Returning to freelance & training

[Vicky Smith]

Hello,

I used to be a freelance Flash Animator and would like to return to this work. However, I'm wondering whether I should further my skills and learn Actionscripting and or Web Design to gain employment. Can anyone tell me where I might get some career advice and/or details about types of courses that would be useful. Many thanks.

[MichaelRose]

Hi Vicky

Where are you based? A few cities have Flash meetups, London and Brighton [1] have very good communities and that'd be a good place to find out about courses and work opportunities.

Action-scripting would be good, if you're into code and enjoy that sort of thing. If you're not a programmer it might be a bit difficult to get really good at so maybe learning some basic webstuff would help. PHP is probably the easiest way into web-development -- combined with some Wordpress you could have a nice little Flash site up within a few hours. Ruby is also very good to learn if you want to get sites up-and-running from concept to completion at speed.

[1] http://flashbrighton.org/

[jaffab]

Vicky,

Whilst I cant offer you any specific advise, I would suggest a call to a few IT agencies and ask the question (google "Computer contractor agencies"). I know you may not want to get a job through or with an agency, but they will have an idea of what skills are in demand, and can point you in the right direction.

Another source of information may be: http://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/
This web site breaks down the number of jobs listed (split by Perm and Contract/freelance) by skill over a period of time.

There is no point in sticking with a skill if nobody needs it, but at the same, no point in learning a skill which is either going out of date or nobody needs.

As I say, speak to an agent, they will be able to advise you.

Good Luck

Jaffa