1. What level of education is required to begin working in the web design field? 
(certificate, AA, Bachelor’s)

There is no required level of education to become a “web designer” if you are a freelancer. On the other hand, if you want to work for a large company, they will likely have some minimum requirements listed in the job description. In this case it is best to do your homework in advance and brush on the skills they will require, perhaps even building some prototypes to demonstrate your skill. At the end of the day, a solid portfolio with many quality testimonials will take you a long way. Begin building those right now. If you don’t have any clients, family membersor local non-profits to help, consider contributing to the open source community.

2. Are there certain courses that would be most helpful?
 (PHP, Microsoft ASP.NET, Javascript/CCS/XML/DOM)

I recommend that you take courses on Software Engineering (at least learn about version control and automation through scripting), HTML,  CSS and Javascript. You should also learn at least one scripting language; I prefer Python, but Ruby and PHP are also good choices. A database class will also be very useful, but you would likely get more value for your purposes focusing on the practical application. You should also master at least one IDE (Eclipse or Dreamweaver) or text editor (Notepad++ or TextMate) as you will spend most of your time with it. A systems administration introductory course will help you administer your web sites. For bonus points, classes in PhotoShop, Illustrator and Flash would not hurt.

3. How much does college training actually prepare you for the skills need as a web designer?

My perspective comes from my journey obtaining a BS in Computer Engineering and a MS in Electrical Engineering. I would say the thing that helped me most as a web designer was my Software Engineering and Operating System classes as a Computer Engineer. After taking these courses my confidence as a programmer was greatly increased and I felt ready to create real projects for other people. When I started my first business, it was the ability to do well in multiple classes with numerous deadlines that prepared me for dealing with real world clients. Also, as a Masters student I headed several projects and was given the responsibility to lead a team; this prepared me for the later expansion of our business when we began to hire employees and utimately receive funding.

4. What personal qualities are most important in a web designer?

I think the following attributes are important:

• attention to detail
• patience
• communication skills
• self discipline
• project/time/task management, even if you are only just managing yourself

5. What work/volunteer experience would be advantageous in web design?

I would start with developing your own personal web page. Then, think of an idea and develop it into an actual web site. If you can’t think of an idea, borrow one from the web or a web design tutorial book. Once you gain some skill and confidence, offer your service to a non-profit that you care about. In short, build a portfolio of live working web sites that you can show off when it comes time to get a job or become a freelancer.

6. What are the duties of an entry-level web designer?

I can only speak from the stand point of a web designer who started a business. In that case, the duties are:

• accounting
• legal
• management
• customer service
• marketing
• sales
• human resources
• oh yea, there is also that thing called web design

7. Is there a kind of social life style or “culture” included within this occupation?

I spent most of my time working with a small team of web developers. Common threads between us were:

• working remotely when possible, usually at some sort of coffee shop
• working weird hours (generally late at night)
• a love for computing and programming in general
• a desire to tinker with all the latest technologies
• too much time spent on sites like SlashDot.com and Digg.com
• way too many energy drinks
• always trying to configure our computers for optimal performance
• Linux!

8. Are there job-related pressures? If so, what is the source of these pressures? 
Are they self-imposed?

Maybe it’s because of my Engineering background, but an obsession with detail and perfection is a great source of stress for me. When dealing with real clients and real deadlines, you simply don’t have the time to engage in the level of detail you would like. I find that most of those pressures are self imposed, but any time there is an unhappy customer, my stress level increases geometrically even when I know its of no fault of mine.

9. Can you describe the cycle of a typical project/assignment of a web designer?

1. A potential client says they need a web site
2. You conduct a needs analysis to determine the requirements
3. From those requirements you create a spreadsheet to determine cost
4. From that spreadsheet you build a proposal
5. You then present the proposal to the client and close the deal
6. If the client agrees to with the proposal, a contract is signed
7. You then take the contract and build out a project plan based on the terms of the contract
8. Execute in iterations, meaning that after you have developed each major component of the overall website, you will review with the client to make sure that the final product is what is expected from the client
9. The client signs off on the project and you make the web site go live
10. The project gets added to your portfolio
11. At any given time you may be called on to fix some issue or perform maintenance on past client work

10. What is the most essential advice you would give to someone considering web design as a career?

Find someone who has already achieved the level of success you desire and and to be mentored. Listen, think and save yourself years of time. While you are looking, spend time at places where web designers hang out, either in person or on the web and get to know your peers.

There was one issue I encountered that minimized my joy a tiny fraction at finding this treasure trove; 1) not enough time to listen to them all right now! and 2) no one place to go for an easy short list of all of the interviews (this is undoubtedly because Andrew is busy creating awesome interviews!)

In this post, I have created a list of all the interviews in a easy to browse format that takes you directly to the interview page for your convenience. On that interview page, Andrew has an introductory video, written summary of the interview, streaming audio and download link. Enjoy! I sure am.

