You’ve finally done it: You’ve abandoned your life-long career, bought all the equipment, and are now pursuing a full-time position as a graphic designer specializing in web design. You have the drive, the motivation (money is a pretty good one) as well as the creative soul necessary to create truly epic web graphics. However, you’ll need more than gumption alone to earn yourself a successful career as a web designer. It’s not an impossible goal, so to speak, but you’ll certainly need a bit more than good looks and charm.

Don’t despair just yet, though: We’ve got you covered, using our helpful tips below to get you started as a fresh-faced web designer.

First off the bat, you’ll want to actually know the language of web design. This may seem kind of obvious, but we really mean it. If you’re going to get your hands dirty on the Internet for money—well, not like that—you’re going to need an inside-out knowledge of CSS, HTML, Perl, Javascript, and PHP. You may even need others under your belt, but these are good places to start.

However, before you spend hours, days, and years learning the subtle nuances of Jquery, keep in mind that you’ll only really need to know the things you use on a daily basis. With this in mind, simply dive straight in, but don’t be hesitant to look up friendly resources. You may not know how to code your way out of a brown paper bag, but when the time comes to escape your cafe prison, just look up a guide on the Internet. This is called do-it-yourself on the job training.

You’ll also need the gear to get the job done, though. This means purchasing a computer of some kind, preferably one with a little white apple on it. There are a few brave designers that go with a Windows box, but by and large most will suggest a Mac desktop, as the operating system has been built from the ground-up to provide better color management. On top of a good computer, you’ll probably need to get Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and DreamWeaver, as all three are nearly perfect for web design.

All in all, these are some great places to start, but it’s by no means the end of the road. It’ll take a lot of time, learning, and effort, but if you really dedicate yourself to the task, you too can become one of those fancy, artsy-pants web designers.