Best way to get into the biz

I have been working on a couple hobby websites for the last three years, and am now considering getting a "real" job in web design as it will make a nice compliment to my current career in multimedia. At this point, I feel I have learned as much about web design as I can through self taught methods and feel I need some sort of formal learnings on the topic.

Can anyone recommend an educational program that companies who hire will look highly on? College courses are cost prohibitive in Chicago, but if anyone can recommend a certification class or online degree, that would be helpful. There are a lot of choices, so any advice from professionals is ideal.

I understand as well that brilliant portfolio is going to have more weight in terms of someone hiring me. But I feel like I'm at a plateau and to overcome that I need to learn from a professional. I can only do so much on my own.

Looking forward to your positive responses!

 

For what it's worth, as a business owner I have a lot more respect for prospective employees who are "go getters" and pro active rather than people who have qualifications ect.

 

Yours is the kind of place I would rather work for and with. Maybe for now I will just start with the W3 online school and get those certificates and learn some of what they have to teach. It's free and hopefully will be a good way to get a head up on my experience. Anyone else done those?