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At 29 considering going back to school for an associates degree.

A

alm99

Diamond Member
I have a 4 year degree in Marketing and just cannot land anything in the field thus far other than sales and I am tired of sales.

I am considering going to the local community college and getting an associates degree in web design. Would this be a good idea to obtain the degree or learn on my own and hope to land something without the piece of paper. The program goes into programming languages, php, java, c++, etc.

Is the field of webdesign oversaturated?
 
why not get something to complement your marketing degree? (i.e. an mba focused in marketing)

switching careers into an entry level position where you have no prior work experience may set you behind the curve quite a bit.
 
Originally posted by: Cattlegod
why not get something to complement your marketing degree? (i.e. an mba focused in marketing)

switching careers into an entry level position where you have no prior work experience may set you behind the curve quite a bit.
Click to expand...

I agree but would also add the caveat of do what makes you happy. If you are going to earn 2x as much with an MBA but be miserable then go back for the web design.

I think it's pretty well saturated but not completely. There are jobs out there.
 
Do what's right for you. Just make sure you can deal with the financial impacts it might entail. If you can deal with any financial impacts I'd say it's worth it to pursue a career you would enjoy.

Also, you don't have to give up your current job. The beauty of something like Web Design is that you can do this work on the side. You can get that degree and then do some free lancing work until you get going or find a job.
 
If web design will make you happy, jump in with both feet. Just make sure you are sure one #1 before you go with #2.

<- 39 and going back to school full time for a second Master's.
 
Originally posted by: Mwilding
If web design will make you happy, jump in with both feet. Just make sure you are sure one #1 before you go with #2.

<- 39 and going back to school full time for a second Master's.
Click to expand...

Second masters for what?
 
Why not just go back for another BA? If you're willing to give 2 years to earn an Associate's Degree, might as well use those 2 years to get a second Bachelor's, no? Or even a master's. Thumbs up either way. I recently restarted school at 27 to get my Bachelor's after receiving my Associate's degree like 5 years ago and not going any farther. It's a good feeling to be mentally stimulated again.
 
You don't need a degree to do web design. If you're looking to learn a new skill, then that's good. If you're looking for a career, then maybe you should think again. There's not much out there in web design anymore. Most of it is all dynamically generated nowadays and you need a programming degree of some kind. I agree with what others have said, find something to complement your marketing degree and play to your existing strengths.
 
Originally posted by: alm99
Originally posted by: Mwilding
If web design will make you happy, jump in with both feet. Just make sure you are sure one #1 before you go with #2.

<- 39 and going back to school full time for a second Master's.
Click to expand...

Second masters for what?
Click to expand...

Anesthesiologist Assistant. It's basically the same thing as a Nurse Anesthetist. Probably the highest paying non-physician job in the hospital
 
With a degree in Marketing, you should be close to a degree in Business Management as well. Why not take some exciting courses in accounting to round out that business education?

I tend to agree with the other posters who say that web design would be a waste. Choose a field that works well with your current degree if your goal is employment...not personal satisfaction.

BTW, 29 isn't too old to get an AS degree. I'm in my mid-50's and will be graduating in May with 3 AS degrees...and sadly, they'll help qualify me to make about 1/4 of what I made with a GED.
 
Originally posted by: SoulAssassin
Originally posted by: Cattlegod
why not get something to complement your marketing degree? (i.e. an mba focused in marketing)

switching careers into an entry level position where you have no prior work experience may set you behind the curve quite a bit.
Click to expand...

I agree but would also add the caveat of do what makes you happy. If you are going to earn 2x as much with an MBA but be miserable then go back for the web design.
Click to expand...


I guess that is my issue. I don't want to be managing people. I did that for a year as a sales supervisor and hated it. I don't want to deal with the BS of the people. Any marketing position that I have ever wanted required experience with the Adobe software(photoshop, flash, dreamweaver, etc) and the programming languages of web design.

The program I was looking at includes programming languages, C++, java, HTML, but I am afraid like others have said that it would be a waste of my time/money to get the degree as most web design is fairly straightforward through templates and such.
 
Originally posted by: alm99
Originally posted by: SoulAssassin
Originally posted by: Cattlegod
why not get something to complement your marketing degree? (i.e. an mba focused in marketing)

switching careers into an entry level position where you have no prior work experience may set you behind the curve quite a bit.
Click to expand...

I agree but would also add the caveat of do what makes you happy. If you are going to earn 2x as much with an MBA but be miserable then go back for the web design.
Click to expand...


I guess that is my issue. I don't want to be managing people. I did that for a year as a sales supervisor and hated it. I don't want to deal with the BS of the people. Any marketing position that I have ever wanted required experience with the Adobe software(photoshop, flash, dreamweaver, etc) and the programming languages of web design.

The program I was looking at includes programming languages, C++, java, HTML, but I am afraid like others have said that it would be a waste of my time/money to get the degree as most web design is fairly straightforward through templates and such.
Click to expand...

Well if you have a degree in marketing it should go without saying that you'll need to know adobe software and at least a little bit of web design. Any marketing person I've ever known had to make ads/fliers/etc etc using some sort of editing software.

If you don't want to manage people then work for a smaller company that doesn't need an entire marketing department.
 
Originally posted by: SoulAssassin
Originally posted by: Cattlegod
why not get something to complement your marketing degree? (i.e. an mba focused in marketing)

switching careers into an entry level position where you have no prior work experience may set you behind the curve quite a bit.
Click to expand...

I agree but would also add the caveat of do what makes you happy. If you are going to earn 2x as much with an MBA but be miserable then go back for the web design.

I think it's pretty well saturated but not completely. There are jobs out there.
Click to expand...

marketing and web design can play hand-in-hand as well. take the courses with that in mind, apply it to something you find worthy and go for it. i went for a bofa in multimedia, spec in digital animation. i was able to apply it to the job i have now, which is industrial programming/ telemetry systems. worked out nicely, and made me feel like the 4 years of school wasnt wasted. turned out it made me a bit more diverse than much of my competition, seeing as they are mostly engineers trying to figure out how to use crayons. im an artist trying to figure out how to use wires, which is a bit easier.
 
I personally think you can teach yourself most thinks you need to know about web programming. The rest can be found online with some research.. I am not sure if it is worth the tuition dollars.
 
Originally posted by: alm99
I am considering going to the local community college and getting an associates degree in web design.
Click to expand...

Don't do it. Go back to school and get a Masters degree. Get some kind of web design certification on the side.
 
Going back to school isn't a bad idea, however Im not sure an associates degree will help you at all. If you're going to go back to school, don't half a$$ it and get yourself a bachelors.

My suggestion, as others have mentioned, is to get an MBA.
 
Web Design is a creative talent, not a skill set you can learn easily. You won't go far if you don't have the creative aspect and that's something you cannot be taught in a classroom.
 
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