the best for the future, hard work does pay off, must be a nice confidence boost to have people contacting you about jobs.

It's a really nice feeling when you start to get noticed, I enjoy designing so this is basically my dream work/job. A year ago I had absolutely no job prospects or future so I'm in a great place now mentally.

 

[joemc]

Hi Mate, it's called Sketch (Mac only) and it's really a dream to work with compared with Photoshop, once you know your way around and some short-cuts it can be really fast and efficient.

http://bohemiancoding.com/sketch/



It's a really nice feeling when you start to get noticed, I enjoy designing so this is basically my dream work/job. A year ago I had absolutely no job prospects or future so I'm in a great place now mentally.

Thanks mate! Can I just ask what resources did you use, or which courses did you look at? Some of your designs look epic!

 

[mug2k]

Thanks mate! Can I just ask what resources did you use, or which courses did you look at? Some of your designs look epic!

Wow what a question, it's so much that I'd never be able to remember it all.

The book that started me off was called "The Non-designers Design Book" and it's available at fine bookstores everywhere

Here's a nice Sketch playlist on Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLnpHn493BHE6UIsdKYlS5zu-ZYvx22CS

Here is a nice place to learn some of the basics of design and useful tips and tricks. If you scroll to the bottom it's separated into categories.
https://designschool.canva.com/

I read the design/graphic-design and web design subreddits too.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Design/
http://www.reddit.com/r/graphic_design/
http://www.reddit.com/r/web_design/

Plenty to be getting on with

 

[joemc]

Sweet mate! Thank you very much. There's so much out there, it's always nice to see what someone else has done I'm currently doing a lot of Marketing where I currently work and in my spare time I'm looking to delve more in to Design and what not!

 

[mug2k]

Sweet mate! Thank you very much. There's so much out there, it's always nice to see what someone else has done I'm currently doing a lot of Marketing where I currently work and in my spare time I'm looking to delve more in to Design and what not!

Well that could end up being a killer combination if you get good at design. You'll have connections in the marketing world and also know how to market yourself.

Good luck

 

[Black Dynamite]

Came on here to share how I started but realised you're well on your way.

Got to say I saw the original mockup you produced and can't believe the improvement, some great designs on your Dribble page mate, well done!

I'm **** at design so I concentrate on development, if you're going the freelance route, look at WordPress development, there's a ton of work.

 

[mug2k]

Came on here to share how I started but realised you're well on your way.

Got to say I saw the original mockup you produced and can't believe the improvement, some great designs on your Dribble page mate, well done!

I'm **** at design so I concentrate on development, if you're going the freelance route, look at WordPress development, there's a ton of work.

Let's hear you story anyway

With regard to WordPress development, could you elaborate a little on what kind of work?

 

[Vegeta]

This maybe a naive question but what's the difference between web 'design' and web 'development'? Surely they go hand in hand?

 

[Mynight]

They do to some extent as in both are needed to create a website but there's a key difference design is how it looks ie graphics, user experience, interface and movement(latter somewhat being development as well) and development is how the website works ie the coding behind the pretty things something that 99% of users don't care about until there's a bug.

In a nutshell a designer creates a static image of how the website looks and feels the developer will bring it to life.

You can be both but it's rare. Personally I'm great with the development side and okish with design hence why I tend to poll many people on a UI before release. Not blowing my own trumpet but the polls usually go my way it's more of a lack of confidence thing.

 

[AJK]

This maybe a naive question but what's the difference between web 'design' and web 'development'? Surely they go hand in hand?

I posted this earlier in the topic, if it helps.

 

[Mynight]

Oops my apologies I didn't see that. Much better explained than myself.

 

[Noxia]

Interesting post. I too am a later starter but more interested in the programming side. Been messing about trying to make games with C# and I thought actually you might be able to do something useful instead.
Early days yet but I seem to have a knack for picking things up as I get older which is opposite to what is supposed to happen. I think

 

[antijoke]

I'm the same Noxia, I sucked at programming on my IT course when I was 18, but now it's something I find a lot easier to pick up, and a lot more interesting.

I just wish I had started in web development way back when, when I had my initial interest in it, if only I knew how big it would be. But anyway, I'm here now.

