Web Developer Degree Programs
In this three minute interview with Professor Mark DuBois, Illinois Central College (ICC) Mark talks about why one should consider a degree in Web development. Mark also talks about his program at ICC which is one of the first and the most respected Web developer programs available online.
Transcript:
Bill Cullifer, WOW: I am on the phone Professor Mark Dubois, Illinois Central College and WOW education director. Good afternoon Mark and thanks for agreeing to the call.
Professor Mark DuBois Well hi Bill, it’s a pleasure to talk with you again.
Bill Cullifer, WOW: Great, Mark today’s topic is web developer degrees. As a web developer and a professor that has been teaching web development topics for a number of years, you have been leading the pack at the associates degree level in web development, and I would like to chat with you about your program and ask you a couple of simple straight forward questions.
Professor Mark DuBois Sure.
Bill Cullifer, WOW: Number one why should someone consider a career in web development?
Professor Mark DuBois Frankly this is where, I think everything is going, if you look at the technology associated with what most businesses are trying to achieve, they are trying to achieve what reduce costs in their profit and one of the quickest ways to this is through the web, there are a lot of businesses, whether they’re small or medium businesses, or larger and more and more are relying on various web technologies to increase their interaction with their customers, now that being said, we have to recognize that we have got a lot of variety if you will in terms of background, sure lot’s of people already have some exposure, but they may not have a complete picture, which is why they need to have some kind of degree or certificate, a case in point, one of the things that we stress in lot of our courses are security related issues. And often developers don’t think in terms of hackers and how the site that they put up can be misused or the information that is there is misappropriated, so, we basically are filling in some of the gaps.
Bill Cullifer, WOW: So somebody that is with WOW over the years to develop a model program, could you give us an overview of really what is a web developer degree program, what is the landscape like?
Professor Mark DuBois Oh sure, basically we focus both on the clients side and service side and I actually see we have different certificates, and a two year degree with where you emphasize web development on it, but the certificates that we offer is a basic web developer and then we have a rich internet application developer as well as an ecommerce certificate, and with respect to each of those you first start of learning about client validation, and clients site obviously think their job description and so forth, and this is after you completed your understanding of HTML, CSS and related things that make drive to website, so now that you understand the little about java script and how it can be used and misused by attackers, then we also present what needs to be done on the server side, and we focus on a number of different technologies there, including PHP and the dot net framework from Microsoft, and once you understand that, and if you want to move into the rich internet environment we focus on [indiscernible] [00:02:45] or enhanced client interactive, and then we also focus on tools like flash builder and competing technologies Perl [phonetic] [00:02:54] and Microsoft sliver light and so forth.
Bill Cullifer, WOW: If I am a student I am thinking about taking a degree level program, any recommendations that you would provide to me in terms of preparation?
Professor Mark DuBois Well, the first thing I would have is a background in logic, being able to think logically, being able to think critically, and then a desire to learn, and a desire to keep that knowledge fresh, and to look at what you develop from several different aspects, then obviously get involved with a program, learn as much as you can, go get the foundation, but then once you get out in the workforce continue taking classes, just continue expanding you legend and so forth.
Bill Cullifer, WOW: Well I certainly appreciate, it sounds like great advice Mark and we appreciate all the things that you do for the web professional, the WOW organization and for your time today.
Professor Mark DuBois Well you are welcome Bill I appreciate your offer to promote our program, thank you very much.
