How did you start?

dab42pat · Apr 25th, 2008, 19:54

I am employed as a electro-mechanical engineer working mainly on HMI Systems (human machine interface) through this I got interested in web development(not so much design) as many of the systems I work on are web based.

My question is what made you decide to design/develop web sites

saltedm8 · Apr 25th, 2008, 20:12

mine is a very strange one,

i got into food and cooking, and i come across Jamie Oliver's official site, then i thorght to myself, i want a food site just like the one he had

so it kicked off from there

dab42pat · Apr 25th, 2008, 20:39

So we have a culinary artist an engineer,

I expect there are many more diverse professions that have strayed into the web design/development industry.

Care to share.

Pat

aso186 · Apr 25th, 2008, 21:01

My employer got me to do the company site since I was the 'IT guy'!

unitedcraig · Apr 25th, 2008, 21:13

All started off with myspace, started editing the free codes i got to get rid of the "designed by myspacecodes.com" from all the themes.

After that just got reading and really interested in the whole web thing

shalom_m · Apr 26th, 2008, 03:18

I started programming in PL/1 and PL/2 on an IBM System 330 in the late 1960's.
Worked for Commodore in the early 80's.
Still atoning for those sins!

CloudedVision · Apr 30th, 2008, 17:16

When I was eight, I wan't to make a website. So I did a google search and found a free website maker. It said "Please, no HTML," so I did a google search on HTML. I kept on learning, expanding to CSS and PHP, and a little bit of javascript.

welshstew · Apr 30th, 2008, 17:28

whilst at university me and a friend set up a side business offering small firms advice about helping the company grow. he did online and i did offline. his area sounded more exciting so i started to learn all about the web.

i then did a masters degree in eCommerce and Management, set up a few more companies, and here i am.

Wolf Blade · May 3rd, 2008, 01:48

I used to play with Dreamweaver when I was about 13 or 14 and also a site called homestead (when it was free!)
I left school, went to college to do a catering course, came out of that and joined a band. The band needed a website and so I made a mess of it :P
I got hooked on coding after that and I'm now soaking up as much knowledge as I can.
Pretty strange really.

highrik · May 3rd, 2008, 07:14

For me I just like computers, ever since my dad bought a TRS-80 when I was a boy. For most of the time since then I've just played games on them

. I started fiddling around with html a while back after reading a tutorial in a magazine. Boy did I think I was cool when I uploaded my first web page

Now I want to get good at building and maintaining a website because my partner wants one.

bellyscratch · May 4th, 2008, 23:26

I was just fascinated by computers since i was like 12, but my dad wouldnt buy me a computer, so i used to just go round my mates and use his. We somehow came across homestead and tried to make a website just for the sake of it.

Then when i finally got a computer out of my own money my dad wouldnt pay for internet on it, but i just made websites on really bad free software, then 'upgraded' to frontpage (which is also bad i suppose) and uploaded a website (cant even remember what it was about) at my local library that never went anywhere really.

I made a website for part of my A level project, but still had no internet at home. I am now at university doing a degree in video and new media, specialising in the new media side as i just love making websites.

Bocaj · May 5th, 2008, 12:57

I went from freewebs, to a wysiwyg and then just kept expanding, i got into php so i started using notepad+ and decided to do everything with code... and ditch the wysiwyg.

Originally i lived near a place called tarporley (alot of footballers live there supposadly)... anyway i didn't like anyone there and all my friends lived the other side of the city.... so it was something for me to do in my spare time... and as soon as a i move into the city... i make loads of friends in my old village (typical)

Gotta be thankful though ^^

christopher · May 5th, 2008, 18:50

Comic strip age 11, set up first website on Word, then found Tripod hosting.

Switched to Lycos uk, then first paid hosting in 2004.

Then to higher hosting, year later, and now to Dreamhost, gradually building clients along the way, up to about 15 odd now.

Miah · May 5th, 2008, 21:15

After crashing my hard drive on the very first computer I bought (just two days after getting it) I couldn't afford the repair cost so I had a go at fixing it myself, and to my surprise I found it fun. One thing lead to another and now I packed in my construction job and now work as a self-employed jack-of-all-computer-trades.

Sometimes I wish I was back in construction, but not always

Emzi · May 6th, 2008, 10:15

When I was 14 I started web design as a hobby as I created a fan site for my favourite band No Doubt.

After leaving school I decided I wanted to do web design as a profession and did an IT course at college. After 4 years at college though, we did absolutely nothing about web design!

I learnt it all myself anyway, and at age 20 I got my first full time job as a web designer, showing that if you've got a good portfolio you don't need qualifications to do it

milly · May 6th, 2008, 17:06

I started fund raising for a local UK charity a few years ago as a favour to my sister. I eventually went online with much trepidation as I was finding it difficult to apply for some grants without internet access, then eventually we thought we should have a website. Someone offered to design it for us but never got around to it, so I ended up learning HTML and CSS from scratch to make sure we had an accessible site (it is a charity for disabled children so accessibility is important - also I have mobility problems and tend to be militant about accessibility in general!)

Now my sister and I have started another charity supporting children and organisations in Uganda after she visited a couple of times, so we are making more websites, both for our organisation and for partners in Uganda. I have lots of other stuff to do though and also it's better if other people can add stuff, including people with little technical knowledge (even less then me) using old computers and dial-up connections in Africa so I am trying out 'short-cuts' instead of hand-coding. Still learning as I go along!

Jack Franklin · May 6th, 2008, 18:30

Dad wanted to do Web Design part time and said he would pay me to help. Decided to get off my backside and learn

awatson · May 6th, 2008, 19:21

Well, started as an intern 10 years ago at a local web design firm while I was in grad school. Sort of a sink or swim thing, but I did ok - they had me coding those wondering table-based layouts that we've all (mostly) left behind. From there they had me start doing what I consider actual web development (database-driven, dynamic sites) pretty quickly, especially after i'd taken my database class. They're gone, but I'm still building sites

A800 · May 7th, 2008, 10:40

A school computer technician taught it as a course in the school I went to when I was 17. Only taught the basic HTML and the painful table-based layouts (Ouch). After that I taught myself more HTML and CSS, and got used to the much more easier table-free layouts. Trying my best to learn JavaScript. Only know the OnMouseover & OnMouseout stuff so far.

mwdesign · May 7th, 2008, 23:04

I originally set out to do Graphic Design and an introduction to Interactive Media and the web got me hooked. Being as design conscious as I am and seeing how much rubbish was on the web in badly designed sites, I wanted to do my bit to make a few better looking ones!

mwdesign