Web developing... what's ur story? - Well many years ago I went around to a friends (who were geeks, I was an outside, socialising active person)

Tom · 15th July 2009, 08:57 AM

Well many years ago I went around to a friends (who were geeks, I was an outside, socialising active person) and they was on the Internet, and we sat down and started to visit websites, going into chat rooms and causing trouble

but thats all it took, after that I was hooked and wanted to be online all the time, alas I didnt have a computer and when I suggested it to my dad he was not happy.

So time passed and I would go on the internet when I could, and we started doing IT classes at secondary school. Learnt a bit about windows from going in and trying to break stuff and then my Dad got promoted at his Work, and they gave him a laptop

So now we had a laptop at home and the internet usage started in ernest, until my brother and I ran up a £80 phone bill then we got limited. This was during college and started to be interested in hacking, my friend and I managed to infect about 25% of the schools PC's with trojans and we started messing with people whilst they was on the machine's.. flipping the screen around, turning on the buzzer, opening the CD draw, harmless fun (ive never been someone to maliciously mess with peoples work or actually break stuff).

During college got my first PC, not to learn code, but to play EverQuest LOL

Anyhow with my knowledge I was able to pass a Key Skills in IT with ease and then went into the wide world for my first Job at Maplin.

In Maplin I went from the Sound and Vision department, to Computer Department and then I was put in charge of building PC's.... then I found out about PC Service Call (

) and I went for a job there.

Then I started to get more interested in coding and websites, from there I moved to 123-reg where I went from Tech Support, Technical Leader, Team Leader and the moved out of 123-reg and became a Product Executive within Pipex.

Moved from Pipex to my current role which is more system administrator, all the while ive been dabbling with computers and learning stuff thats caught my attention along the way.

I havent learnt enough to go freelance or make it my primary career, in my current role I do alot of graphics for our main website which is good as its helping me learn more.

Everything I know has been self taught (that ends tonight with Davidj help tho :) )

hally0301 · 15th July 2009, 09:48 AM

I probably have a long and convoluted story about how I came to web design.

I graduated from Uni with a degree in Pharmacy about 20 years ago. I then worked in pharmacy for quite a number of years, spent some time working as a personal trainer and then went back into pharmacy.

Ever since I can remember I have worked with computers. I remember programming Mum and Dad's old Apple computer writing programs in basic.

About 5 years ago I started to get seriously interested in the internet. I started doing a few webpages in FrontPage (I know I can hear you groan!!). Then I moved onto Dreamweaver and then a couple of years ago I did some formal training with HTML and CSS.

I have done some sites for myself and some sites for friends of mine and am in the process of moving into commercial work.

I also have experience in SEO.

Ultimately I probably see myself as more of a developer than a designer. I am more process driven than creative. I am now looking at learning PHP as a way to develop web applications and make my websites more dynamic.

davidj · 15th July 2009, 01:16 PM

contact me through messenger Hally when your ready to begin

Wrams · 20th July 2009, 08:49 PM

I suppose I better share my story. Its very basic....

Web development came into my life accidentally just by me buying and owning my own VBulletin forums. I was fed up with the look of a very basic looking forums and every time I needed something done would call upon a friend who I trust to drop everything and log in with his account I created with FULL access and do what I asked him to do.

It was after he added a link to the footer that i looked at it and wondered how in the hell did he do this. So, me being me I went into my AdminCP and tried to look for the place he added it to. After about an hours or more i decided to give up. The very next day I actually woke up wondering and thinking about this link he installed. So to this day I don't know if I dreamt about this link or not. Anyway, this was not going to beat me. So in my perseverance I looked and looked until 'hey presto' I found it. So in my hour of glory i had finally concured it.

I then clicked on IE7 icon as I didn't use FireFox at this late stage. Up IE7 loaded and into the 'Search Engine Box' I typed 'Coding my VBulletin Forums' and came up with some basic links that weren't much help. So I messed with the search engine until my results became better and better. I started reading link after link after link until I had read so much that I thought I'll never be a web developer at this rate. (Still Not) Lol.

I continued to read and order books from eBay and must have wasted a few £££ in my quest to becoming a 'Coder' just buying books that I would never read unless I conquer the coding world.

I had always wondered how the guys from 'StevesDigiCam' (Professional Photography) forums made there own websites. Anyway me being a Semi Professional photographer I had a keen eye for nice looking websites and what draw the eye to the central focal points and kept me there the longest.

Then one afternoon I found the perfect place, a forums that i felt comfortable in, there was a strong focal point that kept bring my eye back down to the forums and threads. So I had found this forums that I actually wanted to be apart of and clicked on the 'Registration' link and signed up. The first place I have ever learnt anything is here at WPC and everyday i learn more and more from the awesome community at WebProCafe

Thats how I got into web development, but, my graphics are something I could do with brushing up on. Being a semi professional photographer gave me the tools I need to designing the very best in Photoshop. When it comes to creating a template I struggle but give me a photo of your wife, loved ones or macro/ landscape and I'll make them all look amazing. So my next step is continue to learn coding but also integrate Photoshop and Illustrator.