My story is that I always used to mess around in Front Page back in the late nineties/early 2000's and make awful Geocities pages with a colour scheme that would give you a fit, sprinkled with marquee's everywhere and gifs.

I then didn't pay any moe attention to it and went off to work in sales at CPW, then onto a car dealership and then into aftersales at a telecoms company, during the time at the comms company I grew more and more interested again in web development (as I had lost all will to be in the cut throat/BS world of sales) and even undertook a project to redesign their website as it was awful, this never happened in the end because they just ran out of steam for the project. However just doing that gave me the impetus to get off my ass and go to college in the evenings to get something meaningful I could show to potential employers (a portfolio and some basic qualifications) in the process for trying to get a junior role in a web/design company, I fired off some CV's to a few places and never heard back from them. I then saw an advert for where I am at now as a junior, I had an interview, met the people (who oddly enough I had met when in my comms job to dicsuss improving their comms situation and saving them money) and got on really well with them and they offered me the job. I did all this when I was 32.

Now coming up for two years this June and I am loving my job and the varied work we carry out and the different projects we've done. Never did I think I'd be able to do some of the stuff we've done. I work with two great guys who really taught me a lot about design aspects etc, and it feels amazing to see things fall into place now. The last 6 months I feel my knowledge has grown immensley.

 

[Black Dynamite]

Let's hear you story anyway

With regard to WordPress development, could you elaborate a little on what kind of work?

I started off in IT support (still do!) and a project came up to build a website for the company I worked for, and then another small project came about until I basically taught myself PHP / HTML / CSS etc while working. I then got the chance to redevelop the main company site and bring it back in house. Complicated, takes payments / direct debits / generates PDF's, all stuff I had never come across.

Read up on best practices and what to avoid so you don't screw up, and review your starting code at the end of the project and see how far you've come.

This gave me the skills I needed to start off on Elance and I started to pick up a few jobs here and there. This is where I started to mess around with WordPress and jumped in at the deep end with some projects.

I'm 12 months in doing Freelance and I'd say 95% of my work is on WordPress. I've got a few repeat clients that bring me in 90% of my income and they have projects lined up with me for the next 3 months.

I'm still working full time in IT support but hoping that in another 12 months I can go full time as a freelancer. I spend maybe 15 hours a week working at night and weekends.

Re: WordPress Development

This is anything from migrating a WP install to developing a new plugin or to fix an existing issue. Familiarise yourself with WP, build a plugin that you'd find useful (I built a twitter feed for my first one), look at successful themes code / plugin code and you'll get the hang of it if you've got a good understanding of PHP. Main point - Follow the WP coding standards!

I haven't used Elance for 4 months now and my income is going up and up. Do the **** little jobs where you make next to nothing to get yourself a portfolio of projects you've finished.

My first job was to build someone a simple custom WordPress theme (one page only). They gave me a site they liked, and said I want that as a WordPress theme. I finished the job and got paid $50 ... before the Elance cut. But I had a theme I'd developed, and an item in my portfolio and more knowledge than I had going into the project.

Good luck mate, it's tough but I'm starting to see the rewards of working hard at it! Something that used to take me 4 hours, takes me 30 minutes now.

 

[Noxia]

I'm the same Noxia, I sucked at programming on my IT course when I was 18, but now it's something I find a lot easier to pick up, and a lot more interesting.

I just wish I had started in web development way back when, when I had my initial interest in it, if only I knew how big it would be. But anyway, I'm here now.

My story is that I always used to mess around in Front Page back in the late nineties/early 2000's and make awful Geocities pages with a colour scheme that would give you a fit, sprinkled with marquee's everywhere and gifs.

I then didn't pay any moe attention to it and went off to work in sales at CPW, then onto a car dealership and then into aftersales at a telecoms company, during the time at the comms company I grew more and more interested again in web development (as I had lost all will to be in the cut throat/BS world of sales) and even undertook a project to redesign their website as it was awful, this never happened in the end because they just ran out of steam for the project. However just doing that gave me the impetus to get off my ass and go to college in the evenings to get something meaningful I could show to potential employers (a portfolio and some basic qualifications) in the process for trying to get a junior role in a web/design company, I fired off some CV's to a few places and never heard back from them. I then saw an advert for where I am at now as a junior, I had an interview, met the people (who oddly enough I had met when in my comms job to dicsuss improving their comms situation and saving them money) and got on really well with them and they offered me the job. I did all this when I was 32.

