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Thank you in advance
Marc
An online CV type website showing off what you're capable of (i.e. do something creative and above-average/clever) could also be handy.
TJ
At a minimum you should be 100% fluent in HTML, CSS, and javascript. Demonstrate that you can take a PhotoShop layout and turn it into a lean well-optimized compliant HTML page. If you're going for programming jobs, you'll need to be comfortable with SQL, and probably either PHP or C#.NET
Some employers will hire you if you are capable of tossing together Frontpage templates. However it is a valuable asset to be able to code "by hand". It shows that you really understand the underlying structure of web technology, you don't merely drag stuff around in a GUI.
Those are just the essentials for an entry-level position. For a more senior position you need to demonstrate advanced skill, and that's helped along by having the whole soup of acronyms on your resume. These days, a well-rounded developer should definitely become adept at XML, XSL, AJAX, DHTML, and SEO.
To start, make sure your HTML skills are pristine. Build something really cool and host it online. If your portfolio is slim, do a little freelance or pro bono work to stuff it, but choose your projects carefully and do them really well.
As I say the industry is healthy, but there is a *lot* of competition for those jobs. Part of the difficulty of getting into web work is that the industry is saturated with hopeful newbies. For upwardly-aspiring 20-somethings who want desperately to escape from Wal-Mart, web design is a trendy job.
The last time I solicited resumes for a web position, I received a stack of over 400 applicants. 380 went in the trash (oops, I mean my "files") at first glance, often because I saw that their resume consisted of a 4-week "learn web design" night course at the local high school, and nothing else.
Your challenge is to stand out from that crowd.
Good Luck
The pro bono work and freelance work is yet another question. I have asked in an Art forum if it would be your right to volunteer to make artists web sites. I was told it was not allowed since it was in conflict with their advertises. In school there was one class were we formed teams to do pro bono work. I found a newly forming illustrators Association which needed a web site. They will willing to have students do it if their college instructor would oversee the quality to make sure it was good. The instructor refused this idea saying artists were too hard to satisfy she knows this from her experience. And I was thinking it would be ideal for just this reason. So is my perception that if I can find someplace on the Web to volunteer to make artists web sites a good idea because of the aesthetic perceptions artist would give me in return or is this a bad idea?
Marc
1) Every employer wants you to "know" Photoshop. I haven't a clue what that means, and I've got the idea that most of them don't either. I can only guess that they expect a basic understanding and experience with PS, unless it's a graphics designer position (in which case it probably shouldn't be in the HTML/programming section).
2) ASP/.NET/IIS is in more demand than PHP/Apache. I'm seeing as much as 10-1 greater demand for Windows scripters than *nix for most of the entry-mid level web design/programming jobs. However, it seems to even out at the higher level jobs, with Unix experience always a big +.
3) XML is still the biggest buzzword. I'm absolutely certain that half the employers who post this in the +'s section of their listings have no idea what XML is. But they want it.
4) JavaScript. Almost all of them require it.
5) CSS. Usually in the +'s section but more of them are listing it as a requirement.
In the end, most employers want somebody with a minimum bachelor's in CS and half a dozen years experience working on the Google algo, with some award-winning graphics in your portfolio. But most of them don't get it ;)
Sometimes I'm tempted to email the employers and tell them that I think their priorities are a little out of order when they're seeking JS/XML experience but still use FP to design their sites.
After about 10-11 months of building some sites, I applied for a job at a big firm. My knowledge of html was almost nil (was used to Frontpage), my knowledge of Photoshop was relatively weak, my knowledge of javascript nonexistent. Despite that, they liked the direction my work went in, and offered me a job with a higher salary than I made as a teacher. Turns out, none of the other designers had taken any classes either, they were all nerds like myself who designed as a hobby and made a job out of it.
Three months later, I had learned a wealth of information from hands on training. I got tired of commuting (1 hour each way) and started my own design business.
In my case, I think they were looking for someone to do a lot of the busy work, but I earned the opportunity to design some cool sites. Again, no one that worked there had any formal education, they were all self taught people who picked up stuff from hands on work around others.
I have designers that I subcontract some projects to. I could care less if they even have a high school diploma or how much they know about coding, I only want to see past projects they did.
Simply making sites for practise was useful, I made sites for my gaming clan at the time, made a portfolio site, a music site, product review site, and a bunch others under the umbrella of a "web design company" site (even though I had litte time to promote it). This showed employers that I had the ability to make sites and in doing so I learned what those acronyms were about.
Having said that it's great to spend some time working with motivated people in the field, and much easier to learn the most up-to-date techniques.
I wouldn't have said no to pro-bono work when starting out but was too lazy to try to chase people, it worked out better to simply make sites built around my interests.
