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If she is in to graphic design, then to me it would make perfect sense to go into web development and/or web design. With her prior training, she should already have a good eye as well as some design skills.
All she needs to do (at least to start) is learn basic to intermittent HTML/CSS/Javascript/JQuery to get her started.
Perhaps she could even go back to college to get a Master's in the field.
Masters? Not sure that is needed. But she can take online classes at code academy to learn those skills. Many classes are free and take a few weeks. She can try it out with low risk.
If she is in to graphic design, then to me it would make perfect sense to go into web development and/or web design. With her prior training, she should already have a good eye as well as some design skills.
All she needs to do (at least to start) is learn basic to intermittent HTML/CSS/Javascript/JQuery to get her started.
Perhaps she could even go back to college to get a Master's in the field.
Well this is what she is doing. She has finished HTML 5 and CSS. She knows Javascript and is learning JQuery now. The issue she's running into (I think) is that she has no real life experience. She's building a portfolio now to showcase the skills so hopefully that will get some hits. I don't know if it is possible to work around the lack of work experience in the field...
Masters? Not sure that is needed. But she can take online classes at code academy to learn those skills. Many classes are free and take a few weeks. She can try it out with low risk.
A master's certainly isn't needed but it does two things. It allows one to teach at a college level if that is a route that one wants to go. It also looks nicer on a resume and may make a job seeker more attractive to an employer.
Well this is what she is doing. She has finished HTML 5 and CSS. She knows Javascript and is learning JQuery now. The issue she's running into (I think) is that she has no real life experience. She's building a portfolio now to showcase the skills so hopefully that will get some hits. I don't know if it is possible to work around the lack of work experience in the field...
Creating websites no matter if it's for a portfolio, as an on the side business, or for a company as an employee is all real life experience.
I would suggest that she go out on her own and try to find some sites to work on. In my experience, there are always some small businesses and professionals such as lawyers or real estate sales people that either need a site makeover or need something build from scratch. Finding things like this to work on would help her grow her skills and her portfolio at the same time while also giving her real life experience.
My girlfriend and I are evaluating her options. She hasn't been able to get a job in her field for one reason or another and if it doesn't happen before the end of the year, we want to look into the possibility of her taking some sort of training. She has a BA degree in the graphic design field currently. She is 32, so retraining for something that could land her a career even if it takes the next 2 years would be worth it I think.
She needs to get a different degree. She will never make any (real) money in commercial art, and she is getting an awfully late start in that field at her age. Sorry, not trying to be mean, but the commercial art field has the highest instance of age discrimination of any of the skilled trades. I know this from sad personal experience. :/
Show your girlfriend these links, not tryng to rain on anyone's parade, but GD is a horrible field these days. I don't understand why colleges still offer the courses, they are putting their graduates into horrible debt that they won't be able to repay on a designer's salary. Plus, you really have to live in/near an expensive urban area to even have a shot at getting hired in the field.
If she is in to graphic design, then to me it would make perfect sense to go into web development and/or web design. With her prior training, she should already have a good eye as well as some design skills.
All she needs to do (at least to start) is learn basic to intermittent HTML/CSS/Javascript/JQuery to get her started.
Perhaps she could even go back to college to get a Master's in the field.
NO NO NO
She should not put another dime into her design degree. She needs to look to something else to make her bones. She should do design on the side, or come up with something clever to sell on etsy if she has the burning desire to make art.
Plumber or electrician. She gets to be a minority in either job. The jobs can't be outsourced to other countries. After she becomes a journeyman she can work for herself or others. She can make ends meet just advertising on CL. And these are both useful skills to have.
She may have the same problems finding a new job in a different field. Is she attending weekly personal/career development classes? She should consider doing 100 practice interview with strangers and then go to the trouble of a new class.
Some people consistently have same problems in different fields, because their job hunting skills are not strong.
On the other hand, I took a FREE weekly life skills with a dozen people. There were over 100 people taking the same class in other locations. We averaged a 40% increased in salary across 100 people. That's certainly better than everybody else struggling to even get a job offer, let alone a 40% pay increase.
Plumber or electrician. She gets to be a minority in either job. The jobs can't be outsourced to other countries. After she becomes a journeyman she can work for herself or others. She can make ends meet just advertising on CL. And these are both useful skills to have.
It might not be able to be outsourced to other countries but the going rate varies dramatically in the country. I did some minor construction back in '08. the company brought in retired coal minors from Appalachia! Why? Because they were cheaper.
In terms of art is she into animation, movies etc. Adobe is pretty wide but so is Blender.
She should not put another dime into her design degree. She needs to look to something else to make her bones. She should do design on the side, or come up with something clever to sell on etsy if she has the burning desire to make art.
Design/Commercial art is a dead end.
I didn't mean a master's in design. I was referring to getting a master's in web development. I totally agree that graphic design on it's own is virtually a dead end.
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