Thats my story as bland as it is...

A800 · 21st July 2009, 03:10 PM

Learnt my web design skills 4 or 5 years ago off a technician from the school I went to. He taught me (and other people. I was in 6th form at the time) HTML. I taught myself CSS and some JavaScript after that.

oldgoat · 25th September 2009, 08:34 PM

Great to be back.. I've been somewhat busy with work .. lucky these days that way.. and banging my head against the wall with code so I decided to stop and find my bookmark for WBC.. dumb me.. I had it buried where least expected to find it!
Anyway.. thanks for the posts folks.. I enjoyed reading them.

leeky · 25th September 2009, 11:42 PM

My story... if you could call it:

Breezing through school without paying much attention, I still passed all my GCSES with A/B without revising, no idea how that happened. So I went to 6th form just to hang out with mates more than to learn anything of value – skipping lessons and focusing on playing basketball all day it was very enjoyable time, then came around choosing a University Course... my mum and dad both wanted me to go and said they would support me.
So I am currently studying an odd course called Entrepreneurship in Business, ICT and Engineering at University of Surrey – its good fun and I have learnt a lot, would definitely recommend going to University just for fun if anybody is debating attending in the future.

Currently I am doing a placement year, as part of my degree, at Lloyds Pharmacy working in the Online Marketing department, basically looking after the website without doing any of the coding - we just tell the techies what to do! Hehe.

Then 3 weeks ago while waiting for my internet to be installed in my new flat I went to the library – and found a book called “The Web designers idea book” I looked through it and though wow these are stunning, i never thought as websites as such an art form. I was then hooked and wanted to create my own website, so i joined this forum and got loads of books out, as i had nothing else to do without the internet.
I have now learnt how to code html & CSS pretty well, just bought a copy of Photoshop and Illustrator student edition (Yay cheap prices) and will be getting my portfolio blog online soon! I hope, who knows what I will end up doing in the future.

Wow I rabble too much, sorry!

Lee.

15th July 2009, 08:57 AM	#11
Tom Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 782 Blog Entries: 16 Thanks: 17 Thanked 35 Times in 35 Posts Expertise: Design & Graphics Experience: Quite Good	Well many years ago I went around to a friends (who were geeks, I was an outside, socialising active person) and they was on the Internet, and we sat down and started to visit websites, going into chat rooms and causing trouble but thats all it took, after that I was hooked and wanted to be online all the time, alas I didnt have a computer and when I suggested it to my dad he was not happy. So time passed and I would go on the internet when I could, and we started doing IT classes at secondary school. Learnt a bit about windows from going in and trying to break stuff and then my Dad got promoted at his Work, and they gave him a laptop So now we had a laptop at home and the internet usage started in ernest, until my brother and I ran up a £80 phone bill then we got limited. This was during college and started to be interested in hacking, my friend and I managed to infect about 25% of the schools PC's with trojans and we started messing with people whilst they was on the machine's.. flipping the screen around, turning on the buzzer, opening the CD draw, harmless fun (ive never been someone to maliciously mess with peoples work or actually break stuff). During college got my first PC, not to learn code, but to play EverQuest LOL Anyhow with my knowledge I was able to pass a Key Skills in IT with ease and then went into the wide world for my first Job at Maplin. In Maplin I went from the Sound and Vision department, to Computer Department and then I was put in charge of building PC's.... then I found out about PC Service Call () and I went for a job there. Then I started to get more interested in coding and websites, from there I moved to 123-reg where I went from Tech Support, Technical Leader, Team Leader and the moved out of 123-reg and became a Product Executive within Pipex. Moved from Pipex to my current role which is more system administrator, all the while ive been dabbling with computers and learning stuff thats caught my attention along the way. I havent learnt enough to go freelance or make it my primary career, in my current role I do alot of graphics for our main website which is good as its helping me learn more. Everything I know has been self taught (that ends tonight with Davidj help tho :) ) __________________ www.fusionservers.co.uk\| Inexpensive Themes

15th July 2009, 01:16 PM	#13
davidj Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 155 Thanks: 0 Thanked 8 Times in 8 Posts Expertise: PHP Experience: Professional	contact me through messenger Hally when your ready to begin __________________ Do you want me to teach you PHP?

