A lot of freelance web-site designers can fulfil several of these tasks by themselves; indeed we liaise with quite a few who can quite frequently. But, it takes time to acquire that amount of skill. A web-design program then that will prepare you to enter the market should include the following disciplines - A basic introduction to web design, and then how to utilise Adobe Dreamweaver and gain a fundamental understanding of Adobe 'Flash'. This would then move onto an understanding of 'HTML' and CSS, followed by some coaching in the area of e-commerce. 'PHP' should be taught to ensure that 'dynamic' web-sites can be created (ASP.NET is far more involved, and 'PHP' is easier to get into initially,) and a simple understanding of Databases & SEO should be achieved. All this is merely to get to a standard of competence technically whereby you are able to deal with a broad enough array of sites. As with anything else, we need to learn how to really do the physical skills first, & then build greater finesse via practice & experience. A comprehensive training-program like this could require about 400-500 hrs of part-time study & practice and can therefore be reasonably carried out part-time over a year. An industry advisor will be able to help you prepare your path through this labyrinth of professional training, and we strongly recommend that you allow time to plan your track carefully before you start your training.

Alternative skills which are highly relevant to web-designers in the professional marketplace are an in-depth understanding of e-commerce & project-management. Search Engine Optimisation ('SEO') is another discipline which tackles how a website is listed with search engines - so that it may be more easily found (this really is almost an entire job by itself.) And in the background but vitally important are the web server installers and administrators who ensure that the whole thing runs as it should. Technically speaking they are network-administrator experts though.

Ensure all your exams are current and also valid commercially - forget programmes which end up with a useless in-house certificate or plaque. From the viewpoint of an employer, only the big-boys like Microsoft, Adobe, Cisco or CompTIA (for example) will open the right doors. Anything less just doesn't cut the mustard.

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