Certificates ≠ Experience

-People want to see a certificate
-Don’t trust: certificate = legitimate experience
-Don’t think: they’d rather pay twice as much for the same thing
-Skeptical of talent/ability when examples are right in front of them.
-Don’t research cost of a website

Everyone wants a web page these days. Most people are completely happy using a free service online with pre-coded templates they litterally drag-and-drop some pictures and text to call their own. For those who want to add a little more personalization, a domain purchase (around $6.00/year) will suffice. For all others, there are 2 choices, aside from coding, imaging and creating the site from scratch: Contract a web design firm to make it for you, or get a freelance web designer.

Going through a company to create your site can be a little pricey. Upwards of $400 for a simple site and over $1000 for a flash website. Freelance designers can get away with charging less because they benefit from the profits 100% where a company would have to pay their employees who worked on the project.

Going through Craigslist, I’ve found a few people who were searching for freelance web designers. Working with html, css, javascript, php, and a little my-sql over the past 6 years and having extensive Photoshop CS experience, I figured I would be a likely applicant for this one-time job. I called, set up an appointment, and then was amazed by the ignorance displayed by these two individuals.

When I first met them, they seemed very polite and professional (both are pretty much a given in any meeting of this sort). After talking for a short while, they asked about my qualifications, examples, and experience. I showed them the homepage for a website I made (as a joke) which happened to show good design properties, my deviantart account, and a handful of pictures saved in my photobucket albums.

I told them a little about where I work, and the fact that each newsletter I create is a single-page website. They seemed to be impressed so far until they asked about classes I’ve taken and certifications I’ve gotten. It was hard for them to grasp the concept that I’ve never taken a single class nor had any certifications in the web design/coding field. They then started questioning the legitimacy of my job! “Why would any company hire you without classes or certifications?”

I talked for a total of about an hour going back and forth about my ‘lack of qualifications.’ Then they asked about my age… this is always downgrades my ‘experience.’ When they found out I was 20, and had 7 years of coding/ graphic design experience, they really flipped.

I decided to tell them about my AutoCAD certification and my job at the NRAO in 12th grade. In the end, I figured they weren’t even worth my effort. Some people just assume that if they aren’t capable of something, no one else is.

After they explained a little about what they wanted their webpage to be like, I asked them how much they were planning on spending. I let out a little laugh when they said $200-$300 dollars. They wanted about 9 pages, flash banner (with links) and custom (full screen) background images for each page. I told them they should call around and see what kind of prices they could get a company to charge. I always charge about half of what a company will charge (I’m still making about 40-50 dollars an hour).

Flash websites (even flash banners depending on the intricacy) can start the cost around $700-1000. Simple websites with a few pages, custom graphics, etc generally start around $300-$500. Again, they didn’t believe me. I was managing to stick around and continue the conversation until they started saying I was naive… “You’re too young to understand what you are talking about,” and “Your 7 years experience probably inst as full as someone who’s gone through college for experience.”

I almost flipped a verbal shit on them! First, I explained that smart individuals do not get a Web design degree. The field doesnt pay enough to rationalize all the loans they would have to pay back. Then I realized I was talking to two very dogmatic people. There was no convincing them. I wished them good luck w/ their websites and finding someone to make it on a low-budget. I gave they my number (they wont be calling) as a nice gesture and went along my way.

Just thought I’d share this with you all.

Past Present Future

So, I’ve had a lot of people ask me what I plan to do with my life. Walking around the downtown mall, at a concert, or out with people, one of the first questions people often ask me is, “Are you going to college.”

Honestly, I hate answering them because along with the answer comes assumptions. I’m not a lazy person. I’m not an unskilled person, unteachable nor dumb.

