20 years ago, I’d just completed my first year of sixth form (senior year) and I’d fallen out of love with the education system - it felt antiquated and I wasn’t happy.
Like most young adults, I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do from a career perspective. Little did I know, the decisions I was about to make would change my life forever.
My school was prestigious in the local area so leaving midway through sixth form was not the done thing. However, this was exactly what I felt like I needed to do. Eventually, I built up the courage to tell my parents that I wanted to quit school.
A few emotional conversations later, they agreed I was making the right decision. I still didn’t have a plan for what was next though.
Exploring My Options
Against my inner judgement and after a lot of persuading from my parents, I went into town to see a career officer. I can still remember the dread to this day, sitting in the waiting room feeling like this was make or break time.
After getting called through, the career officer’s first question was "so, what are you interested in?". To his initial dismay, I said, "I really enjoy drawing and art".
There were a few moments of awkward pause, which felt like hours, before he went on to tell me a career in art wasn’t really a viable option. We both just stared at each other blankly.
I think he could tell he’d just burst my bubble. So in an attempt to pacify me, he quickly started typing at his PC, desperately searching for anything remotely related to art. After a few minutes he looked up and reluctantly said, "what about Graphic Design?".
I sat straight up from my slump and asked him to print out the career spec sheet so I could read it over in more detail. Scanning over the job responsibility section, I was thinking, great, this looks exactly like the type of thing I could see myself doing.
Before I’d reached the bottom of the spec, the career officer interrupted my flow to tell me that if I was interested in becoming a Graphic Designer, I’d need to go to college for 2 years followed by a further 3 at university.
I slumped back into my chair, my excitement curbed, thinking the dream was over before it had even begun.
I was looking to leave education, not sign myself up to 5 more years of it! To make things worse, even if I’d decided I wanted to commit to a ‘lifetime’ of education, he told me to get accepted on the local Graphic Design course was unlikely as there were limited spaces and it was very popular.
I left the office with the sheet in my hand and my tail between my legs. The bus ride home was tough. I felt lost and didn’t know what to do.
After speaking with my parents again, they encouraged me to ring the college to see if I could get an interview for the course. After a lot of procrastination, I called them up. To my disbelief, they invited me in to discuss whether the course would be a good fit.
The day of the interview and all those same feelings I’d experienced earlier sitting in the waiting room of the careers office were dredged right back up. I felt sick but I knew I had to push through those feelings as this was an important juncture in my life.
As it turned out, the interview went well and they offered me a place on the spot. I felt on top of the world and was excited to know that I now had a plan, even though I knew this was only the beginning of a 5+ year long journey.
The Journey Was Long But It Had Begun
I told my school I was leaving and then spent the next few weeks on a real high, knowing I was leaving an education system I’d started to resent in favour of a new one that just felt right.
The high soon passed though as reality set in. If I wanted to undertake 5 years of further education, I was going to have to fund it myself. My parents were not in a position to do this for me, so I had to look for a job.
Luckily my first interview for a local supermarket was successful and I bagged myself a part time job that would cover some of the costs of my education. I’d have to work Friday nights and all weekend, which wasn’t ideal for my social life, but it was a sacrifice I was willing to make.
The next couple of years were pretty intense. I was in college all week and then working all weekend. There were times when I felt like quitting but I was determined to see it through.
The 2 years in college came and passed and I ended up with a Diploma in Graphic Design. This was what I needed to progress to a further 3 years of study at University.
It was at this point when the cost of education really started skyrocketing and my low paid job in the supermarket was no longer enough. With no savings, little other choice and against my attitude towards borrowing, I applied for a student loan.
Between my part time income and the money I’d borrowed from the student loan company, I had just enough to see me through the next 3 years of study.
Transitioning from Education to Employment
By the time I got to my final year in University, I’d decided to start applying for some junior designer positions. I wanted to gain the experience and quite frankly I’d had enough of working in the supermarket at weekends.
I spent hours hand crafting an interactive CV built using Adobe Flash and packaged the CD-ROM in a custom made box. Luckily, the level of detail I put into the CV paid off as I was offered an interview and subsequently the job at a local graphic design company.
For around 12 months, I juggled University alongside my part time position and a bit of freelance work too. It was a challenging but exciting time.
I completed my degree and stayed on to work at the design agency for a further 5 years, eventually working my way up to lead designer. At this point, I had little to no interest in web development. Other than design software, I didn’t really have a great interest in computers either.
For around the last year of my job at the agency, I was working from home. This wasn’t by choice but rather forced upon me by the agency as they were trying to save costs and no longer wanted to pay for a big office in the heart of a major city.
At first it worked out OK. I’d just had my first child a couple of months earlier, so I was actually glad to be at home to spend more time with my family. Cutting out 2 hours of travel each day was also a real bonus.
Over the next few months, it became clear that there were some issues at the agency. They made most of the staff redundant, stopped paying me on time and told me I’d have to reduce my hours. It was time to move on.
As One Door Closes Another Opens
My next move would once again change my life forever.
I cold emailed all the local design agencies I could find, asking them if they had any work. I even emailed web design agencies, as to be honest, there were not a lot of graphic design agencies in the area.
My expectations at this point were pretty low but to my amazement several companies contacted me. I ended up interviewing for and accepting a job with a web design company.
The position was initially a design & support position but I would be working alongside a web developer. Even at this point, I didn’t have intentions to learn web development but I knew it would be a great experience.
Starting the job, it quickly became clear that there was a lot of crossover and synergy between graphic design and web design. I started showing more interest in the web and began to pick up the basics alongside my day to day responsibilities.
It didn’t take long until I realised that I wanted to further pursue web design and later web development. I loved how you could open up your laptop and create something the entire world could see. It became like a drug that I couldn’t live without.
From this point on, my days were filled with graphic design and client support requests and my evenings were filled with learning the fundamentals of web development. I was young and full of enthusiasm so the long days and late nights were not a problem.
True to the advice I often give other aspiring web developers, instead of getting stuck in tutorial hell, I decided the best way to learn was to build real projects. I don’t like doing things by half, so alongside the day job I set up a web theme business and focussed all of my spare time and energy into that.
Luckily for me, the design skills I’d honed over the years helped set my theme designs apart from anything that was currently available in the marketplace. I spent countless hours taking designs and coding them up whilst still learning the basics at the same time.
Determination was key at this point as it would have been easy to give up and throw in the towel, especially as the time spent on my business took me away from my wife and young family which caused some friction at times.
The hard work paid off as I was able to build the business up over the next few years to a point where the income I was earning from my ‘side project’ matched my main salary.
Things ran smoothly for some time until a major shift in the market left the business on a dramatic decline. Several attempts to turn this back around were unsuccessful and it became clear that the business had run its course and it was time to call it a day.
It was a low point in my career but one that taught me so much. I’ll forever be grateful for the experience and knowledge I picked up along the way.
All was not lost however, as the skills I’d learnt meant I was able to move up the ladder to a web development role in my main job which meant some of the income lost from my theme business was absorbed by a higher paying salary.
Present Day and Beyond
Fast forward 10 years, countless side projects and a few failed business attempts later, I’m still in web development and loving it more than ever.
When I’m not spending quality time exploring the great outdoors with friends and family, or cheering on my kids at their football matches, you’ll find me glued behind my laptop building web projects or even writing the odd blog post.
I’ve recently rediscovered Twitter and have been enjoying the experience so far, getting to know some amazing people in the tech community.
I'm as excited as ever to see where this journey takes me.
If you’re interested in web development or graphic design and want to connect, then check me out on Twitter - twitter.com/brandymedia