The interviews are listed starting from the most recent:

1. Chris Winfield – How to grow your business with social media and not have it take over your day
2. James Siminoff – How to get the world excited about your business
3. Jason Fried – Bootstrapping lessons from 37 signals
4. Mateo Gutierrez – How to build your online community
5. Derek Sivers – How a musician built a $22 million dollar business from his home
6. Brent Csutoras – How to get traffic from social media
7. Kurt Daradics – how to organize an event for investors, ceos and influencials
8. Kareem Mayan – How to work while traveling like a business nomad
9. Tony Adam – Yahoo’s SEO manager teaches you how to get more search engine traffic
10. Douglas Atkin – What cults can teach you about building community
11. Adeo Ressi – “Almost everyone i counciled got funding”
12. Guy Kawasaki – How alltop is growing by following its founder’s advice
13. Keith and the Girl – 7 secrets for building a community so passionate that they get your tattoo
14. Jason Kiesel – Myspace app developer teaches how to build a social network application
15. Sloane Berrent – simple tips for networking into your dream job 
16. John King – Do you want to be donald trump or steve jobs?
17. 2 Top Hacker News Members – Why do people join online communities?
18. Ryan Scott – What he did after he sold his company
19. Michael Dorausch – How is this guy getting so many hits to his site?
20. Bob Dunlap – An ebook on birds made $500,000?!
21. Jason McVearry – Social marketing techniques
22. Timothy Ferriss – How blogs helped the four hour work week become a best seller
23. Mark Jeffrey – Real entrepreneurs get back up
24. Laurence Gonzales – Do you text while driving?
25. Aj Vaynerchu – Community before cash
26. Ted Murphy – Tips for successful online marketing
27. Olivier Chaine – How to increase conversions
28. Peter Pham – 5 steps to becoming a networking superstar
29. Justin Premick – How to grow an email mailing list
30. John “Ol’ Chumbucket” Baur and Mark “Cap’n Slappy” Summers - how “talk like a pirate day” became a sensation
31. Susan Smith – How domainers profit
32. Dan Olsen – Why your site isn’t viral
33. Davy RothBart – “Mario, i f-cking hate you.” how to build community
34. Chris Bechtel – 5 ways to create good content
35. Kelly Perdew – 6 business lessons i learned from donald trump’s apprentice winner
36. Karel Baloun – Why did facebook succeed? an early hire speaks
37. Devlyn Steele – How to build an online community
38. Hiten Shah – 7 essential tools of viral marketing
39. Clinton Swaine – 7 negotiating and sales secrets
40. Max Alexander – How to organize a master mind group
41. Revere Strategy Group – Learning from obama, mccain and other politicians
42. Sean Percival – Get traffic to your site
43. Frank Warren – How postsecret uses social media to grow its mission
44. Tony Hsieh – Surprising customers with amazing service
45. Magento Team – You don’t need outside funding
46. Eric Stephens – How to develop intuitive user experience
47. Robert Schoble – How to become internet famous
48. Matt Mickiewicz – Quickly building and selling sites
49. Rich Demuro – How to get your startup on the news
50. Roger Ehrenberg – Launch in phases
51. Andy Oliver – Do-it-yourself public relations
52. Rosalind Resnick – Is goal-setting outdated?
53. Gregory Galant – Everyone is accessible 
54. Ori Brafman – What sways people
55. Sarah Lacy – Author of “Once Your Lucky, Twice Your Good”
56. Jackie Peters – How to market on the social web
57. Mark Suster – From the mixergy funding forum
58. Douglas Campbell – LA’s version of the ted conference
59. Alex Funk – Understanding widgets
60. Deborah Shadovitz – Learning to organize a conference
61. Dave Balter – How to build buzz
62. Tara Hunt – Why & how to build social capital online
63. Register at Mixergy.com to get an additional interview with Seth Godin.

Also, check out these shorter video business tips:

1. Timothy Ferriss – Business suggestion
2. Jeremy Shoemaker –  How to be a successful blogger
3. Darren Rowse – How to get more traffic
4. Jesse Stay – How to raise your profile online
5. Jeremy Shoemaker – How jeremy schoemaker became “internet famous”
6. John Chow – Why does john chow’s personal site make $30,000+ per month?
7. Robert Scoble – Building a personal brand

Be sure to subscribe the Mixergy RSS feed  and bookmark his “interview” tag to get new interviews and other fantastic content. Be sure to follow Andrew on Twitter also.

Thanks for all of your great work Andrew, and please keep it going.

We’ll, today, it appears that a long awaited design refresh finally happened. Screen shots are after the jump.

I’ve not spent enough time with the new design to form a complete opinion, but at first glance it appears ]functional, which I like. However, I don’t find the design pleasing for the pop-up when you add something to del.icio.us through your toolbar.

What do you think?