Father, Bloc student, and full-time employee
How Ben Howard changed his career through Bloc
We had the pleasure of interviewing Ben Howard this week, an amazing student in our Designer Track. We asked Ben to interview with us after coming across his awesome portfolio and learning he had already secured a job as a Web Designer before finishing the program. Learn how this dad of three, Bloc student, and now, full-time Web Designer made it happen!
What did you do before Bloc?
I was primarily a print designer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. I’ve always loved design, and I had a great experience doing newspaper layout, illustration and graphics. But I wanted to take the next step and learn how to bring my designs to life online.
Why did you enroll in Bloc?
I took a quick weekend crash course on HTML/CSS and I really enjoyed the experience. I was encouraged because coding wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be. Plus, as a designer, I felt that a career in web design offered the most promising future. So I decided to take the plunge into the Designer Track.
How did Bloc help you achieve your goal as a Web Designer?
The curriculum is comprehensive and the course does a great job of introducing you to online resources that are extremely helpful as a designer and a developer. I’m lucky to have worked with two awesome mentors in Chris Courtney and Alissa Likavec who have been incredibly supportive and have challenged me to become more creative and a better critical thinker. Most of all, Bloc is very flexible. I am a father of three, in fact, I was only a father of two when I started the course (my wife and I had our third son in March). The Designer Track schedule allowed me to work full-time and still be a part of my family while working on the course. The skills I’ve developed at Bloc provided me with the courage to switch careers and move completely into web design and development. In October, I became a Digital Designer at Actual Size, a creative studio in Pittsburgh. Without Bloc, I would not have had this opportunity.
What is your capstone project?
My capstone is The Joe, a fantasy sports league site for college basketball.
What inspired your capstone?
This was more of a practical decision for me. My friends and I have a fantasy college basketball league that we operate through google sheets by compiling all of our own statistics. We have a ton of fun doing it, but it can be a little tedious. My hope is to create a site that will make this an easier experience so that we can focus on talking trash to each other.
What tools and resources did you use to complete your capstone?
Well, uh … I’m still working on it. I’ve designed the site, written most of the HTML/CSS and Alissa and I are going to use React to flow in the data. It should be a lot of fun once we get it moving.
What advice would you give aspiring UX Designers?
Don’t make excuses. If you want to learn how to do something, there’s no better time than right now. My biggest regret is not enrolling in Bloc sooner. If I can do this course while being a husband and father of three AND switching jobs, so can you.
Bloc offers design and developer programs for those looking to change careers. Learn more about our Designer Track and Web Developer Track!
