[nickpyett]

Learning front end languages is essential as an employer wants to know that you can get a site live when the hits the fan. If you can't slice up a PSD and build a basic site there MIGHT come a point when you're useless to them.

I'm self-taught and found learning HTML, CSS, JS and a bit of PHP and MySQL was more than enough to get a job in the UK.

Build some sites, get some experience.