Welcome to the Treehouse Community
Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.
Looking to learn something new?
Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.
Start your free trial
julieseif
11,063 PointsQualifications and Becoming a Front End Designer
Hi, Everyone,
I want to become a Front End Designer. Right now I'm working toward two different certifications... ACA (adobe certified associate) in Dreamweaver and Photoshop as well as the MS Office Master Certification.
I don't think being a MS Office Master would do much to bolster the resume of someone who wants to be a front end designer. I'm considering dropping working toward the MS Office Master certification and sticking with working toward the Adobe Certified Associate in Dreamweaver and Photoshop work.
Does this sound like a good plan? Can anyone offer any ideas/pointers? Maybe instead of dropping MS Office altogether, I could go get certified as a specialist in Access, that way experience with databases would be on my resume. Any help would be GREAT!! :-)
4 Answers
Richard Duncan
5,568 PointsI'm not a UI designer so feel free to ignore every word. Although I have worked with many UI designers on UX.
I'm sure there are lots of qualifications you can get but I would use these to learn new techniques not think of them as a bench mark of your ability. UI design is creative like art and sculpture, if you have ability and a portfolio which showcases that, I would think it much more valuable than any degree or qualification.
If I were you I would focus on evidencing what you can do in adobe or web (or whatever platform) in a portfolio and save your money.
julieseif
11,063 PointsThank you, Richard, for your response! For some reason I just feel more comfortable having those two certifications (Adobe Dreamweaver and Photoshop) under my belt before I apply for any jobs. I also am working to beef up my portfolio in the process. Let me know what you think of this, and if you have any more ideas for me -- great! Thank you for your help so far!
julieseif
11,063 PointsAlso, could you tell me more about your story, how you came to be a designer... did you go to college, etc?
Richard Duncan
5,568 PointsI'm not a UI designer :) not in my day job anyway - I have two roles in my company, one is an Operations Manager role, I have a team of subordinate managers and under them teams of departments.
My other role is as a Product Manager, I engage with customers and stakeholders from inception through development and into introduction and I am required to be across a number of products and technologies at one time. In my free time I do Illustrations in Photoshop and loosely maintain a blog at http://kryptonite-dove.com as a way to remain on top of and experiment with technologies that I feel we should be building products out of. As a result I have a high degree of influence in what technologies are used and how the end product will look and feel to the user. But, the work is carried out by professionals who hold the relevant positions. The designers I have worked with are generally very passionate about what they do and have portfolios or blogs that show off their past accomplishments. One guy I worked with for example had done posters for the band MUSE and while he was technical to a point he focussed almost exclusively on the artistic wow factor and really did a great job of pulling it off!
While I would absolutely look for certain skills and qualifications when hiring a manager for my Operations team, I would personally be more interested in talent and ability that could be evidenced than in qualifications held by an individual for a creative role.
julieseif
11,063 PointsThank you Richard and Andrew for your responses. I am most appreciative.
Andrew Shook
31,709 PointsAndrew Shook
31,709 PointsI agree with Richard Duncan, skills with the technical aspects are important, but having a solid portfolio is a must. A cert to show you know all the do-das in illustrator is not as important as producing work in Illustrator.