Now coming up for two years this June and I am loving my job and the varied work we carry out and the different projects we've done. Never did I think I'd be able to do some of the stuff we've done. I work with two great guys who really taught me a lot about design aspects etc, and it feels amazing to see things fall into place now. The last 6 months I feel my knowledge has grown immensley.

That great Stories like that keep me going. I know that I earn more now than I would as a junior or intermediate wed dev but sometimes you have to put job satisfaction above pay I think. Even if I got an extra 5k it wouldn't change the fact I'm not mentally stimulated at work and I want to work in a professional environment, oh and an office with natural light would be nice too.

 

[mug2k]

I'm the same Noxia, I sucked at programming on my IT course when I was 18, but now it's something I find a lot easier to pick up, and a lot more interesting.

I just wish I had started in web development way back when, when I had my initial interest in it, if only I knew how big it would be. But anyway, I'm here now.

My story is that I always used to mess around in Front Page back in the late nineties/early 2000's and make awful Geocities pages with a colour scheme that would give you a fit, sprinkled with marquee's everywhere and gifs.

I then didn't pay any moe attention to it and went off to work in sales at CPW, then onto a car dealership and then into aftersales at a telecoms company, during the time at the comms company I grew more and more interested again in web development (as I had lost all will to be in the cut throat/BS world of sales) and even undertook a project to redesign their website as it was awful, this never happened in the end because they just ran out of steam for the project. However just doing that gave me the impetus to get off my ass and go to college in the evenings to get something meaningful I could show to potential employers (a portfolio and some basic qualifications) in the process for trying to get a junior role in a web/design company, I fired off some CV's to a few places and never heard back from them. I then saw an advert for where I am at now as a junior, I had an interview, met the people (who oddly enough I had met when in my comms job to dicsuss improving their comms situation and saving them money) and got on really well with them and they offered me the job. I did all this when I was 32.

Now coming up for two years this June and I am loving my job and the varied work we carry out and the different projects we've done. Never did I think I'd be able to do some of the stuff we've done. I work with two great guys who really taught me a lot about design aspects etc, and it feels amazing to see things fall into place now. The last 6 months I feel my knowledge has grown immensley.

This is great and the fact you did it at 32 is icing on the cake. Being 34 I worry about my age but I feel a bit better now. If you ever start freelancing I'm sure you can leverage your background in sales to help you get clients, it could be a good combination. You get paid to do what you love I think it doesn't get any better than that

I started off in IT support (still do!) and a project came up to build a website for the company I worked for, and then another small project came about until I basically taught myself PHP / HTML / CSS etc while working. I then got the chance to redevelop the main company site and bring it back in house. Complicated, takes payments / direct debits / generates PDF's, all stuff I had never come across.

Read up on best practices and what to avoid so you don't screw up, and review your starting code at the end of the project and see how far you've come.

This gave me the skills I needed to start off on Elance and I started to pick up a few jobs here and there. This is where I started to mess around with WordPress and jumped in at the deep end with some projects.

I'm 12 months in doing Freelance and I'd say 95% of my work is on WordPress. I've got a few repeat clients that bring me in 90% of my income and they have projects lined up with me for the next 3 months.

I'm still working full time in IT support but hoping that in another 12 months I can go full time as a freelancer. I spend maybe 15 hours a week working at night and weekends.

Re: WordPress Development

This is anything from migrating a WP install to developing a new plugin or to fix an existing issue. Familiarise yourself with WP, build a plugin that you'd find useful (I built a twitter feed for my first one), look at successful themes code / plugin code and you'll get the hang of it if you've got a good understanding of PHP. Main point - Follow the WP coding standards!

I haven't used Elance for 4 months now and my income is going up and up. Do the **** little jobs where you make next to nothing to get yourself a portfolio of projects you've finished.

