Turning your passion into a career

For Laura Mabee, a Bachelor of Arts in History was not the end of her postsecondary journey, just the beginning. “I chose web development because I enjoyed it as a side hobby, so I decided to take my passion and turn it into a profession,” says Mabee.

After some careful research, Mabee decided Humber’s one-year, postgraduate Web Development certificate would offer her the skills she needed to merge her passion with a career.

And, at the end of year portfolio show, Mabee was proudly displaying her collection of work from the past year, with the confidence of her upcoming internship already in place.

“I came into this program not knowing a lot of code and working in the museum environment. The web development program is giving me an opportunity to do an internship at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), where I’ll be working on the museum's end coding. Humber’s program has bridged the connection between what I’m passionate about and like to do, and has combined it with the most perfect internship,” says Mabee.

Students are taught HMTL and CSS along with various other programs, how to work with databases and create complex databases for websites, along with the business of web development and how to work in teams.

“Classes are a combination of lectures and hands on projects that commence as soon as the program starts in September. Students are given a project right away that simulates a real client’s demands and have to come up with the requirements and a plan. We even make students start filling out time sheets, working it into their professional practice right from the first day,” says Bernie Monette, program co-ordinator, Web Development program.

Monette stresses that while various backgrounds, not just computer programmers are candidates for the program; the most important skill is lifelong learning, as they will be working in an ever changing environment.