I occasionally go on craigslist to see if any design jobs are available. Normally even if there are I don't contact them since craigslist is full of scams and people wanting everything for nothing.
The one thing I see on there a lot is people asking for tutors to learn design programs like photoshop or illustrator. It always makes me really just scratch my head wondering why anyone would pay someone to tutor them for this. So today I was bored and decided to reply to one of them:

Photoshop CS5 Tutor Wanted (West Suburbs - Eden Prairie)
Date: 2010-07-24, 12:13AM CDT
Reply to: job-qmcwz-1860154976@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]

Looking for an ongoing Tutor to teach me Photoshop. I have the basic understanding, and use LR3 currently. Please send me a brief description of you skills.

Will pay hourly in cash DOQ.

thanks,

* Location: West Suburbs - Eden Prairie
* Compensation: Fee depending upon skills
* This is a contract job.
* Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
* Please, no phone calls about this job!
* Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.



PostingID: 1860154976

My response:

Photoshop Teacher

From:
"jeremypiatt@jeremypiatt.com"
Add sender to Contacts
To:
job-qmcwz-1860154976@craigslist.org

Are you aware there are classes to teach you Photoshop?
Most communities have classes like this available. (Obviously colleges and universities offer courses as well.)
Photoshop is a very complex program that takes some time to learn. If you hire a tutor you'll probably spend more on the tutor than you will on the classes.
I am curious why you'd like to know how to use photoshop. Just to play around with it? In that case you should just visit web tutorials and save yourself some money. Would you like to learn photoshop so that you can claim you are a graphic designer? Graphic Designers go to school for many years to have the skills to do their jobs. It's not something you can simply learn to do in a few hours with a tutor. If you are hoping to get a tutor so that you can "do it yourself" and save yourself some money on design fees, I would advise against that. Bad design is worse than no design at all.
Why is it that just because people have the programs available to them they think they can learn to be designers? Even if you learn photoshop's functions...does that mean you have design skills? There are basic fundamentals that go into making a design aesthetically pleasing. This isn't something you learn from a tutor or in a few days of messing around. That would be like me getting a tool kit and thinking I could learn how to fix cars after a tutor showed me a few things...
I mean, I have a camera...does that mean I have the skills to take wedding photos? Nope...and a tutor isn't going to teach someone to do that in a few hours either.

I work at a printing company and it gets so frustrating when people "Design things themselves" for printing especially. I spend 25-40% of my day not actually doing my own design work, but fixing people's files they sent in that aren't properly designed for print.

So, I suggest you have a professional do your work for you. Or I suggest you take classes and properly learn how to use this tool. You'll be much more satisfied. Or...you can waste your money on a tutor, regret it later, and think "Hmmmm....that stranger who wrote the long winded semi-annoying email to me was right."