When did you realize you were a “web designer”? And did you go through rough times ?
Via: kevinnuut.
Since you asked, I will proceed to tell you the story of my web designer life. I will attempt to keep it interesting, but I make no promises.
I started my first website using HTML when I was 12. I was using frames, image maps, and blink tabs. CSS didn’t exist. I had no idea what server side code was. I built a wrestling site on AngelFire using Paint Shop Pro. I self taught myself by reading the internet, copying code, and buying books on the cheap at Half Price.
Skip ahead to 18, I released my first site with server side scripting, txmafia.com, which hosted Flash movies and games. It was built in PERL, CSS had just started on the scene, and frames were no longer that cool.
Honestly, I still never thought that I could make money through web design, so with the persuasion of my parents, I enrolled at the University of Texas in an Electrical Engineering degree. To pay the occasional rent, I’d still take on web design contracts, charging minimal amounts mostly in cash.
After four years of engineering, and writing hardware code for a company called Polycom, I realized I hated working with hardware and that I just wanted to design in Photoshop and write in PHP/Ruby all day. So I left Polycom, became jobless for 6 months, and did nothing but web designs. I was poor but happy.
Eventually, my amazing friend, Sheila, hooked me up with a Director of IT position at a health insurance company. I was doing a descent amount of design, but my priority was server and database management. It turned out the company was doing illegal activities, everyone was either fired or quit, and that became the end of that chapter.
About a year and a half ago, I picked up a job with Web Telecom company, where I became an Applications Developer. For the first time, I was being paid a good salary to do nothing but web development and design. We have a team of artists (Eryn and Roland) who do the design now a days, but I’m responsible for all the CSS/HTML/PHP (along with Daniel, Blake, and Alan) that comes out of our shop.
Recently, I’ve co-founded a web design house called DieRobotDie. It’s in its infancy and we are working on a few projects for SXSW, but it’s at our own pace, filled with friends, and totally worth the extra hours.
Anyways, I think I knew at 12 I’d be doing web design as a hobby. As a kid who loved both math and art, web development was the perfect fit. I don’t think it was until I was 23 that I realized it was a viable career.
To make it work, you just need a strong passion for it, and you have to realize that it is always changing. As soon as you learn CSS2, there is CSS3. There is HTML4, XHTML1, and HTML5, all in use, that you need to understand. Photoshop becomes your lover. Eclipse becomes your best friend.
And I can’t say I ever went through rough times. I went through times with no money, but I still had family, friends, ramen noodles, alcohol, and a neighborhood pool to swim in.
- Jan 15 2010 9:03
