Additional Information
Be prepared to continually educate yourself. Internet consultants must
keep up with the fast-paced evolution of the web.
Some Internet consultants are mostly or entirely self-taught. But a formal
education can ensure you know what you need to know while increasing your
credibility.
"I think a formal education can certainly help," says Internet consultant
Kimberly Nichols. "I think it can give you a good foundation.
"There are certain [programming] languages that are not going anywhere
anytime soon, but I think because it's such a fast-paced thing... anything
that you learn at a university level right now on social media (for example)
is probably going to be different by the time you graduate," says Nichols.
"Facebook isn't always going to be the king of the hill. It was MySpace
at one time and Facebook knocked them over, so somebody's going to knock Facebook
off at some point."
Courses in business administration, communication, management and marketing
will help a consultant run their own business. It's also important to take
computer and Internet courses to keep up on technology.
Many consultants are experienced programmers who have gotten into consulting.
But knowing how to code isn't essential.
"It depends on what they're doing," says Nichols. "If they want to be the
person who builds the website then, sure, programming is important. If they
want to be a consultant like myself, really what they're needing is business
skills with [knowledge of] some of those technologies to have a base understanding."
Go online to study websites and their design. Under a view option in most
browsers, it's possible to see what coding was used to put a page together.
Internet consultant Allan Todd, who specializes in Internet marketing,
has degrees in computer science and marketing.
"I would say the best background would be a degree in communications or
PR [public relations]," says Todd. "I hire interns and a lot of times I want
my interns to be from a bachelor of arts [program focused on] communications,
marketing, that kind of area -- the business side of communications and marketing."
It's a good idea to be an intern or paid employee at an
Internet consulting firm before trying to be an independent consultant. This
will help you build a portfolio of work that you can show future clients.
"They usually want to see my portfolio and what I've done," says Todd.
"But... I would say somebody starting out new, they may want to work for a
firm for a little while to get some experience, or be an intern, and then
to go independent.
"Typically, [potential clients] are not going to want to see your degree,"
says Todd. "They want to see what you've done. I don't know if I've ever had
a client ask me my degree or my background."
Certifications are available to attest to your competence in various software
applications. There are also overall designations, like the certified computing
professional from the Institute for Certification of Computing Professionals.