Having checked a few job sites (such as Creative Pool and The Drum) recently, I've become increasingly aware that a key skill required for industry which I don't have is an understanding of PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor 5. This has also become clear when working with a CMS (Content Management System) on a recent project. An understanding of PHP will enable me to develop and customise web applications when needed. This could prove crucial in future employment.
It is also apparent from job advertisements, as well as some limited experience with the web design industry (e.g. through my brother-in-law, Paul), that employees/freelance workers are expected to have to massive range of skills. They are expected to be able to design, build and develop websites, not just specialise in one area. I feel that I need to continue my study into the development side of things beyond what I'm comfortable with currently (XHTML & CSS).
PHP is a massively popular scripting language and it has the power to open up opportunities to create a myriad of web applications (Hotscripts has many examples). These are the kinds of things that at the current time I have no idea how to create. I also feel that websites are increasingly adopting PHP scripts in order to bring a bit of interactivity to the site - and at the moment I feel I simply can't compete with this. In order to combat my lack of knowledge, undertaking the study of PHP in the SMLP seems a smart thing to do.
Whilst I had considered developing other skills, including Javascript and Ruby On Rails, I decided against this as I feel Javascript is becoming less relevant online, and that PHP is a better starting point than Ruby is. This, however, is something I will be very interested in for the future.
Wednesday 10 December 2008
Wednesday 3 December 2008
2nd Year So Far...
So far this year has proved to be very different from the first year. In many way, this has it's foundation in the different kind of assignments we've done so far this year.
Coming back into the second year, it was very much as though we were going straight back in at the deep end. The 'A11 - On The Job' assignment, which involves working as a 4-person team to deliver an interactive media product to a client, has proved to be most challenging thus far. Working as Project Manager has proved to be extremely arduous, yet very rewarding. I feel that as a team we have taken time to truly pass through the stages of 'Forming', 'Storming' and 'Norming', but I feel we are beginning to reach a stage somewhere near 'Performing'. This has not been without troubles and a lot of effort, but at the end of the day I'm now pretty happy with the team I've got around me.
The 'On The Job' assignment isn't like anything I've done before. I've had to learn a lot of new things, and change the way I approach workflow to suit my team, which has been hard. As I've said though, it's been a massively rewarding experience and I've learnt a lot about organisation, working with others, people management... the list is endless.
We've also completed the 'A9 - Outside the Box' assignment this year, which was focused on XHTML and CSS. After a first year which included very little CSS, I was glad to be finally getting stuck into it. I've learnt a huge amount through this assignment, both through lectures and extended research and reading. This includes the methodology behind structuring XHTML and CSS, the syntax/semantics used in Standards Compliant web documents, and I've also brushed up on the use of naming conventions in web documents. I now feel in a much stronger position to be writing standardised, well structured and well formatted web documents, and would now be more confident doing so in a professional environment.
Through 'Outside the Box', I have developed a better understanding of why standardisation and the correct use of XHTML/CSS is important. This put the rest of my learning in the unit into perspective and helped me appreciate the value of what I'd been studying.
We have also begun work on the 'A12 - Culture Vulture' assignment, which is again like nothing done before. Having completed the presentation aspect of the assignment and in effect getting that out of the way, we've moved on to a 'reverse design process'. This basically entails designing before you know what you're designing for. In all honesty, I've been struggling so far with this - I'd maybe even go so far as to say it's the hardest thing on the course so far. I'm fairly sure I'll come up with that killer concept at some point... but at the moment I can only hope it's before we have to apply a design to whatever it is we're designing for!
Word Count: 499
Coming back into the second year, it was very much as though we were going straight back in at the deep end. The 'A11 - On The Job' assignment, which involves working as a 4-person team to deliver an interactive media product to a client, has proved to be most challenging thus far. Working as Project Manager has proved to be extremely arduous, yet very rewarding. I feel that as a team we have taken time to truly pass through the stages of 'Forming', 'Storming' and 'Norming', but I feel we are beginning to reach a stage somewhere near 'Performing'. This has not been without troubles and a lot of effort, but at the end of the day I'm now pretty happy with the team I've got around me.
The 'On The Job' assignment isn't like anything I've done before. I've had to learn a lot of new things, and change the way I approach workflow to suit my team, which has been hard. As I've said though, it's been a massively rewarding experience and I've learnt a lot about organisation, working with others, people management... the list is endless.
We've also completed the 'A9 - Outside the Box' assignment this year, which was focused on XHTML and CSS. After a first year which included very little CSS, I was glad to be finally getting stuck into it. I've learnt a huge amount through this assignment, both through lectures and extended research and reading. This includes the methodology behind structuring XHTML and CSS, the syntax/semantics used in Standards Compliant web documents, and I've also brushed up on the use of naming conventions in web documents. I now feel in a much stronger position to be writing standardised, well structured and well formatted web documents, and would now be more confident doing so in a professional environment.
Through 'Outside the Box', I have developed a better understanding of why standardisation and the correct use of XHTML/CSS is important. This put the rest of my learning in the unit into perspective and helped me appreciate the value of what I'd been studying.
We have also begun work on the 'A12 - Culture Vulture' assignment, which is again like nothing done before. Having completed the presentation aspect of the assignment and in effect getting that out of the way, we've moved on to a 'reverse design process'. This basically entails designing before you know what you're designing for. In all honesty, I've been struggling so far with this - I'd maybe even go so far as to say it's the hardest thing on the course so far. I'm fairly sure I'll come up with that killer concept at some point... but at the moment I can only hope it's before we have to apply a design to whatever it is we're designing for!
Word Count: 499
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