Job Advert Response

More details of the job I have found can be found here.

I initially selected this job as it seemed to be relatively attainable even at this point in my education. As a 'Junior Web Designer' role, I feel that it is intended for younger, less experienced designers, and perhaps those coming from education. Hence it seemed ideal for someone in my position.

The skills identified for the job include a knowledge of 'XHTML, CSS, Dreamweaver, Flash, AJAX, Fireworks, Photoshop & Illustrator' being an advantage. I feel I have a good knowledge of the majority of these, with the exceptions of Flash and AJAX.

I feel confident with my XHTML/CSS skills, and as part of this my ability to use Dreamweaver, and I am more than satisfied with my abilities in the other applications mentioned, particularly Photoshop and Illustrator.

I believe that, in truth, I have maybe selected a job with less skills than I would like to have developed by the end of the course. This is due to my very limited experience with PHP and other technologies mentioned in other adverts, and I felt selecting these other adverts may have been a bit ahead of time.

Over the next year, therefore, it needs to be my priority to meet the skills requested and required in both this job and others I have seen. These skills involve PHP, CMS and Flash, amongst others. I also believe I need to further my experience, particularly commercial experience, as this is something that is mentioned in a lot of the job advertisements I have seen in the past week.

I would hope that by the end of the course that I would be skilled beyond the skills requested in this advert, and would feel more comfortable selecting a higher skilled (and hopefully higher paid!) job.

Back for Year 2 - But Why?

Over the past year, I have learnt a great many things. Therefore, it would only make sense to intend to do the same over the next year. After all, I am on this course to learn.

The thing I have been looking forward to most for the second year is getting engaged in the process of actually building websites more frequently. Having only built one for college during the first year, I look forward to getting to grips with the new processes and learning more about technologies such as XHTML and CSS.

I also hope to gain experience in more advanced technologies such as PHP and CMS. As such, I look forward to the SMLP (Self Managed Learning Plan) section of A10, as well as A13: Content is King. I believe developing these skills is crucial in increasing my employability when I am looking for a job in the future, as looking at many job adverts reveals that these are prerequisites of applying.

A further aspiration of mine is to develop my portfolio work. This, again, is important for my employability. I want to ensure that the quality of work in my portfolio is high enough to ensure that potential employers are impressed and engaged by my work. Additionally, the design of my portfolio is just as important as the content, so this is a part of the year which I look forward to.

So, all in all, most of my aspirations for this year are in some way linked to my employability. Being on a vocational course like this is surely the best place to be in order to meet my aspirations. In many ways, I can't wait to get this year done so I can move into employment, but I also want to savour my opportunities and education this year.