- The educational requirement for employment at most companies as a web designer is a Bachelor of Arts degree. Many list a Bachelor of Science degree as the educational requirement. These are 4-year degrees, which means they typically require 4 years of education beyond the completion of high school.
- A Bachelor of Science degree has at least six additional semester hours of technical coursework than a Bachelor of Arts degree. With either degree, companies will look for students who have completed coursework in graphic design and web development. These courses will usually require in-depth knowledge of applications such as DreamWeaver and QuarkXpress, which are programs that can build websites. Courses in HTML and Flash will also usually be required. With the extra courses that a Bachelor of Science degree requires, a student should focus on courses related to web development. For example, many websites work with databases, such as those created by online forms, and students with courses in database management will be seen as better qualified than students without those courses.
- Online colleges can reduce the expense of gaining a 4-year degree, although some companies can favor traditional colleges. However, the educational requirement is typically for a 4-year degree with no mention of how the degree is obtained. Therefore, the degree can satisfy the educational requirement and then by having a strong portfolio with examples of proficient web design, an applicant can land the job with a degree obtained through an online school.
- Some people believe that online courses that lead to a degree are fluff courses and teach very little. However, online programs can be very effective in teaching skills required for work in web design. Because a web designer is working on the web, the completion of a degree online can actually help prepare the student for the job.
- A 4-year degree will generally get an applicant through the door into the interview process. At that point, no matter what the degree is in or where it was obtained, the awarding of the web designing position generally goes to the person exhibiting the most impressive portfolio of work and can show an ability to work with others. Educational requirements are important in obtaining the job, but being able to do good work is also essential in gaining employment as a web designer.
