Narrowing area of interests and schools

Hi

I have finally been narrowing the schools down to the following choices:

Excelsior College, Bellevue University, Liberty University, Columbus State University, Charter Oak State College , Dakota College (SD), and Mountain State University.

I have talked to my Voc. Counselor and they would like me to narrow the field of interest down.

I have enjoy designing websites and using graphics: I created specialneedsfamilyac.tripod.com or special need family activities.

I enjoy designing flyers and newsletters using desktop publishing.

I love to read and research information on almost any topic. I like to learn many different things. I prefer to work alone on things, but also do well working as a team. Although I like working with people I prefer working with ideas, investigating/analyzing information, being creative, and multi-tasking.

I have taken business courses, psychology classes, special ed. courses, and medical courses. I have many different interest and skills. I need to find career that will be in demand and pay fairly well. My husband and I have kids with special needs and we will need to increase our income in the next couple of years to cover additional expenses.

Which school would you suggest?
Which area or concentration would you suggest?

 

Sounds like you might enjoy a web development/design career. Have you done any programming before? Either web-based or software?

One way to get your feet wet and see if this route is for you is to learn a little PHP/MySQL. These are part of the very common LAMP setup (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) which is used on a LOT of websites. A very good book (assuming you already know HTML, which it seems like you do) is "Build Your Own Database Driven Web Site Using PHP & MySQL, 4th Edition" from Sitepoint:
Build*Your*Own Database*Driven*Web*Site Using*PHP*&*MySQL, 4th Edition - SitePoint Books

I taught myself PHP/MySQL and later read this book ... and reading it in the first place would've saved me a lot of time! It's very practical.

Re degrees, you don't really need a degree to become a web developer/designer (especially if you freelance) but to get hired at a larger company it would definitely help. I wouldn't suggest getting a video game specific degree, for two reasons: I've heard that they're not highly valued in the job market (video game firms seem to want to see independent work rather than a degree) and since you don't mention video games in your interests I don't think you should focus on it unless you really love it IMHO a pure CS degree is much more technical than you seem to be looking for. (Ie, there's not much creativity in it). So I'd suggest going the Information Systems / Technology route.

Another idea is to focus on usability, aka HCI (human computer interaction). It's a fascinating field (usability testing, making stuff work better ...) but more limited in terms of job options than doing web dev/design IMHO.

Well those are my ramblings, hope it helps a bit

 

Be careful not to make the mistake of allowing the people on this board to make the decision for you. You need to make this board only part of your due diligence; research the school and research your profession. If you have some professional experience in any of those fields, that would be the degree to go for. You will be more in demand because of your experience than you will because of which school you went to. You have some good schools in that list and it might not matter that much which school you go to, as long as it is regionally accredited (RA).

I voted, but I'm afraid you may not get that much of a consensus because everyone has a different opinion.

 

Agreed; treat any responses here (including mine above) as ideas to consider as part of your decision-making process.

 

LOL...Actually, I think Charter Oak would be a great choice for a computer degree.

 

re

I would like to thank you all for the posts and polls you have done. I also liked your suggestion of doing some work outside of classes that I might be able to test out of like math. I will probably do this with the math prerequisites. I will also look into some of the programming languages suggested as well.

I have heard that it is hard to find employment in the web design area, due to technology that allows people to create their own websites and outsourcing. I haven't had any experience in the computer science area. So, this will be all new to me.

My vocational rehab counselor would like me to go toward a masters in Psychology, but they are also willing to look at the computer science area as well. I haven't been in the work force area for a while due to my disability(seizures). Although I have done a lot of volunteer work through our nonprofit organization.

Some of the types of things I have done for our organization is design our website, gather information on medical disorders & resource information, approach businesses for sponsors and fund-raising, creating flyers and newsletters, paperwork for our organization (accounting, agendas, nonprofit paperwork), public relations, organize and plan events and camps. You wouldn't believe the amount of time that goes into planning holiday events.

So, although I been employed for awhile, I still have gained a lot of experience through my volunteer work. However, of all the things I have done I prefer to be the person behind the scenes. So, although I can do well in all areas, I prefer to plan and organ the events and get things done before the event, than let others follow the plans through to make the events a success.

Some reasons I wouldn't do well in some areas of the psychology field area are that I hate conflict situations and also don't like to be in large groups of people. I am also not able to drive due to seizures, which also kicks out some of the other areas. There are also not many openings in these areas. Please keep on giving me your suggestions.

Also, since I haven't had experience in the CS area does anyone have any suggestions on how one would go about getting some.

Thanks
Diana

 

You are welcome Diana. Our best wishes for success and happiness in you educational choices and career.