Jessica Sideways
The Dean’s List feature is our way of highlighting some of the extraordinary students in the Treehouse community and sharing with the world people who are passionate about learning, bettering themselves and making a difference.
This edition of the Dean’s List features 26-year-old web designer and developer Jessica Sideways. In her feature, Jessica talks about what initially drew her to career in the web industry, how she has progressed and how she keeps herself inspired.
What drew you to the web industry?
Well, in 1998 I saw that my grandmother created a webpage on Geocities and my interest was piqued because it was a way for me to create in a very competent way. So, I picked up a book on HTML3 and started from there.
What was the first project you worked on, and how have you built your portfolio from there?
Actually, I’m finishing up my first professional project and it’s a site for a videographer. It has challenged me in a variety of ways and made me think of WordPress is a very different way, and while it has been an incredibly tough project to work on, it has also been incredibly rewarding.
Tell us a little about the work you’re doing now.
Currently, I am doing an internship with BYOU Magazine and I am currently working on making their website look better and be much more actionable.
How has learning with Treehouse helped get you to where you are now?
It has helped me to get my CSS3 & JavaScript knowledge together and now, I am looking to exercise these skills and work on interesting CSS3 animations and JavaScript interactivity. Also, I understand a lot more about the business side of web design thanks to Dan & Pasan’s awesome business courses.
What are your top three resources to keep you inspired?
The top three resources that I use the most are Codrops, Web Designer Depot and the Web Design Ledger.
Since you joined Treehouse you’ve worked through projects at an impressive and rapid pace. What advice would you give Treehouse students who are just starting out?
My recommendation is to go in as deep as you can. It is true that the Foundations courses can be a bit dry, so that’s all the more reason to complete the project-based courses first. It took me a while to chip my way through JavaScript and CSS Foundations.
Is there anything else you would like to share with the community?
I came here when I was a student at the Art Institute of Colorado and it continues to intrigue me that I’m getting much better instruction on the web and how to best leverage all the awesome technologies to design websites on Treehouse than I ever did at the Art Institute. Treehouse and similar sites will save you a lot of money.
We would like to say a huge thank you to Jessica for sharing her experience, and for being such a great Treehouse student and valuable member of the community. Keep up the fantastic work. 🙂