career advice

[humpingdan]

Im 19 years old, "does that make me the youngest webmaster worlder?" and im currently in a dead end job but do bits and pieces of seo for some small busineses, seo bit of lmited web scripting, some more complicated stuff with advice from guys on here! but what can the future hold for me, i have good GCSE grades(meaning i can go to college) but have no furthur education?

basically how can i advance my knowledge and recieve recognition for it, also what qualifications can i go for? anyone a careers advisor? lol

but seriously i need to get something sorted while im still young? id like to be involved with computers and the internet, in particular web scripting seo and sem they are more core areas, can anyone offer me some advice?

Dan

[limbo]

Get a job doing what you like and see if they will pay for you to go to college. This of course is much easier said than done ;)

I have seen webmaster/design/development courses discussed at length here and rarely does anyone recommend anything other than good ol' fashioned experience.

However other courses that might serve you well could be design? Business? IT? To get a good set of principles. The rest you can probably learn right here :)

Also start to get a portfolio of URL's together - As soon as possible - you have an advantage over others at your age if you can demonstrate you skills with well-produced sites.

Ta

Limbo

[limbo]

Interesting Jobs [google.com] ;)

[requiem]

I have a masters degree in computer science, with any (well maybe not any) master degree you are prepared for the future job marked. I am half of a two man seo company, and it happends that new clients ask about our educational backgrounds.

Of course there are people working as website consultants with all sorts of backgrounds. I personally know a great webprogrammer who never finished secondary school, and I know computer science masters that have been unemployed for over six months.

[dragonlady7]

Experience teaches you what you need to know.
Education is helpful in giving you a more general background, making it far easier for you to put experience into perspective and integrate it into a more comprehensive worldview.
Your mileage may vary. I personally have less experience than education, and therefore find that by teaching myself things as I go along I do rather well. Others may think the $20,000 in debt I'm carrying for the bachelor's degree is a bit excessive.
Being in the UK, you don't have to worry about quite that quantity of cash for uni, as the price tag isn't quite so hefty...

But still, it's up to you. I don't think I had the understanding to learn from experience without my education under my belt, and I think that's how a lot of employers feel. A degree shows that you know how to learn. That's all.

So that's just my perspective on the role formal education plays. More important to some than others, and I'd be worthless without mine, and am actually thinking of going and getting me some more of it. (Because once you're in this much debt you don't care anymore.)
But other people really don't benefit that much from it, so by all means take that into consideration.