My freshman year attending PVCC (Virginia) I was the passenger in a car accident. Going back for a minute, I was taking 19 credit hours and making A’s (and 2 B’s). When there was something going on with my ‘friends’ of course I’d skip class! I mean, I made sure I wasn’t skipping too many, I always found out what I missed but I figured I was having no trouble in the class, so why should I stay if something else popped up? Now, my friend, Bryan, and I were meeting some other friends at the John Paul Jones Arena to eat pizza, drink slurpies and stuff our faces with donuts (this was a normal thing for us, but this time we just started a little earlier than normal).

Anyway, we were cruising down Massie Rd (see map below) a little faster than the posted speed limit (I was the passenger). The driver of a white Audi A6 coming out of the Law School decided he wasn’t going to look both ways before crossing the road…nor actually stop at the stop sign. Bryan swerved to miss the car, drove over the median, and hit one of the steel night lamps posted all around the campus. The poll was not only seperated from the lamp part, but the huge concrete base was lifted out of the ground! Bryan did a really good job of aiming the car so the poll would hit on my side.

My right hand went through the windshield while my left went into the stereo, my knees pushed in the dashboard, and the pizza box in my lap kept me from even touching the air bag while my seatbelt popped off from the pressure (recalled). To put it simply, Bryan got air bag dust in his eyes while I was completely f**ked up. He has to get out of the car to run around the other side to pull me out of the car. I couldn’t feel my legs, nor my right side. The pizza box withstood the pressure of slowing me down from about 50mph to 0 in a split second which definitely had it’s mal-effect on my spine. I had a quick adrenalin burst as soon as I got out of the car which lasted about half a minute before I collapsed. I don’t really remember a lot after this point. I remember flashing lights, I remember seeing a blur of my dad, and this really cute girl working on the Ambulance. I don’t know how many classes I missed because I couldn’t stand up, let along walk. Eating was proving to be quite difficult. I missed about a week and a half of classes. (5 periods of each class) Now, as I mentioned earlier, I skipped a few classes. This accident pushed me WAY over my limit. The reason the school did not allow me to get away with it as an excused absence was because I had previously skipped classes. According to the school, I was irresponsible (I mean, I only had A’s and B’s… jeeze).

My first semester I had to Withdrawal Fail out of 4 of my 6 classes. For those two classes I missed quite a bit. I did not do so well on upcoming tests. I got C’s in both of those classes. So you do the math: 13 credits of 0 and 6 credits of 2 going towards my GPA. My grants were revoked, my scholarships taken away and my Stafford loan canceled. I actually received the NSF Scholarship (full tuition paid for PVCC students transferring to UVa) but that was also revoked. Pretty much a GPA of /63 is enough to discourage anyone.

This whole situation caused too much stress at home, so I decided to move out (big mistake). The following semester I took 2 classes. Both I WF’ed out of again because my girlfriend at the time, was attending school in North Carolina. She was having a mental breakdown (seriously.. going psychotic) and needed me to be there for her. I went down there for 2 weeks, racked up a $1000 debt on 2 cards for gas and food and bills I had to pay with money I wasn’t making (I’ve paid one off so far.. the other one.. not so much).

I took another class the fall semester of last year and got a B (a little confidence booster) but am still working a full time job. I decided to do something no one my age should do… I bought a new car. 13,000 loan from the bank means that the bank owns my life. Insurance is through the roof. After my accident, something clicked in my brain. I’m not afraid of getting hurt. Ive racked up so many driving tickets it’s not even funny. I wont go into all the details but I lost almost all interest in going to college part time.

This leads me to my plans for the future. I’ve sold a lot of my things, still working on getting rid of the rest. I’m enlisting in the National Guard later this week. I’ll be shipped to Lackland AFB for training which will last just under a year. When they send me home, I want to attend UVa at Wise, Virginia. The government will pay for school and I’ll get a nice bonus check which should last me a while. I will have enough in savings, if I can live reasonably and not blow the cash on useless crap, to last me a few years without needing to get a full time job. Hopefully I will be able to find a scholarship which will assist me in paying for food among other necessities.

Talk about ‘Everything happens for a reason.’