Switching careers, can I do it in time?

Hello Everyone who happens to read this. I'm new to this forum, but it looks very active so I finally gave it a shot and registered.

My problem: I'm currently trying to make a career switch into web design/development. I have no connections inside this industry to give me practical advice. I have spent the last year trying to understand all of the various programming alphabet soup, though my subscription to video training tutorials on lynda.com and vtc.com among others. I've watched thousands of tutorials over the last year. So I'm getting my bearings down now. However, since I'm just starting to make my first website which will be my own e-commerce site ( about 200 pages so far) I'm using these technologies for the first time, I'm trying to make it into a site that shows my abilities off without making it look like I'm trying to impress.

My business is centered around my core graphics abilities which I am by far the most comfortable with. So, graphics both vector and bitmap images, typography I'm good at, along with their respective adobe programs. I also have some flash and 3d capabilities as well. I am capable of separating my graphics mind from business sense through use of such technologies as SEO, analytics, shopping carts, merchant accounts and usability issues in a more fundamental way. Also, I have basic understanding of business concerns like market research and branding.

My weakness is programming background and the lack thereof. I know html, css. I'm learning xml, javascript, and ajax. I'm trying to focus on anything front end. I have watched a few courses on server-side languages php, c, c+ and mysql (I'm not competent to use them daily yet). I'm beginning to feel like I'm in a jack-of-all-trades master of none direction. This worries me! 'cause of my scripting and hardcore programming abilities are weak.

I know that it takes years of study and usage to get these down, 'cause I currently teach guitar by trade in all forms of music, and the underlying theory behind them. I am starting to draw many corollaries between them. You have some guys who can play anything that you put in front of their face when it comes to sheet music, but they can't improvise and couldn't write a song and vise-versa you have people that can write and improvise but can't read. A few people do both, most pick a side instead and get good at 1 thing. I feel like my current job makes me cross style borders and web design/development will be the same.

I will soon be relocating before the end of the year and need to know if I can be marketable even at the entry level with the skills I have. Where do I need to focus more. Should I be hitting server-side scripting more? only to become mediocre at best in this short period of time. I don't know?

I could really use some suggestions and would appreciate any input.


- Andrew

This is just my humble opinion so take it with a grain of salt.

You first need to decide what you want to do. There are jobs on both sides of the field here. Server side focused or interface focused. Yes, it's extremely beneficial if you can do both well. If you do server side, then you (in almost all cases) must know how to deal with the interface side well, but it isn't always the same coming from the other side.
You limit yourself on the interface side if you can't do server side scripting in that you really won't be able to take full advantage of certain aspects such as ajax, form processing, etc without the assistance of someone else which often you'll find development teams where one person (or team) designs the front end while another works on the server-side portion.

in the end, does it help to know both? Yes. Learning html, css, xml, javascript first isn't a bad decision but I would definately pick up a server side language and also learn how to interact with databases as well. You'll find that most web applications function this way.

If you are focused primarily on graphics, there are jobs dedicated solely on that as well.

Just know what you want and what you find interesting with. Then when you sort that out, you'll know whats best for you.