Rounding Out His Skill Set

David Groomes graduated with his Bachelor's degree in Broadcast Production from a large public university and immediately headed to a TV-producing job in Washington, D.C. Upon his arrival in D.C., though, Dave learned of a problem: "The company realized they had too many television producers," he says. Rather than send Dave packing, the company offered him an alternative job—as a webmaster. The only problem with that: Dave knew nothing about web design. He wasn't going to let that stop him, however: "I locked myself in a room for two weeks and taught myself HTML."

Fast-forward 10 years, Dave has made a career out of web design and is a web design pro ...almost. "When you teach yourself everything you need to know for web design, you eventually find out there are some holes in your knowledge. I needed to go to a school to fill in the gaps of the skills sets I didn't have."

Dave started in the Bachelor's degree program in interactive media at the International Academy of Design & Technology in Tampa in the spring of 2004. He is scheduled to graduate this year.

Dave says one of the main things that attracted him to the Academy was that he was allowed to test out of certain classes he already knew. "Testing out of classes like Photoshop and Intro to Computers, among others, is allowing me to get through the program quicker and without wasting time on the things I had learned on my own."

Being able to solely focus on learning new skills has been a great benefit to Dave. "Based on what I've learned at the Academy, I've been able to list various skill sets on my résumé with much more confidence." Dave also says his three coworkers on the web development team at the corporation he has been working for for 18 months have noticed his new skills as well. "My coworkers see me contributing fresh and different ideas based on what I'm currently learning."

Dave says one of frustrating incorrect beliefs in technology is that you can teach yourself everything you need to know. He mentions a former boss of his whom, when Dave asked if he could be reimbursed for some web-relevant classes he wanted to take, replied that Dave should just go and buy a book.

"In my experience, I can't teach myself certain concepts through a book alone. If I could, I wouldn't have the gaps in skills that I do. To be able to dialogue with another person—an expert, at that—and have the opportunity to ask specific questions is invaluable. And that's what I get at the Academy."