It was my first semester at college that I realized if I wanted to continue getting freelance jobs, I’d have to hone my web design skills. Up until that point, I was working in FrontPage, and hand coding some HTML to get the hang of it. I was also offering some awful (really bad) graphic work. It was at my work study job that I met my friend Stephen Mekosh, who introduced me to CSS, PHP, and a whole mess of resources to keep myself afloat in an always changing industry.

I hadn’t really thought about expanding my skill set beyond the easy stuff. I thought this was primarily about running a business. In retrospect, that’s a pretty silly thought, but I figured a website was a website. It was Steve who showed me the power of CSS and how to learn it; likewise with PHP. So I set out to learn those two things, and in a  few months had a pretty decent version 1 of Casabona.Org.

Of course, in those 6 short years, the landscape of web design and development has changed, as has my skill set. If I had stuck to doing FrontPage, I’d have no clients. Freshmen in college are learning how to do that. It’s important in any business to keep up with the changes of the industry. As freelancers it might be a little harder because we don’t have some corporate office paying for seminars to send us to. That’s why:

You need to find a list of reliable sources to keep you up-to-date

With the advent of blogs and social media, it’s become easier to do so. Some design websites I read include: A List Apart, Smashing Magazine, and NETTUTS. I also have a subscription to  .net magazine (referred to as Practical Web Design here in the US). Reading books doesn’t hurt either

If you don’t hone and update your skills, you’re bound to get left behind; especially on the Internet. So read up on current and future trends and plan accordingly- you’ll be glad you did.

Tags: beginning, blog, links, skills, tips | Posted in Advice, Stories |