Computers for me have been an addiction since I was very young. I remember my dad bringing home our first 386, and the wonder and amazement of using a computer for the first time. All through my primary and secondary schooling I was a very creative person, Art was my favorite subject and upon graduating, selecting a career that incorporated this and my love of computers seemed a logical choice. Website Designer was an occupation that I felt seemed to fit really well.

It seems I am not the only one, as the number of web-developers since the late nineties sky-rocketed, ranging from entry level dabblers, right up to fully fledged programmers and designers. For this career path to work for me, I wanted to go about it the right way, and enrolling at university seemed the best choice.

This led me to Edith Cowan University in Mount Lawley, Western Australia and signing up for a Bachelor of Communications course. Here I was required to select two majors, and so I began studying Interactive Multimedia Technologies and Advertising. Over the next four years, the content and skills I learned were great, ranging from 3D modeling, animation, and website design to programming and project management. Not only was this a great avenue for learning about different programs and theory in this industry, but an excellent way of meeting loads of new contacts, one of which helped in getting me the job I enjoy now. One particular assignment required my group to find a company in Perth and volunteer to complete some market research for them. This was a great learning experience, and actually being in a workplace, really whetted my appetite and urged me to quickly finish my degree and graduate.

University was great fun and taught me a lot, but similar courses can be taken to learn this material, including TAFE, night school. At any rate, degree in hand, I set to the interesting task of applying to as many companies as possible. It was here that I learned that simply having a degree was not enough.

Portfolios I found were everything in the design industry. No amount of educational credentials seemed to be enough because unless there was an example of work that would demonstrate what you were capable of, most companies would either not reply or insist that their positions were currently filled. Disappointed, I kept at it, sending resumes and examples of my university work to a variety of web design companies throughout Perth.

By this stage a few months had passed, and it was clear that I required a different approach to the problem. At the time I was working at the local McDonalds for about 30 hours a week, and when I wasn't working I was sending out resumes. I then caught a lucky break.

One of my friend's, Monique, was a stylist working out of a hair salon in Peppermint Grove. Her boss had mentioned the need for a website and so she passed on my details in case he was interested. Not expecting a lot at that point, I turned my mind back to my resumes. A few weeks later I received a call from the hair salon. The owner wished to meet up and discuss the creation of a website to better promote the salon. And from there I had my first job.

Working on my first commercial website as a Freelance designer, I learned many valuable lessons; how to go about the design process with the client, correctly understanding what was required and implementing this into the website and what sort of rates that I should be charging. With one website under my belt, the effect seemed to snowball, as clients to the salon would see the website and ask about who created it. At this point in time another friend who had been running his own design business for a few years also required a website. Now I was finally getting somewhere.

From here I gained more recommendations and within 3 months, I had five commercial websites completed, as well as my own online portfolio website and car club website. As enjoyable as the work was at this point, it was hardly reliable and so I still continued sending out my resumes. Finally, I was offered a job for a business company in East Perth under the label Web Designer. This job was not what I expected, and after a few months was bluntly told that everything I learnt at university was useless for what I needed to do in the current business climate. The design aspect of my work was gone, and I was reduced to coding blogs and emailing. I was extremely disappointed and fervently hoped that the rest of the industry wasn't like this.

I stuck with this work for another five months before coming across an email from one of my university lecturers, mentioning a small business was looking to hire on additional staff. With nothing to lose, I sent out an email with my resume and portfolio, and after a few interviews was hired on as the newest member of FX Digital. And, as for those unnecessary skills I slaved over at university ... I now utilise those skills every day in my new position as website developer.

I guess at the end of it all my best advice on getting a job in web design is a quality portfolio and contacts. Getting a few websites behind me helped immensely and I was lucky enough to know some people in the design industry which really helped in getting me started. These contacts also helped in eventually getting my job, and their recommendations speak volumes over a piece of paper any day. Online job search programs such as Seek are also a great help, as any new job offers are emailed straight to your account. It was frustrating at times, but now I am really enjoying my work and in a career that I love.