My name is Brian Schmid and I'm starting the Web Developer certificate program. I have done several websites for myself and I really enjoy doing websites. Unfortunately with full time work and a family there isn't much time for it. I find that winter is the best time when its dark outside and I have more time for computer work. I had a Blogger blog for a while but switched to wordpress to get some experience in that program. I also have a railfan website and a raleigh/durham "tourist" type site. For the railfan website I put up an audio stream of railroad traffic around the RTP area. I also used Google Maps to create a mapping tool where users could enter there own locations and comments. This used php for server side scripting and a mysql database. I know it sounds like a lot, but most of it was done by reading tutorials. I use the Adobe package for all my development, mostly Dreamweaver and Photoshop. I really enjoy designing the new Web 2.0 type websites such as those created by http://onwired.com/. I have tried doing adsense on the sites but don't really bring in a lot of money from advertising. I have some search engine optimization experience so I have been able to get my railfan site ranked usually around #3 in google. I would like to get a more formal education in web development so that I could do it as a career if need be.