My first job was to build someone a simple custom WordPress theme (one page only). They gave me a site they liked, and said I want that as a WordPress theme. I finished the job and got paid $50 ... before the Elance cut. But I had a theme I'd developed, and an item in my portfolio and more knowledge than I had going into the project.

Good luck mate, it's tough but I'm starting to see the rewards of working hard at it! Something that used to take me 4 hours, takes me 30 minutes now.

There is so much to learn on the dev side it's utterly overwhelming, I'm still learning CSS at the moment then I'll move onto Sass to make my workflow more efficient. I'll get to WordPress at some point but as you've pointed out above I'll have to learn some PHP first.

I just got a new design job via Elance for $20/hr which is not bad, but most of the work there seems like bottom of the barrel and opportunist clients trying to get websites etc for peanuts. This past week I've done pretty well in terms of work and have the following lined up.

£7.50/hr = Ongoing design work but I'll knock this on the head soon as the money is pretty bad.
£12.50/hr = Ongoing work via Elance.
£15/hr = 8 hour project for a design agency in Detroit.
£15/hr = 10 hour project.
£15/hr = 15 hour project.

I'm pretty happy with how it's going so far, I might make a decent amount of money for once in my life as long as I keep improving, add new clients and up my rates when I deserve it.

Good to hear your doing well with the freelancing, I just wondered how much you charge for a website or what the going rate is? I've seen people offer web design on Gumtree for peanuts but I'm guessing that's just cheap crap.

 

[Black Dynamite]

This is great and the fact you did it at 32 is icing on the cake. Being 34 I worry about my age but I feel a bit better now. If you ever start freelancing I'm sure you can leverage your background in sales to help you get clients, it could be a good combination. You get paid to do what you love I think it doesn't get any better than that



There is so much to learn on the dev side it's utterly overwhelming, I'm still learning CSS at the moment then I'll move onto Sass to make my workflow more efficient. I'll get to WordPress at some point but as you've pointed out above I'll have to learn some PHP first.

I just got a new design job via Elance for $20/hr which is not bad, but most of the work there seems like bottom of the barrel and opportunist clients trying to get websites etc for peanuts. This past week I've done pretty well in terms of work and have the following lined up.

£7.50/hr = Ongoing design work but I'll knock this on the head soon as the money is pretty bad.
£12.50/hr = Ongoing work via Elance.
£15/hr = 8 hour project for a design agency in Detroit.
£15/hr = 10 hour project.
£15/hr = 15 hour project.

I'm pretty happy with how it's going so far, I might make a decent amount of money for once in my life as long as I keep improving, add new clients and up my rates when I deserve it.

Good to hear your doing well with the freelancing, I just wondered how much you charge for a website or what the going rate is? I've seen people offer web design on Gumtree for peanuts but I'm guessing that's just cheap crap.

You're doing well mate, definitely in the right direction. Just keep going and you'll get there!

As your portfolio grows, you'll get calls out of the blue which will bump up your cash flow when your regular clients work slows down. I experienced this in October - November, but luckily a random that landed on my website appeared. Not ideal but you live and learn.

I tend to charge like this (I work with $'s rather than £'s) ...

- WordPress Migration - $75 - 150 depending on size.
- WordPress theme install and content creation - $300 - $600 again depending on size
- WordPress custom theme - $ depends on work.
- Custom PHP work - $ depends on work.
- WordPress / PHP Fixes - $30 - $50 per hour.

I seem to undercut the design / development agencies that are around by about 50% (no overheads, I run my business at night in my dining room) but I am more expensive than the developers in India.

I aim for $30 - $50 an hour but this changes depending on the client:

- Reliable, trustworthy client - $25 per hour + small deposit up front on large projects then the rest at the end.
- Steady client - $30 per hour + 25% deposit up front on larger projects.
- New / Pain in the *** client - $50 per hour + 25% deposit up front for each project + middle payment on larger projects

I'm not the best developer around but I offer great customer service and hit my deadlines which goes a long way

 

[joemc]

It's actually pretty cool to hear these stories of how people have completely changed from the industry they're in!

For people who do post, for those of us who aren't massively experienced could you let us know what courses, books or whatever - a starting point for people who are interested would be epic!