Plan B

Hi, for probably the last time as a student.

Well so much for the plan! It is now a case of get it done any way possible. The stress is quite unbearable as I heaped the pressure on myself by deciding to a portfolio re-design so close to the end of the course, now I am behind with the 'A Day in Your Life' project, whether I will get it done I do not know, at least for the 15th May.

But enough of that, its presentation day on Tuesday and the nerves are creeping in, though the practices seem to have gone okay, if a little short of the half hour mark.

I have been thinking what I will say, the things I have learned, my experiences and where I want to go next.

Well the things I have learned, theres so much, I did not know how to use pagemaker when I walked through the door on the 1st day. Now I feel that I am employable, I have knowledge of Flash, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Freehand, CSS, HTML and Javascript. It is a considerable amount to learn in 2 years I think.

So my experiences, well they have been rewarding, infuriating, disastrous and joyous! Late nights trying to figure out CSS or action scripts in Flash have been some of the most painful events, but also the most joyous when I managed to master something.

I have made mistakes along the way, usually involving me doing everything twice, which has not been good for producing the quality of work I have wanted to.

Looking at my portfolio though, I seem to have done more work than I realised, though I know how hard I have had to work to get projects done and the sacrifices I have had to make, including my family.

I would like to say it has all been worth it and on a professionl level that is true, as now I feel as though I have some career prospects. On a personal level though, the support from my family wavered and dissapeared and I believe contributed to our break up. This has made the final few weeks incredibly difficult as ther reasons for me doing the course dissapeared.

I certainly thing I have done it the hard way, but I do think I will benefit greatly from completing the course.

So where do I go from here? I am hoping to gain employment in the web deesign industry asap, though I will be taking any job that comes up after I finish to start with. I will also be looking to get up and running as a freelance web designer / print designer and indeed I already have some possible clients which bodes well.

I'd just like to say thanks for reading my ramblings over the last year or so, but do not fear i intend to continue using this blog, maybe it will shed some light for future students of what to expect when they 'get out'.

Bye for now

Mark