I was working full time, doing some thankless job.  At the same time I was starting up a blog, but I could not get past looking at all the Wordpress themes available, then installing them, and trying to tweak it just so.  Then, I got laid off from work, and now I am taking a web design course.  So I am just getting into it, still in school, but, I love it!  I am 36 years old, and I can honestly say this is the first time I am going to actually enjoy what I will be doing for a career.  Very exciting.

I am basically in SEO and do only SEO, the problems was to make light weight css web designs with blog integration for fast ranking, so i started taking help from CSS based blogs and WPP SEO plugins and slowly, i can design nice CSS based web sites, but still my basic focus is SEO technology which change day by day and to keep doing new experiments, but for good SEO, you should have well navigated and well designed web site

I created a fan site for a filmmaker friend of mine and from there he hired me to do his official site which led to more exposure and more paying clients. Other than taking a few Photoshop classes I'm pretty much self-taught. The internet is ripe with information and all I can say is practice as much as you can, follow design blogs to stay current and learn how to utilize social media for optimum networking.

It started when I wasn't too happy with default Blogger theme. I wanted to create a blog theme that fits my need at that time, so I did few experiments to tweak it and it came to be my first blog (Graphic Identity Blog). I attempted to design another blog themes for friends and have been so interested to CSS. Delivering PSD to CSS-HTML always makes me excited. I love the challenge to discover solutions for any kind of web design project and how to make them look nice in all browser :D. My main interests at this moment in web designing are jQuery and Wordpress.

I went to vocational school majoring at Networking and Computer Tech. But i spent most of my time at school doing Need For Speed and Counter Strike. One day i got a flyer entitled Web Design Competition with big prizes. And i was starting to design my first website for the contest... And i was failed. But that's what gave me a passion on website design.

A couple of years ago, I used to write at my "Inspirit Blog" where I wrote Free Blog Reviews ( www.inspiritblog.com ) and guided my readers on how to lay out their websites, and play with the design elements to generate maximum traffic and revenue and beautify their websites and blogs..

About an year after I started Inspirit, I was inducted into CSSJockey where Mohit Aneja ( web designer ) was about to start his freelance web design n development business.. So I helped him get started with CSSJockey and he got me deeper into xHTML / CSS.. Later, I learned to develop WordPress themes... Currently, I serve as the Lead Developer, Designer and Social Media Expert at CSSJockey ( www.cssjockey.com ) ..

I haven't had any formal training in web design and development ever.. But I do wish to go to a school for web design and polish my skills further, after I finish my under-grad school in about 3 semesters from now..

I've started it as a hobby - same as Darren but much earlier I guess :) My first steps I made where in MS Paint :) And then my teacher showed me Corel Draw and Paint Shop Pro. I was amazed by its possibilities. It was about 18 years ago :)Now I've got pretty good skills in Photoshop/Dreamweaver. I can do stuff in Flash and Illustrator as well :)

For me anyway it started as a hobby creating terrible looking sites in my free time while going to high school. The when I got laid off from work I decided it was a perfect time to go to school for web design. I have never looked back.

I was in college studying Art and Print Design. The internet was just working it's way into the public consciousness. To distinguish himself from all the other graduates entering the print market. I abandoned print and started learning html and web graphics. Fourteen years later I have a great knowledge in HTML/CSS/PHP/Actionscript.

I've always been interested in the way things look and what that communicates. My chosen major in college - engineering - is a design discipline although I didn't think of it as such until recently, My other interests of accessible technology, appropriate technology all require design thinking. In college instead of goofing off w/ video games, I was smitten by the web. All of this and I never considered my self to have an interest in design - it was "too artsy" for me. Fast forward to last year where I start thinking about what I'm passionate about and want to do for the rest of my life (age 30 at the time) and it begins to fall into place that design is what I love, so recently I've started teaching myself design and layering on top of that the peculiarities of webdesign. To quote Chris "very exciting".

My roommate had a computer. We used Ventura publisher software to make newsletters, brochures, flyers (desktop publishing software in the late '80s). Then got a job with a large corporation doing desktop publishing and tech writing. Then, started developing computer-based training in Authorware and learned Photoshop. Then along came the web, so I learned HTML and built websites. The rest is history.

In the 90's, I was working full time as a prepress operator and saw the hand-writing on the wall. I realized that traditional film output was going away and things were moving all digital in the printing world. I could still make a living with my production skills but decided to add to those skills. I went into business for myself in 2000. At first I mostly worked on print projects and then clients asked for items like HTML emails and websites. I usually work on the design side of a website and produce standard pages in Dreamweaver. Now I am learning how to build CMS based sites and improving my CSS knowledge.

I started out at about age 13 making REALLY horrible websites for fun (no I will not share a link) - but trust that they were bad. In high school, I began really getting into web publishing and making blog templates (15 year old girls love to blog). After high school I left home to study design in NYC where I gained an overload of knowledge and stimulation which gave me additional skillsets in print design, illustration, and multimedia design. By 2007, I was a broke fresh-out-of college student (and regretting my choice of major) when one of my brothers-in-law became a mentor and a client and referred me to my 1st corporate client. I've been a slave ever since - by choice of course :)