20th July 2009, 08:49 PM	#14
Wrams Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Bristol, UK Posts: 916 Blog Entries: 1 Thanks: 63 Thanked 9 Times in 8 Posts Expertise: (X)HTML / CSS Experience: Intermediate	I suppose I better share my story. Its very basic.... Web development came into my life accidentally just by me buying and owning my own VBulletin forums. I was fed up with the look of a very basic looking forums and every time I needed something done would call upon a friend who I trust to drop everything and log in with his account I created with FULL access and do what I asked him to do. It was after he added a link to the footer that i looked at it and wondered how in the hell did he do this. So, me being me I went into my AdminCP and tried to look for the place he added it to. After about an hours or more i decided to give up. The very next day I actually woke up wondering and thinking about this link he installed. So to this day I don't know if I dreamt about this link or not. Anyway, this was not going to beat me. So in my perseverance I looked and looked until 'hey presto' I found it. So in my hour of glory i had finally concured it. I then clicked on IE7 icon as I didn't use FireFox at this late stage. Up IE7 loaded and into the 'Search Engine Box' I typed 'Coding my VBulletin Forums' and came up with some basic links that weren't much help. So I messed with the search engine until my results became better and better. I started reading link after link after link until I had read so much that I thought I'll never be a web developer at this rate. (Still Not) Lol. I continued to read and order books from eBay and must have wasted a few £££ in my quest to becoming a 'Coder' just buying books that I would never read unless I conquer the coding world. I had always wondered how the guys from 'StevesDigiCam' (Professional Photography) forums made there own websites. Anyway me being a Semi Professional photographer I had a keen eye for nice looking websites and what draw the eye to the central focal points and kept me there the longest. Then one afternoon I found the perfect place, a forums that i felt comfortable in, there was a strong focal point that kept bring my eye back down to the forums and threads. So I had found this forums that I actually wanted to be apart of and clicked on the 'Registration' link and signed up. The first place I have ever learnt anything is here at WPC and everyday i learn more and more from the awesome community at WebProCafe Thats how I got into web development, but, my graphics are something I could do with brushing up on. Being a semi professional photographer gave me the tools I need to designing the very best in Photoshop. When it comes to creating a template I struggle but give me a photo of your wife, loved ones or macro/ landscape and I'll make them all look amazing. So my next step is continue to learn coding but also integrate Photoshop and Illustrator. Thats my story as bland as it is... __________________ SuperValueWeb Hosting

21st July 2009, 03:10 PM	#15
A800 Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Kent, UK Posts: 113 Blog Entries: 11 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post Expertise: (X)HTML / CSS Experience: Quite Good	Learnt my web design skills 4 or 5 years ago off a technician from the school I went to. He taught me (and other people. I was in 6th form at the time) HTML. I taught myself CSS and some JavaScript after that. __________________ Boris Johnson for future PM!

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15th July 2009, 09:48 AM	#12
hally0301 Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Brisbane Australia Posts: 45 Thanks: 2 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Expertise: (X)HTML / CSS Experience: Intermediate	I probably have a long and convoluted story about how I came to web design. I graduated from Uni with a degree in Pharmacy about 20 years ago. I then worked in pharmacy for quite a number of years, spent some time working as a personal trainer and then went back into pharmacy. Ever since I can remember I have worked with computers. I remember programming Mum and Dad's old Apple computer writing programs in basic. About 5 years ago I started to get seriously interested in the internet. I started doing a few webpages in FrontPage (I know I can hear you groan!!). Then I moved onto Dreamweaver and then a couple of years ago I did some formal training with HTML and CSS. I have done some sites for myself and some sites for friends of mine and am in the process of moving into commercial work. I also have experience in SEO. Ultimately I probably see myself as more of a developer than a designer. I am more process driven than creative. I am now looking at learning PHP as a way to develop web applications and make my websites more dynamic.

25th September 2009, 08:34 PM	#16
oldgoat Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Canada Posts: 13 Thanks: 1 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Expertise: Total Beginner Experience: Beginner	Great to be back.. I've been somewhat busy with work .. lucky these days that way.. and banging my head against the wall with code so I decided to stop and find my bookmark for WBC.. dumb me.. I had it buried where least expected to find it! Anyway.. thanks for the posts folks.. I enjoyed reading them.

25th September 2009, 11:42 PM	#17
leeky Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Coventry, England Posts: 25 Thanks: 1 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Expertise: Total Beginner Experience: Basic / None	My story... if you could call it: Breezing through school without paying much attention, I still passed all my GCSES with A/B without revising, no idea how that happened. So I went to 6th form just to hang out with mates more than to learn anything of value – skipping lessons and focusing on playing basketball all day it was very enjoyable time, then came around choosing a University Course... my mum and dad both wanted me to go and said they would support me. So I am currently studying an odd course called Entrepreneurship in Business, ICT and Engineering at University of Surrey – its good fun and I have learnt a lot, would definitely recommend going to University just for fun if anybody is debating attending in the future. Currently I am doing a placement year, as part of my degree, at Lloyds Pharmacy working in the Online Marketing department, basically looking after the website without doing any of the coding - we just tell the techies what to do! Hehe. Then 3 weeks ago while waiting for my internet to be installed in my new flat I went to the library – and found a book called “The Web designers idea book” I looked through it and though wow these are stunning, i never thought as websites as such an art form. I was then hooked and wanted to create my own website, so i joined this forum and got loads of books out, as i had nothing else to do without the internet. I have now learnt how to code html & CSS pretty well, just bought a copy of Photoshop and Illustrator student edition (Yay cheap prices) and will be getting my portfolio blog online soon! I hope, who knows what I will end up doing in the future. Wow I rabble too much, sorry! Lee.