School is waste of money and time

I am taking web-design at a 2 year Tech school and I can't help but feel like this is a bunch of garbage just so the school can make money off of me.

Some of these classes that I am spending hours on seem to be such a waste when I could be spending that time practing my flash or photoshop skills I am instead writing some stupid paper on Sociology or doing stupid math code in Visual Basics.

I know you need the degree - or do you?

If I sent a company a killer portfolio of my work do I really need to waste 2 and some odd years in school for them to look at what I can do?

:mad:

Do a degree and send a killer portfolio?

The answer is, Yes.

I do enjoy learning and I know that I still have much to learn but I know some of these classes are just thrown in there in order to fill a degree plan.

What I would like to know is when you go to work for a company do they put you on a team where you specialize on one or two things?

I mean if you work on a design team wouldn't there be a couple that do flash work and a couple that do photoshop or does the whole team have to be experts in everything?

Practically every answer you'll get is a yes! So stick with it and get the associates (or certificate).


As to school.....its a waste of time, atleast in this kinda field. There is so much information to be discovered on your own that any lesson plan is just too strict. If your serious, you could potentially learn more in 1 month than 6 months worth of classes. As to general education classes, they dont do a damn thing. They're just a black hole for your money.

Even so, still get the degree! This kinda topic is debated all over the net. A lot of ppl think without the degree your portfolio means nothing...... and with a killer portfolio your degree means nothing. Some say you wont even get your foot in the door without a degree, and others say a good portfolio might land you the job. Its a twisted world lol.

Also make sure your ego is in check, cause a killer portfolio is probably harder than you think.

If you think you can teach yourself all the design you'll ever need to be a professional designer, then take an unrelated degree, like in business or marketing. A design degree is really only going to be good for getting a design job, whereas a business or marketing or management degree can be used pretty much everywhere.

Some schools have terrible design programs. Maybe that's the problem. I loved my classes and learned so much it was unbelievable. Yes you can learn on your own, but the right teachers insight and knowledge is invaluable. It's ignorant when people disregard school as a whole...you have to find the right program to suit your needs. Too many schools now are on the design bandwagon and provide useless courses that do nothing for you. Simply, avoid such schools.

i'll post a lengthy response to this later this afternoon when i have time. as usual, i have an opinion ;)

chris

Like Fig, I could post a lengthy response on this issue, but I'll try to keep it brief.

Learning Design is not the same thing as learning webdesign. Or Graphic design, for that matter.

Graphic/Web Design are kinds of design. I feel that you should explore graphic design, if you consider yourself an "Artistic/Creative person who is into computers".

What I fear happens all too frequently is that more people who are an "Artistic/Creative person who is into computers" really are "A person who's into computers, and has a passing interest in Art". It's easy to confuse the issues, but the telling factor is this. Do you read more photoshop tutorials and dreamweaver manuals than you do create original artwork outside the computer?

If you are however more artistic than you are technical (which has nothing to do with your knowledge of computers) then learn how to make an interesting image (if you're into illustration) or an interesting composition (if you're into design/graphic design) and getting that stuff onto your computer and manipluating it there is completely secondary.

*warning* long involved post likely to follow, unless i get bored and stop typing */warning*

here's the simple fact: when it all comes down to it, design is all about your portfolio. a degree/certificate/award/whatever may get you in the door for an interview but you are only as good as your work. if you manage to somehow get a job without a solid portfolio in a reputable firm/art department and can't produce you won't last long.

at one firm i worked at my boss would pass around folders when we got a resume from a designer; those folders would include a resume and a few printed pieces, screenshots of websites, etc., and we'd initial that we'd looked at it and let her know if there was anything we liked. first page was usually the resume. flip. didn't even look at it unless i liked the work or thought it was so bad i was wondering where they went to school. i think i saw one folder while i worked there that i thought was worth an interview. this brings us to point #1:

most designers just aren't good.

job listings may get dozens of resumes, but for the most part they're from horribly unqualified people. they're either artists with no sense of design, designers with no sense of art, or HTML coders/photoshop operators with no sense of either. to work in most design firms and art departments today you not only have to have a sense of type, layout, and color, you also HAVE to understand basic website usability and function, how to put a site together and how to code basic CSS. there are those rare positions where you're doing only print work or only motion design, but they're few and far between.

now, even though it might sound like i'm saying school isn't important, i actually believe it is. not necessarily because of the degree, but that can be important. some places, as archaic as it might seem, simply won't hire you without a degree. that aside though, you do learn some hugely important things in school, which brings us to point #2 (which is think is the last point unless something else hits me in the next few minutse):

school is not about the degree.

yes, you sometimes do need the degree and will (hopefully) get it by attending school. what school is really about, however, is not the degree but the intangibles. how to get along with people. how to think outside the box and outside your comfort zone, how to manage a deadline. how to get along with people when you've had no sleep and are stressed, how to build up an immunity to caffeine...you get the idea. this doesn't necessarily mean a degree in design, though if you're heading in this direction it's not a bad idea. it might mean architecture (like me), art, photography...whatever it is that gets your brain moving.

if you decide to get a degree and decide you want it to be in design, do your homework when choosing a school (and this really applies to whatever sort of program you want to go into). ok, i guess we do have a point #3, and that is:

all design schools are not created equal.

most art institutes are not good design schools. most community college are not good design schools. there are exceptions to this, and for some people starting at a community college is a great idea, but just like there are good and bad designers there are good and bad design schools. the solution to this is simple: do your homework. visit the schools, talk to current students and check out their work, meet some professors and find out what they've done. find out where their graduates are now working, and this DOES NOT mean settle for them telling you they have 90 or 100 percent placement. placement to many schools means that graduate works for a place that has some loose connection to art, design, or film...the guy working the front counter of your local kinko's may qualify.

if you find yourself already out of school, with a non-design degree, and you still want to be a designer it can still happen for you, don't worry. what you do have to do is simply design. design everything. build websites. redesign your favorite album cover. create a new logo for a ficticious company, or better yet redesign one for a local business. design is like anything else, the more you do it the better you get.

also realize this: you will suck at first. you're supposed to. there are people with sick, natural talent who are just amazing right out of the gate, and if you're one of those people i don't like you ;) but most of us have to work at something to get good at it, learn the rules and apply them again and again till they make sense. that actually brings me to one last point that's probably one of the most important things i can say, but this will be very short:

learn to take criticism.

you most likely won't be good to start with, and the only way to really get better is to let people who ARE better tell you what to fix. lose the ego and learn to listen.

one last thing: as a designer you don't exist in a bubble, design is and applies to everything around you. you should be reading constantly, start with design publications like communication arts and HOW. read architecture magazines, film magazines, photography magazines. go to museums, art galleries, parks. pull inspiration from everywhere. get outside and draw, even if you're not that good...you'll get better.

just keep going...you'll either get bored and hate design and quit or things will start clicking for you and you'll realize you're getting better at it.

chris